usb disk insists on being readonly

lalawawa wrote:
> Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>
> My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>
> My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
> about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
> say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
> disk is connected through a hub.
>
> The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
> clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
> assumes you're on Windows.
>
> When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
> filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
> fstab entry that appears is
>
> /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>
> If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
> dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
> if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
> total 8
> dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
> drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
> dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
> Information
> if I try 'touch a' it says
> touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
> touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> I cd back to /media
> $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
> $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>
> Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
> says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
> 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.

What kind of filesystem did you put on it when you formatted it?

--
Al Qaeda is growing so quickly that today everyone in Iraq who is fighting
the US is a member of Al Qaeda.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3810
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
http://www.giwersworld.org

oops - I meant my computer has about 400MB of ram, not disk.

On Jul 4, 6:05 pm, Roby <r... RemoveThis @no-address.net> wrote:
> lalawawa wrote:
> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>
> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>
> > My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
> > about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
> > say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
> > disk is connected through a hub.
>
> > The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
> > clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
> > assumes you're on Windows.
>
> > When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
> > filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
> > fstab entry that appears is
>
> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>
> > If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
> > if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
> > total 8
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
> > drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
> > Information
> > if I try 'touch a' it says
> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> > if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> > I cd back to /media
> > $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
> > $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>
> > Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
> > says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
> > 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>
> > Any help would be appreciated.
>
> > Bill
>
> My guess: the drive is formatted ntfs and the "auto" in the fstab entry
> is causing linux to load the ntfs driver (rather than ntfs-3g). The
> drive will be painfully slow at usb 1.1. usb2 pci cards are cheap and
> do a great job.

OK, how do I fix the fstab entry to make it RW?

On Jul 4, 5:53 pm, Matt Giwer <jul....RemoveThis@tampabay.REMover.rr.com> wrote:
> lalawawa wrote:
> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>
> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>
> > My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
> > about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
> > say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
> > disk is connected through a hub.
>
> > The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
> > clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
> > assumes you're on Windows.
>
> > When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
> > filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
> > fstab entry that appears is
>
> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>
> > If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
> > if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
> > total 8
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
> > drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
> > Information
> > if I try 'touch a' it says
> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> > if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> > I cd back to /media
> > $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
> > $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>
> > Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
> > says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
> > 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>
> > Any help would be appreciated.
>
> What kind of filesystem did you put on it when you formatted it?
>
> --
> Al Qaeda is growing so quickly that today everyone in Iraq who is fighting
> the US is a member of Al Qaeda.
> -- The Iron Webmaster, 3810
> nizkorhttp://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
> http://www.giwersworld.org

I did not format the drive. I just bought it, brought it home,
plugged it into the USB hub and turned it on.
How would I go about formatting the drive? I would want the drive to
be also readable if I hook it up to a windows machine.

lalawawa wrote:
> On Jul 4, 5:53 pm, Matt Giwer <jul....RemoveThis@tampabay.REMover.rr.com> wrote:
>> lalawawa wrote:
>>> Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>>> My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>>> My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
>>> about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
>>> say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
>>> disk is connected through a hub.
>>> The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
>>> clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
>>> assumes you're on Windows.
>>> When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
>>> filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
>>> fstab entry that appears is
>>> /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>>> If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
>>> dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
>>> if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
>>> total 8
>>> dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
>>> drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
>>> dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
>>> Information
>>> if I try 'touch a' it says
>>> touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
>>> if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
>>> touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
>>> I cd back to /media
>>> $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
>>> chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>>> $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
>>> chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>>> Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
>>> says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
>>> 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>>> Any help would be appreciated.
>> What kind of filesystem did you put on it when you formatted it?

> I did not format the drive. I just bought it, brought it home,
> plugged it into the USB hub and turned it on.
> How would I go about formatting the drive? I would want the drive to
> be also readable if I hook it up to a windows machine.

If you did not format it the best you might have is a Windows file system so it
can advertise plug-n-play. If it has no filesystem then you obviously cannot
write to it.

What I believe to be a complete description is here.
http://www.giwersworld.org/computers/linux/usb-drives.phtml

The general format command is this. It may be a place other than sbin on Ubuntu.

/sbin/mke2fs -c -j -L 320 /dev/sdX1

Read the article to figure out what X should be. It's easy.

