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Trying to install an external Hard Drive to a Debian/KDE 3.3 system It is not recognizing it. Tried mounting it mount -t vfat /dev/sda /media/extHD It says not a valid ...
  1. 11-16-2006 #1
    er&
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    Western Digital ext HD

    Trying to install an external Hard Drive to a Debian/KDE 3.3 system It is not recognizing it. Tried mounting it
    mount -t vfat /dev/sda /media/extHD
    It says not a valid block device. Is there a driver I need to install so that it may work in Linux?
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  2. 11-16-2006 #2
    antidrugue
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    Quote Originally Posted by er&
    Tried mounting it
    mount -t vfat /dev/sda /media/extHD
    It says not a valid block device. Is there a driver I need to install so that it may work in Linux?
    No, you certainly don't need any extra drivers, it should work just like that.

    Is that a new hard drive ? Did you use it before (ie is it working) ? Is it formatted ? Are you sure it is detected as /dev/sda ?

    Just after plugging the hard drive, look at the output of
    Code:
    dmesg | tail
    to see which device it is.

    Also, check out the ouput of
    Code:
    fdisk -l
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  3. 11-16-2006 #3
    er&
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    This is what I entered. Not sure what it means.

    PIIIVectra:~# dmesg | tail
    usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:1f.2-2 address 2
    usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:1f.2-2.2 address 3
    hub.c: new USB device 00:1f.2-2, assigned address 4
    hub.c: USB hub found
    hub.c: 4 ports detected
    hub.c: new USB device 00:1f.2-2.2, assigned address 5
    WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
    USB Mass Storage device found at 5
    usb-uhci.c: interrupt, status 2, frame# 607
    hiddev0: USB HID v1.10 Device [Western Digital External HDD] on usb1:5.1
    PIIIVectra:~# fdisk -l
    PIIIVectra:~#

    What device do you mount and how do you make it perminant?
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  4. 11-16-2006 #4
    antidrugue
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    You have to run
    Code:
    fdisk -l
    as root.
    "To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From the 'old', you derive security; from the 'new', you gain the flow."

    -Bruce Lee
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  5. 11-16-2006 #5
    er&
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    I have 2 drives recognized:

    hda(1-5) - internal 20G hard drive

    hdc - ? - 4.7G

    My external has 160G and is not recognized in sd(a-p). Is it that my extHD is not partitioned in ext3 or etc?
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  6. 11-16-2006 #6
    antidrugue
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    Quote Originally Posted by er&
    My external has 160G and is not recognized in sd(a-p). Is it that my extHD is not partitioned in ext3 or etc?
    Does this external hard drive works in general ?

    Even if it is in FAT32 or NTFS, it should work nevertheless.

    Which kernel are you using ?
    Code:
    uname -a
    "To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From the 'old', you derive security; from the 'new', you gain the flow."

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  7. 11-16-2006 #7
    er&
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    Linux PIIIVectra 2.4.27-3-386 #1 Mon May 29 23:50:41 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

    I have it installed on a windows xp computer. I had to install it with a cd that came with it.
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  8. 11-16-2006 #8
    antidrugue
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    I would suggest you to use the latest Debian Sarge 2.6 kernel instead, which has better support for USB :
    Code:
    apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-686
    then reboot your machine and choose the new kernel.

    Also, installing udev might help :
    Code:
    apt-get install udev
    "To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From the 'old', you derive security; from the 'new', you gain the flow."

    -Bruce Lee
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  9. 11-16-2006 #9
    er&
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    The new Kernal did not work. Debian is recognizing that the usb port has a Western Digital HD. It is just that it will not assign it to a sda*. Does anyone know what a "DriveReady SeekComplete Error" is?
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  10. 11-16-2006 #10
    antidrugue
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    Still, you did not answer. Does that hard drive work in Windows ?
    "To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From the 'old', you derive security; from the 'new', you gain the flow."

    -Bruce Lee
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