/dev/sda1 missing

[ericrun]

Hey rafgar, good to hear that that worked for you. I think there is a script you can add those commands too so that it will run every time. I, unfortunately, don't know enough about the startup processes yet, but that would hold you over until your next OS install.

[DoctorDan]

you can make a shell script (like to MAKEDEV sda) and run it at boot time.. refer to this thread (my post explains it pretty well for debian but you may wanna read some other replys)

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/pos...3.html&#301173

[0x0000]

I started noticing this problem when I installed Debian to the hard drive from a KNOPPIX LiveCD - basically, the problem is as described -

1. plug the usb drive in
   
2. observe the /var/log/messages showing the drive being recognized
   
3. go the the root console and type mount /dev/sda1 (or sda2, sdb1 or whatever - none of them work, all fail with no notice in the logfile or explanation to the user)
   

Here is the relevent section from /var/log/messages showing the drive being connected:

Jul 16 00:30:03 juggalo syslogd 1.4.1#20: restart.
Jul 16 00:56:50 juggalo kernel: usb 3-3: USB disconnect, address 2
Jul 16 00:56:56 juggalo kernel: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
Jul 16 00:56:56 juggalo kernel: usb 3-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jul 16 00:56:56 juggalo kernel: scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel:   Vendor: HITACHI_  Model: DK23FB-40         Rev: 00M1
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel: SCSI device sda: 78140160 512-byte hdwr sectors (40008 MB)
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel: SCSI device sda: 78140160 512-byte hdwr sectors (40008 MB)
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel:  sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
Jul 16 00:57:01 juggalo kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda
Jul 16 00:58:06 juggalo kernel: EFS: 1.0a - Extent File System for Linux 2.2
Jul 16 01:17:22 juggalo -- MARK --

(NOTE that the usb disconnect/connect is where I unplugged the USB drive cable from the back of the dive, then plugged it back in - it is connecting to the same physical USB connector on the same USB bridge that it was disconnected from...)

... and here is the what happens when an attempt to mount the drive is made:

root@juggalo:/dev# mount /dev/sda1
mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist
root@juggalo:/dev#

Here is what happens when I run MAKEDEV in /dev ....

root@juggalo:/dev# MAKEDEV sda
udev active, devices will be created in /dev/.static/dev/
root@juggalo:/dev#

... and then mount the resulting [created] node:

root@juggalo:/dev# mount /dev/.static/dev/sda1 /media/sda1
root@juggalo:/dev#

I don't know yet if this /dev/.static node will persist or not.

Also, here is the content of /ect/fstab:

# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem  mountpoint  type  options  dump  pass
/dev/hda2  /  reiserfs  defaults  0  1

proc  /proc  proc  defaults  0  0
/dev/fd0  /floppy  vfat  defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022  0  0
usbfs  /proc/bus/usb  usbfs  devmode=0666  0  0
sysfs  /sys  sysfs  defaults  0  0
tmpfs  /dev/shm  tmpfs defaults  0  0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom  iso9660  defaults,ro,users,noexec,noauto  0  0
/dev/cdrom1 /media/cdrom1  iso9660  defaults,ro,users,noexec,noauto  0  0
/dev/cdrom2 /media/cdrom2  iso9660  defaults,ro,users,noexec,noauto  0  0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd  iso9660  defaults,ro,users,noexec,noauto  0  0
/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 ntfs auto,users,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/hda3 none swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hda4 /media/hda4 vfat auto,users,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 reiserfs auto,users,exec 0 0
/dev/sda3 /media/sda3 reiserfs auto,users,exec 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 reiserfs auto,users,exec 0 0
/dev/sdb3 /media/sdb3 reiserfs auto,users,exec 0 0
/dev/sda2 none swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda4 none swap defaults 0 0

which reflects the actual partition layout of the attached USB drive,
and here is the output of the df command:

root@juggalo:/dev# df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2              5116508   4026720   1089788  79% /
tmpfs                    95444         0     95444   0% /lib/init/rw
udev                     95444        64     95380   1% /dev
/dev/hda4             55306304   2439200  52867104   5% /media/hda4
/dev/.static/dev/sda1
                      13108584  10279532   2829052  79% /media/sda1

... and mount:

root@juggalo:/dev# mount
/dev/hda2 on / type reiserfs (rw)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
procbususb on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
/dev/hda4 on /media/hda4 type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,umask=000)
capifs on /dev/capi type capifs (rw,mode=0666)
automount(pid5348) on /mnt/auto type autofs (rw,fd=4,pgrp=5348,minproto=2,maxproto=4)
nfsd on /proc/fs/nfsd type nfsd (rw)
rpc_pipefs on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/.static/dev/sda1 on /media/sda1 type reiserfs (rw)
root@juggalo:/dev#

While this mounting of /dev/.static/sda1 "works", I have to wonder what Debians problem is, since every other Linux distro I've worked with in the last 7 years or so has auto-mounted USB device partitions "out-of-the-box". What's wrong with Debian? Are they braindead, or just trying to slow down the adoption of Linux, generally? I've been using (admining) Linux and other unices for about 10 years now, and I just spent a good day and half getting this far with this problem, and I still don't have the automount problem solved. I.E. when joe user pluigs in his USB key, it's still going to be a problem.

... And people wonder why - as an engineer - I don't use or reccomend Debian even though I am a vocal Linux advocate ... *sheesh*

A couple final notes:

1. /media/sda1 existed before the mount operation failed the first time
   
2. the code block below shows the result of a mount /dev/.static/dev/sda1 operation in /var/log/messges
   

Jul 16 02:37:38 juggalo kernel: ReiserFS: sda1: found reiserfs format "3.6" with standard journal
Jul 16 02:37:40 juggalo kernel: ReiserFS: sda1: using ordered data mode
Jul 16 02:37:40 juggalo kernel: ReiserFS: sda1: journal params: device sda1, size 8192, journal first block 18, max trans len 1024, max batch 900, max commit age 30, max trans age 30
Jul 16 02:37:40 juggalo kernel: ReiserFS: sda1: checking transaction log (sda1)
Jul 16 02:37:40 juggalo kernel: ReiserFS: sda1: Using r5 hash to sort names