I want to make the article complete so let me know how it goes.

If you want it readable by Windows you will have to create a windows file
system on it with windows and set your fstab entry to mount it as vfat or
whatever. I have not done that in so long I do not remember how to do it. If you
just want primitive access google for a program something like lnxread.exe or
lxread.exe which will copy a file from an ext2 or 3 partition to vfat.

If it was advertised as plug-n-play it should have come with a Windows file
system.

--
The only way to get to the bottom of the Valerie Plame outing is to torture
Libby until he tells all. The identity of our spies is a matter of national
security.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3813
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
Blame Israel http://www.ussliberty.org a10

On Jul 4, 6:05 pm, Roby <r... DeleteThis @no-address.net> wrote:
> lalawawa wrote:
> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>
> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>
> > My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
> > about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
> > say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
> > disk is connected through a hub.
>
> > The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
> > clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
> > assumes you're on Windows.
>
> > When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
> > filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
> > fstab entry that appears is
>
> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>
> > If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
> > if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
> > total 8
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
> > drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
> > Information
> > if I try 'touch a' it says
> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> > if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> > I cd back to /media
> > $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
> > $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>
> > Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
> > says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
> > 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>
> > Any help would be appreciated.
>
> > Bill
>
> My guess: the drive is formatted ntfs and the "auto" in the fstab entry
> is causing linux to load the ntfs driver (rather than ntfs-3g). The
> drive will be painfully slow at usb 1.1. usb2 pci cards are cheap and
> do a great job.

I would like to put in a USB 2.0 board, but I absolutely, positively
don't want to make any hardware changes to my box until I'm able to
back up.

In the past, I would back up on CD-ROM using K3B. Then suddenly,
probably as a result of an upgrade, neither K3B nor the CD-ROM Creator
software are able to find my CD burner. Here's my fstab:

$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root / ext3
defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-swap_1 none swap sw
0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
$
$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root
37079744 12680436 22515764 37% /
tmpfs 193436 0 193436 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 193436 12588 180848 7% /lib/modules/
2.6.12-10-386/volatile
/dev/hda1 233335 19153 201734 9% /boot
/dev/sda1 390708800 77912 390630888 1% /media/
simpletech
$

but I don't think upgrading to a 2.0 port is going to change the
permissions of the disk. I think all that would be accomplished by
upgrading to USB 2.0 would be to change my slow 400GB readonly disk
with nothing on it to a fast 400GB disk with nothing on it.

lalawawa wrote:

> On Jul 4, 6:05 pm, Roby <r....TakeThisOut@no-address.net> wrote:
>> lalawawa wrote:
>> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>>
>> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>>
>> > My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
>> > about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
>> > say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
>> > disk is connected through a hub.
>>
>> > The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
>> > clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
>> > assumes you're on Windows.
>>
>> > When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
>> > filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
>> > fstab entry that appears is
>>
>> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>>
>> > If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
>> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
>> > if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
>> > total 8
>> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
>> > drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
>> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
>> > Information
>> > if I try 'touch a' it says
>> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
>> > if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
>> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
>> > I cd back to /media
>> > $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
>> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>> > $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
>> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>>
>> > Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
>> > says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
>> > 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>>
>> > Any help would be appreciated.
>>
>> > Bill
>>
>> My guess: the drive is formatted ntfs and the "auto" in the fstab entry
>> is causing linux to load the ntfs driver (rather than ntfs-3g). The
>> drive will be painfully slow at usb 1.1. usb2 pci cards are cheap and
>> do a great job.
>
> I would like to put in a USB 2.0 board, but I absolutely, positively
> don't want to make any hardware changes to my box until I'm able to
> back up.
>
> In the past, I would back up on CD-ROM using K3B. Then suddenly,
> probably as a result of an upgrade, neither K3B nor the CD-ROM Creator
> software are able to find my CD burner. Here's my fstab:
>
> $ cat /etc/fstab
> # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
> #
> # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
> /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root / ext3
> defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
> /dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2
> /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-swap_1 none swap sw
> 0 0
> /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
> /dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
> /dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
> /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
> $
> $ df
> Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
> /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root
> 37079744 12680436 22515764 37% /
> tmpfs 193436 0 193436 0% /dev/shm
> tmpfs 193436 12588 180848 7% /lib/modules/
> 2.6.12-10-386/volatile
> /dev/hda1 233335 19153 201734 9% /boot
> /dev/sda1 390708800 77912 390630888 1% /media/
> simpletech
> $
> but I don't think upgrading to a 2.0 port is going to change the
> permissions of the disk. I think all that would be accomplished by
> upgrading to USB 2.0 would be to change my slow 400GB readonly disk
> with nothing on it to a fast 400GB disk with nothing on it.
First let's confirm that your external drive is formatted ntfs:
$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

Yes, it's ntfs. So try mounting it using the ntfs-3g driver:
$ ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/usb0

If successful, you finally have write privilege.

