Developer

Design

Discourse

Hardware

Insights

Juju

Shop

More

signup

AskUbuntuisaquestionandanswersiteforUbuntuusersanddevelopers.It's100%free,noregistrationrequired.

login

Ask!

Community

Ubuntu

USB Drive won't mount - Ask Ubuntu

28/10/2014

tour

help

Takethe2minutetour

USB Drive won't mount

I have a Lexar 16GB USB stick and for some reason it won't mount. Ubuntu won't even recognize it.
Info about it...nothing much. I used it once as a Backtrack LiveUSB and tried to use it once as an Ubuntu Studio 12.10 LiveUSB (ended up with a
Kernel Panic). So now I am trying to just reformat it (easiest/fastest way to wipe everything off) and just use it as a regular USB drive or maybe
use it as a Backtrack LiveUSB again.
Is there any way I can force Ubuntu to recognize it? I know the port works as my USB mouse receiver works fine.
I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (old hardware, I'll upgrade soonish) on a Toshiba Satellite A105.
Edit:
By using this guide I was able to force-mount it, but it still doesn't show up in Places (PCManFM because I use LXDE) like it usually does.
Another strange thing, neither does the Windows NTFS partition I set to automount.
It appears that my system has stopped auto-mounting things. The devices show up in their respective /media/deviceHere/ folders, but not
under Places in PCManFM

Wierdness.
Oh well. However it was, I just had to delete/unmount anything with the name Lexar or External USB in the media folder and it is now
recognized! Thanks anyways @manuel.
Edit:
Never mind, now it has disappeared again. If I want to access the /media/Lexar folder I have to be root and the Windows partition still doesn't
show up.
HELP!
usb

mount

live-usb

toshiba-satellite

edited May 29 '13 at 15:11

jokerdino
20.6k

14

82

161

asked May 29 '13 at 13:27

RPi Awesomeness
1,673

19

46

When would I run this? RPi Awesomeness May 29 '13 at 13:39

Please remove the stick, look whether the /media/[username] directory is empty and report other things here.
Manuel May 29 '13 at 15:09
Ok, will do. When do I run the d
m
e
s
g|t
a
i
l command? RPi Awesomeness May 29 '13 at 15:09
Then plug in the stick, open a terminal and execute d
m
e
s
g|t
a
i
l. Please post the output. Manuel May 29 '13
at 15:09
ok...doing. After removing the stick it displays the Windows partition as a folder, but not in PCManFM Places.
Nautilus sees it a displays it fine. Will now plug in and run the command RPi Awesomeness May 29 '13 at 15:11

1 Answer
Ok, in a chat we haven't found a reason why PCManFM doesn't automount. So here we create an
fstab entry for the stick:
1. We need to create the folder for the stick and get the device id.
Open a terminal. The folder can be created via
s
udomkd
ir/me
dia
/my
sti
c
k

In addition I would make the user the owner and give him the right to read/write:
s
udocho
wn[us
er]
:[g
rou
p
]/
m
e
d
i
a
/
m
y
s
t
i
c
k
s
udochm
od+rw/m
edi
a/m
y
s
t
i
c
k

2. Now the fstab entry:

Install libblkid1 to see device specific information: sudoapt-getinstalllibblkid1

http://askubuntu.com/questions/301506/usb-drive-wont-mount

1/2

28/10/2014

USB Drive won't mount - Ask Ubuntu

Enter sudoblkid and look for the stick. The output could be:
/de
v/
sda2
:U
UID
="3
2
a
4
b
7
6
f
2
4
6
e
4
8
6
e
8
4
9
5
3
1
b
8
a
7
8
1
f
b
4
c
"T
Y
P
E
=
"
s
wa
p"
/de
v/
sde1
:L
ABE
L="
M
A
X
E
L
L
"U
U
I
D
=
"
8
D
6
7
D
5
6
0
"T
Y
P
E
=
"
v
f
a
t
"

Then we create the fstab entry: sudogedit/etc/fstab and append the line
UUI
D=
8D67
-D5
60

/
m
e
d
i
a
/
m
y
s
t
i
c
k a
u
t
o

r
w
,
u
s
e
r
,
a
u
t
o

(and afterwards give a empty new line to avoid warnings):

To mount the stick, open a terminal and type

mo
u
nt/me
dia/
my
stic
k

Because of the entry auto it should be mounted automatically if you remove and plug in the stick
again.
edited May 29 '13 at 16:11

answered May 29 '13 at 15:56

Manuel
796

15

Thanks for your help @Manuel! I logged out and back in again and it works fine now??? Oh well. Thanks again!
RPi Awesomeness May 29 '13 at 16:15
I hope so. If not, tell me. Manuel May 29 '13 at 16:16
Yeah, it's fine now. Even displays my Windows Partition! Say what??!? RPi Awesomeness May 29 '13 at 16:18
Personally, I recommend you use UUIDs in the future. easier/faster/more reliable Whaaaaaat Jan 23 at 5:29

http://askubuntu.com/questions/301506/usb-drive-wont-mount

2/2