[PLUG] usb mounting issues on Ubuntu 9.1

Jim Beckett beckett.jim at gmail.com
Tue Jan 26 19:50:32 UTC 2010


Daniel Herrington wrote:
> 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,

I'm still pretty much a NOOB in Linux, so this message may not be at all 
helpful, sorry if it isn't. (I've only been running Debian, and 
Mythbuntu, consistently for the last year, or so.)

I have a Western Digital external 500GB USB drive, on Mythbuntu 9.10 
(64-bit), and have seen odd issues with it mounting inconsistently (as 
an Ext3 drive). I think the problem had something to do with auto mount, 
but I never did try to diagnose it.

When the disk did auto mount, it showed up under /media/disk (My system 
picks it up as /dev/sdc, since I have two internal sata drives installed).

To work around it, I just mounted it in /etc/fstab, and called it a day. 
I leave it hooked up to the machine permanently, so this works pretty well.

I'm a bit confused as to the checks you are running... The disk shows in 
your dmesg output as /dev/sdd, yet the commands you are issuing are 
against /dev/sdb1. Is this because you are putting in a different 
computer to run the checks? Or, should you be issuing the commands 
against /dev/sdd1?

What is the output of fdisk -l when it is plugged in?

Does it ever show up when you issue the mount command? (as /media/disk, 
/media/disk0, /media/disk1, etc.)

Can you mount the drive manually on the misbehaving system?

What happens when you run chkdisk on the drive in Windows XP?

Hopefully, this is helpful. Sorry, if it isn't.

-Jim



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