If not, you need to install that driver. I don't use Ubuntu
so don't know the details. Once installed, change fstab to:
/dev/sda1 /media/usb0 ntfs-3g rw,user,noauto 0 0
Note that it's sda1, not sda.

I agree that a recent backup promotes sanity. Doing it at
12megabits/sec will provide time to clean the garage, etc.
It will make you appreciate usb2.0 later. You'll see.

I reformatted my external drives to ext3. Better.

Roby

On Jul 5, 7:58 am, Roby <r... DeleteThis @no-address.net> wrote:
> lalawawa wrote:
> > On Jul 4, 6:05 pm, Roby <r... DeleteThis @no-address.net> wrote:
> >> lalawawa wrote:
> >> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>
> >> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>
> >> > My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
> >> > about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual doesn't
> >> > say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
> >> > disk is connected through a hub.
>
> >> > The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
> >> > clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
> >> > assumes you're on Windows.
>
> >> > When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
> >> > filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
> >> > fstab entry that appears is
>
> >> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>
> >> > If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
> >> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
> >> > if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
> >> > total 8
> >> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
> >> > drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
> >> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
> >> > Information
> >> > if I try 'touch a' it says
> >> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> >> > if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
> >> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
> >> > I cd back to /media
> >> > $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> >> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
> >> > $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
> >> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file system
>
> >> > Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
> >> > says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
> >> > 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>
> >> > Any help would be appreciated.
>
> >> > Bill
>
> >> My guess: the drive is formatted ntfs and the "auto" in the fstab entry
> >> is causing linux to load the ntfs driver (rather than ntfs-3g). The
> >> drive will be painfully slow at usb 1.1. usb2 pci cards are cheap and
> >> do a great job.
>
> > I would like to put in a USB 2.0 board, but I absolutely, positively
> > don't want to make any hardware changes to my box until I'm able to
> > back up.
>
> > In the past, I would back up on CD-ROM using K3B. Then suddenly,
> > probably as a result of an upgrade, neither K3B nor the CD-ROM Creator
> > software are able to find my CD burner. Here's my fstab:
>
> > $ cat /etc/fstab
> > # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
> > #
> > # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
> > proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
> > /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root / ext3
> > defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
> > /dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2
> > /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-swap_1 none swap sw
> > 0 0
> > /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
> > /dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
> > /dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
> > $
> > $ df
> > Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
> > /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root
> > 37079744 12680436 22515764 37% /
> > tmpfs 193436 0 193436 0% /dev/shm
> > tmpfs 193436 12588 180848 7% /lib/modules/
> > 2.6.12-10-386/volatile
> > /dev/hda1 233335 19153 201734 9% /boot
> > /dev/sda1 390708800 77912 390630888 1% /media/
> > simpletech
> > $
> > but I don't think upgrading to a 2.0 port is going to change the
> > permissions of the disk. I think all that would be accomplished by
> > upgrading to USB 2.0 would be to change my slow 400GB readonly disk
> > with nothing on it to a fast 400GB disk with nothing on it.
>
> First let's confirm that your external drive is formatted ntfs:
> $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
>
> Yes, it's ntfs. So try mounting it using the ntfs-3g driver:
> $ ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/usb0
>
> If successful, you finally have write privilege.
>
> If not, you need to install that driver. I don't use Ubuntu
> so don't know the details. Once installed, change fstab to:
> /dev/sda1 /media/usb0 ntfs-3g rw,user,noauto 0 0
> Note that it's sda1, not sda.
>
> I agree that a recent backup promotes sanity. Doing it at
> 12megabits/sec will provide time to clean the garage, etc.
> It will make you appreciate usb2.0 later. You'll see.
>
> I reformatted my external drives to ext3. Better.
>
> Roby

