External hard-drive won't "mount"
Posts: 8
Hi all,
I have an external hard-drive connected to the USB port of my computer. I recently installed SimplyMEPIS 3.3.1. However, before I installed MEPIS, I turned off my external hard-drive, just to be on the safe side. After MEPIS was installed, I turned my external hard-drive back on. MEPIS detected it right away and even placed an icon for it right on my desktop. However, it doesn't appear to be "mounting" it (I think that's what you call it, not sure though), so although the icon for it is there, I can't get to the contents on the external hard-drive. Instead, I get the following error in a pop-up window whenver I try to click on the icon:
Error - kio_devices_mounthelper
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so
Please check that the disk is entered correctly.
By the way; my external hard-drive is formatted in NTFS from Windows XP which is what I was running before I became a Linux convert. 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Scott
works in "live cd" mode
Posts: 8
Hmm, I just rebooted my PC, this time I rebooted it with MEPIS running in "Live CD" mode from my CD-ROM drive and it found and mounted my external hard-drive with no problems. In this mode, I can access and see all the files on my external hard-drive. Is there some way I can transfer these settings to my "installed" MEPIS?
Thanks,
Scott
Leave the External Drive On
Posts: 5513
Hi Scott,
I noticed in your original post that you stated that you had the external drive powered off during the install of SimplyMEPIS, but it was on during the Live CD run. Leave the drive ON during the installation. Mepis will not put anything on that external drive, but it will notice it and place entries in the /mnt directory for the external drive partitions.
The /etc/fstab file in Mepis is "dynamic" in that it will change based on what media is installed at the time. So leaving the external drive on will ensure that it's detected.
Once Mepis is installed, there are posts elsewhere on this forum about how to make the mount points "permanant" (I don't have them at the moment, but I'm sure someone else will post them; otherwise, I'll check back and "finish" this post).
Jon
Jon's right. Boot up your
Posts: 232
Jon's right.
Boot up your computer with the external hard drive powered on.
Then, edit /etc/fstab as root.
You'll see some permanent mounts at the top and some dynamic mounts at the bottom. Find the dynamic mount for your external hard drive and cut and paste it to the permanent section.
re-install didn't work
Posts: 8
Okay, Jon and aysiu, I just re-installed MEPIS, this time I left the external hard-drive on during the installation process. MEPIS detected the external hard-drive again (as it did before) but it still didn't "automagically" mount it properly.
Next Step
Posts: 5513
Now it's very simple kc0bus, you just make Mepis work
(sorry)
If I understand you correctly, you do have icons for the external hard drive partition showing up on your desktop (they should be something like SDA1, SDA2...), but when you try to click on them, you receive error(s)? Have you tried logging in as root (it will have a separate account and a red background when you log into KDE) and clicking on the same icons?
Can you please post what is contained in your /etc/fstab file here so we can see what it looks like? Also, from a Konsole window, type in the command "mount" (no further arguments) and post the results?
Jon
You don't have to reinstall
Posts: 232
You don't have to reinstall Mepis. You just have to reboot with the hard drive turned on. Also, it's not just rebooting. You have to edit your fstab (located in the /etc directory). Please follow these exact instructions in this exact order:
1. Make sure your computer is shut down.
2. Make sure your external hard drive is plugged in.
3. Turn on your external hard drive.
4. Turn on your computer and boot into Mepis.
5. Look at your desktop. Does your external hard drive show up as an icon on the desktop? Please let us know if this is the case.
6. Then, look at all the little icons next to your K Menu (the equivalent of the Start Menu in Windows). Hover your mouse over them until you find one that says "File Manager - Super User" or "File Manager - Root User" (something like that). Click on that icon (I think it's a blue file cabinet or something).
7. You'll be prompted for your root password. Enter it.
8. In the file manager window, keep clicking the "up" arrow until you can't get up any more.
9. Click on the /etc directory.
10. Find and click on the file called "fstab." Copy and paste that text into your next post on these forums so Jon and I can help you.
11. Do you see a line at the top with a # in front of it? Then another line near the bottom with another # in front of it? These two # lines separate the dynamic (evaluated every time you boot up) mounts from the static (always mounted) mounts. Your external hard drive should be in the dynamic (bottom) section. Cut and paste that line into the static (top) section.
If you're not sure how to do step 11, at least post your fstab text here, so we can give you specific instructions on how your new fstab should look.
ext3 external umask - mount problem as a user
Posts: 6
I have been searching this information about 4 hours, fortunatelly i've got it, so i share this info with other linux revolution users 
.
Just type in terminal;
'sudo chown -R user:user /media/windows'
*user - type your username(login) like smerf:smerf
*/media/windows - just specify the folder where u want to get rights(permition)
You don't have to mess up with '/etc/fstab' at all, just give permision to folder.
good luck
Can you posted your
Posts: 232
Can you post the contents of your /etc/fstab file?
You may have to specify that the filesystem is NTFS.