[PLUG] usb mounting issues on Ubuntu 9.1

[Daniel Herrington]

All,

My ubuntu 9.1 machine seems to have a problem mounting large ntfs usb 
disks. When I plug the disk in dmesg says the following:
[12771.531292] usb 1-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and 
address 5
[12771.683769] usb 1-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[12771.685552] scsi11 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[12771.685742] usb-storage: device found at 5
[12771.685748] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[12776.680336] usb-storage: device scan complete
[12776.685757] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WDC WD50 
00BEVT-22ZAT0         PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[12776.686483] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[12776.687629] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] 976773168 512-byte logical blocks: 
(500 GB/465 GiB)
[12776.691242] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[12776.691249] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 38 00 00 00
[12776.691254] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[12776.696240] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[12776.696248]  sdd: sdd1
[12776.730248] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[12776.730256] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk

But then nothing mounts. ls /dev shows /dev/sdd but never /dev/sdd1. 
Investigating further I opened gparted and saw there was a warning about 
ntfs bad sectors and a message to run ntfsresize. The output for that 
showed me:
dan at blackswan:~$ sudo ntfsresize -i -v /dev/sdb1
ntfsresize v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
Device name        : /dev/sdb1
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size       : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 500105216512 bytes (500106 MB)
Current device size: 500105217024 bytes (500106 MB)
Checking for bad sectors ...
Bad cluster: 0xe8dfcc - 0xe8dfcc    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f004 - 0xe8f004    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f0d9 - 0xe8f0d9    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f1ae - 0xe8f1ae    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f283 - 0xe8f283    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f358 - 0xe8f358    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f42d - 0xe8f42d    (1)
Bad cluster: 0xe8f502 - 0xe8f502    (1)
ERROR: This software has detected that the disk has at least 8 bad sectors.
****************************************************************************
* WARNING: The disk has bad sector. This means physical damage on the disk *
* surface caused by deterioration, manufacturing faults or other reason.   *
* The reliability of the disk may stay stable or degrade fast. We suggest  *
* making a full backup urgently by running 'ntfsclone --rescue ...' then   *
* run 'chkdsk /f /r' on Windows and rebooot it TWICE! Then you can resize  *
* NTFS safely by additionally using the --bad-sectors option of ntfsresize.*
****************************************************************************

I then run with the --bad-sectors and get:
dan at blackswan:~$ sudo ntfsresize --bad-sectors -v /dev/sdb1
ntfsresize v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
Device name        : /dev/sdb1
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size       : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 500105216512 bytes (500106 MB)
Current device size: 500105217024 bytes (500106 MB)
New volume size    : 500105212416 bytes (500106 MB)
Nothing to do: NTFS volume size is already OK.

The disk mounts fine on my ubuntu 8.1 and on windows. My 64 bit desktop 
seems to be the only one with these issues. I have similar mounting 
problems with an ntfs formated WD drive as well. Works on the laptop, 
not on the desktop.

Anybody have any pointers for how to resolve this?

thanks,
-- 
Daniel B. Herrington
Director of Field Services
Robert Mark Technologies
dherrington at robertmarktechnologies.com
o: 651-769-2574
m: 503-358-8575