There is no ntfs-3g program available, and I went to the Synaptic
Package Manager (where you go on Ubuntu to download new packages) and
there was no such package available for download.

lalawawa wrote:

> On Jul 5, 7:58 am, Roby <r....RemoveThis@no-address.net> wrote:
>> lalawawa wrote:
>> > On Jul 4, 6:05 pm, Roby <r....RemoveThis@no-address.net> wrote:
>> >> lalawawa wrote:
>> >> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>>
>> >> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>>
>> >> > My computer is a Sony VAIO PCV-RX270DS that I bought in 2001, with
>> >> > about 400Mbytes of disk and the usb port is USB 1 (that manual
>> >> > doesn't
>> >> > say which USB version because I think USB 2.0 wasn't out yet). The
>> >> > disk is connected through a hub.
>>
>> >> > The drive is a 400GB Simpletech drive. The specifications make it
>> >> > clear it's USB 1.1 compatible. All the online technical support
>> >> > assumes you're on Windows.
>>
>> >> > When I turn on the disk, it appears in the /media directory by the
>> >> > filename ' simpletech ' (not spaces before and after the name). The
>> >> > fstab entry that appears is
>>
>> >> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>>
>> >> > If I cd to /media and do 'ls -ld \ simpletech\ ', I get
>> >> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 simpletech
>> >> > if I go into that directory and do 'ls -la' I get
>> >> > total 8
>> >> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 4096 2007-02-20 10:25 .
>> >> > drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2007-07-04 14:20 ..
>> >> > dr-x------ 1 wulluw wulluw 0 2007-02-20 10:25 System Volume
>> >> > Information
>> >> > if I try 'touch a' it says
>> >> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
>> >> > if I try 'sudo touch a' it still says
>> >> > touch: cannot touch `a': Read-only file system
>> >> > I cd back to /media
>> >> > $ chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
>> >> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file
>> >> > system $ sudo chmod +w \ simpletech\ /
>> >> > chmod: changing permissions of ` simpletech /': Read-only file
>> >> > system
>>
>> >> > Why is it saying the filesystem is readonly when /etc/fstab clearly
>> >> > says it's rw? What do I have to do to get the disk mounted rw? A
>> >> > 400GB readonly disk with nothing on it isn't very useful.
>>
>> >> > Any help would be appreciated.
>>
>> >> > Bill
>>
>> >> My guess: the drive is formatted ntfs and the "auto" in the fstab
>> >> entry
>> >> is causing linux to load the ntfs driver (rather than ntfs-3g). The
>> >> drive will be painfully slow at usb 1.1. usb2 pci cards are cheap and
>> >> do a great job.
>>
>> > I would like to put in a USB 2.0 board, but I absolutely, positively
>> > don't want to make any hardware changes to my box until I'm able to
>> > back up.
>>
>> > In the past, I would back up on CD-ROM using K3B. Then suddenly,
>> > probably as a result of an upgrade, neither K3B nor the CD-ROM Creator
>> > software are able to find my CD burner. Here's my fstab:
>>
>> > $ cat /etc/fstab
>> > # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
>> > #
>> > # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
>> > proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
>> > /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root / ext3
>> > defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
>> > /dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2
>> > /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-swap_1 none swap sw
>> > 0 0
>> > /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
>> > /dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
>> > /dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>> > /dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>> > $
>> > $ df
>> > Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
>> > /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-root
>> > 37079744 12680436 22515764 37% /
>> > tmpfs 193436 0 193436 0% /dev/shm
>> > tmpfs 193436 12588 180848 7% /lib/modules/
>> > 2.6.12-10-386/volatile
>> > /dev/hda1 233335 19153 201734 9% /boot
>> > /dev/sda1 390708800 77912 390630888 1% /media/
>> > simpletech
>> > $
>> > but I don't think upgrading to a 2.0 port is going to change the
>> > permissions of the disk. I think all that would be accomplished by
>> > upgrading to USB 2.0 would be to change my slow 400GB readonly disk
>> > with nothing on it to a fast 400GB disk with nothing on it.
>>
>> First let's confirm that your external drive is formatted ntfs:
>> $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
>>
>> Yes, it's ntfs. So try mounting it using the ntfs-3g driver:
>> $ ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/usb0
>>
>> If successful, you finally have write privilege.
>>
>> If not, you need to install that driver. I don't use Ubuntu
>> so don't know the details. Once installed, change fstab to:
>> /dev/sda1 /media/usb0 ntfs-3g rw,user,noauto 0 0
>> Note that it's sda1, not sda.
>>
>> I agree that a recent backup promotes sanity. Doing it at
>> 12megabits/sec will provide time to clean the garage, etc.
>> It will make you appreciate usb2.0 later. You'll see.
>>
>> I reformatted my external drives to ext3. Better.
>>
>> Roby
>
> There is no ntfs-3g program available, and I went to the Synaptic
> Package Manager (where you go on Ubuntu to download new packages) and
> there was no such package available for download.
.... mebbe your /etc/apt/sources.list needs an additional repository.

