USB HDD mounting

[bravobritto]

I just brought an IBM USB HDD. But the manufacture specification tells it is compatible for Windows 98/ME/XP/2000/2003 and Mac OS. How to mount such an USB HDD in Linux ? Where to check the hardware compatibility list for Linux ?

[richiefrich]

plug it in and boot knoppix.. It'll find it.. unless you didnt partition it yet..
then plug it in and

su -
<password>
fdisk -l | grep sd

OR

dmesg | grep sd

then to partition it --> (fdisk,cfdisk,gparted... etc )
then to format it --> (mke2fs,mkfs.ext2,mkfs.ext3,mkfs.jfs...etc)


hope that helps

[bravobritto]

In a live enironment we cannot reboot. So pl. suggest me with a command to mount the external USB HDD in Linux. Also pl. note that the HDD I specified was IBM make and it's compatibility list doen't shows any Linux OS. Your help in this regard is appreciated.

[jan1024188]

hi bravobritto
did you aredy formatt HDD.what filesistem type is it.?
let we say that is ext3
open terminal and type
mkdir /mnt/usb
mount -t ext3 /dev/sda /mnt/usb
that you can mount HDD with filesystem on it.If you havent any filesistem on that hdd please do what richiefrich said

i hope that helps

[bravobritto]

The external USB HDD is formatted in Windows. i.e. it is now NTFS partition so how can I proceed further. What does the file system ext3 means ? Why in some forums it is showing use vfat ? Is it for FAT file systems ? Can I use vfat to mount NTFS ?

[jan1024188]

hi bravobritto
ext3 is one of filesistems for linux
FAT and NTFS are not the same thing.when mounting NTFS type ntfs
mount -t ntfs /dev/sda /mnt/usb
linux can read NTFS partition but writing in it is not realy safe....we warned you
sure you can safe write into fat partitions.....

i hope that helps

[devils casper]

Hi bravobritto !!!

The external USB HDD is formatted in Windows. i.e. it is now NTFS partition so how can I proceed further. What does the file system ext3 means ? Why in some forums it is showing use vfat ? Is it for FAT file systems ? Can I use vfat to mount NTFS ?

ext3 is Linux File System.. vfat is used to mount FAT32 File System... you cant use vfat for NTFS.
with NTFS, you can read/copy form USB drive... you can't write in NTFS from Linux OS... a few third party packages enables NTFS write mode but i dont suggest you that.....
convert your USB drive to FAT32 System.... you can do this using Windows machine...
after that use vfat option with mount and... read/write......

<=== { casper } ===>

[DJ Bless One]

Hi bravobritto !!!



ext3 is Linux File System.. vfat is used to mount FAT32 File System... you cant use vfat for NTFS.
with NTFS, you can read/copy form USB drive... you can't write in NTFS from Linux OS... a few third party packages enables NTFS write mode but i dont suggest you that.....
convert your USB drive to FAT32 System.... you can do this using Windows machine...
after that use vfat option with mount and... read/write......

<=== { casper } ===>

The way I learned to do that in knoppix was this command line:

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

This is the only way I know how to format a external hard drive to a fat32 system without any size restrictions.

[bravobritto]

Hello,

I got the solution. Thanks for all your kind replies. The actual problem is that it cannot be formatted to FAT filesystem even in Windows. Then comes the question of formatting in Linux. I suspect the external harddrive manufacturer.

Thanks and regards
Britto