mounting WD 500GB USB ext HDD, rare

[soccercisco]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

I recently bought an external HDD 500GB for backup purposes. The drive comes already formatted in FAT32. I have all my files in there and I was able to access this drive using the SimpleMEPIS distro (which I am using for an online Linux course).

When I switched back to my good'ol Debian, I checked the fstab file and the drive is recognized, although, when I try to mount it, Debian asks me to specify the filesystem type (odd, since in fstab I had auto).

Well, I tried vfat, VFAT, fat32, FAT32, fat, FAT; I also tried fiddling with the fstab file (specifying the actual filesystem type, which I know is fat32, but just for the heck of it I tried all other types).

This is my output of the dmesg | tail command:

usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:1d.7-1 address 2
hub.c: new USB device 00:1d.7-1, assigned address 3
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 3
input: USB HID v1.11 Device [Western Digital External HDD] on usb5:3.1
FAT: bogus logical sector size 64543
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:00.
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]
FAT: bogus logical sector size 64543
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:00.

Any thoughts, other than reformatting the drive (also, if reformatting is the only option, could you instruct me how to do it properly?).

Thanks,

-A newb

[soccercisco]

Hi all,

I am one happy newb, I solved the problem

I have seen a couple of threads regarding WD HDD. For those of you who don't know, they have good deals on these 500GB units for about $0.43/Gig.

Anyway, so after trying, and trying, and trying... I decided to modify the HDD name on the fstab file:

I changed the original name /dev/hda to /dev/hda1 and miracously that solved the issue!!! Recommendation for all of us... When stuck, walk away from the problem, and when you come back the answer will be right in front of you!

Debian rules!

-A newb