Google search for Ubuntu ntfs-3g returneth many matches, including:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountingWindowsPartitions/ThirdPartyNTFS3G

I recall adding ntfs-3g to an XUbuntu install a while back, so it's
available somewhere in UbuntuLand.

Note that according to fstab, the drive is /dev/sda. According to df
and /etc/mtab, the drive is /dev/sda1.
If I do umount /dev/sda1 it complains it's not in fstab. If I do
umount /dev/sda, it complains it's not in mtab. I'm not sure how to
deal with this if I am to format the disk.

lalawawa wrote:

> Note that according to fstab, the drive is /dev/sda. According to df
> and /etc/mtab, the drive is /dev/sda1.
> If I do umount /dev/sda1 it complains it's not in fstab. If I do
> umount /dev/sda, it complains it's not in mtab. I'm not sure how to
> deal with this if I am to format the disk.

With the external disk not mounted, if you edit fstab to make the entry
/dev/sda1, can't you $ mount /media/usb0 and then $ umount /media/usb0??

/dev/sda refers to the whole disk thingy, including the partition table that
usually lives at the very front of the disk.

/dev/sda1 refers to the first (and probably only) partition on that disk,
located after the partition table.

Methinks the fstab entry should be /dev/sda1 ... unless SimpleTech chose
to treat the whole disk like a giant-giant floppy and so there's no
partition table. I think that's unlikely; may not even be possible.

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:38:09 -0000, lalawawa
<usenet.RemoveThis@ccjj.info> wrote:
>
>
> On Jul 5, 7:58 am, Roby <r....RemoveThis@no-address.net> wrote:
>> lalawawa wrote:
>> > On Jul 4, 6:05 pm, Roby <r....RemoveThis@no-address.net> wrote:
>> >> lalawawa wrote:
>> >> > Hi, I just bought a 400Mbyte usb disk.
>>
>> >> > My OS is Ubuntu version 5, I've recently done the updates to it.
>>
>
> There is no ntfs-3g program available, and I went to the Synaptic
> Package Manager (where you go on Ubuntu to download new packages) and
> there was no such package available for download.
>
You are using an old unsupported version of Ubuntu. ntfs-3g is in the
current version 7.04.


--
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, then
you clearly don't understand the situation.

Roby wrote:
> lalawawa wrote:
>
>> Note that according to fstab, the drive is /dev/sda. According to df
>> and /etc/mtab, the drive is /dev/sda1.
>> If I do umount /dev/sda1 it complains it's not in fstab. If I do
>> umount /dev/sda, it complains it's not in mtab. I'm not sure how to
>> deal with this if I am to format the disk.
>
> With the external disk not mounted, if you edit fstab to make the entry
> /dev/sda1, can't you $ mount /media/usb0 and then $ umount /media/usb0??
>
> /dev/sda refers to the whole disk thingy, including the partition table that
> usually lives at the very front of the disk.
>
> /dev/sda1 refers to the first (and probably only) partition on that disk,
> located after the partition table.
>
> Methinks the fstab entry should be /dev/sda1 ... unless SimpleTech chose
> to treat the whole disk like a giant-giant floppy and so there's no
> partition table. I think that's unlikely; may not even be possible.
>
>
Correct. Mounting the WHOLE DISK is a buit of a recipe fior disaster.
You partition the raw device (sda) to give miuntable partitions
(sda1,sda2 etc.), then format the *partitions*with a file system. And
mount those.

The only operations ever carried out on the raw device would be a dd
total transfer of everything (including partition info) and repartitioning.

Raw disks are almost NEVER mounted.