unable to mount location can't mount file

[SmexyPenguin18]

hello i on a dell latitude c500/c600 and running 9.10 and have a maxtor 160 gb external hd that wont mount right. it shows up in / but when i click on it i get the error message:unable to mount location can't mount file. could someone give a suggestion to get this to work.
thanks in advance

[Jonathan183]

open a terminal and post the output of

mount
sudo fdisk -l

with the drive connected, the -l has a small L not a one.
We can see the disk partition structure and if it is already mounted.

[Rubberman]

Also, what file system is on that external drive? Is it NTFS by any chance?

[SmexyPenguin18]

open a terminal and post the output of

mount
sudo fdisk -l

with the drive connected, the -l has a small L not a one.
We can see the disk partition structure and if it is already mounted.

matt@matt-laptop:~$ mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
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)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=755)
none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devgid=126,devmode=664)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/matt/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=matt)
matt@matt-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for matt: 

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000080

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        4771    38323026   83  Linux
/dev/sda2            4772        4864      747022+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            4772        4864      746991   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9503c6ab

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

oh i was told it was a 160 gb the one that is 203.9 gb must be it. i got it from my uncle and didnt know anything about

[yancek]

Your fdisk output shows not partition(s) or filesystem on sdb so there is nothing to mount.

[SmexyPenguin18]

what does that mean?

[coopstah13]

You need to have a partition on the disk and a filesystem on that partition in order to use it. Since you are using Ubuntu, the easiest way to solve this is to use gparted to "initialize" the disk, then put the type of filesystem on it that you want. After this, you will be able to mount the disk.

[SmexyPenguin18]

You need to have a partition on the disk and a filesystem on that partition in order to use it. Since you are using Ubuntu, the easiest way to solve this is to use gparted to "initialize" the disk, then put the type of filesystem on it that you want. After this, you will be able to mount the disk.

oh i see what your saying what file system should i use

[Rubberman]

oh i see what your saying what file system should i use

If you are only going to access this drive from a Linux system, then install an ext3 file system on it. If you also want to access it from a Windows system, then you might want to put an NTFS file system on it. With newer versions of Linux, you can do this with the ntfs-3g driver set.

[SmexyPenguin18]

i made a partition on it and made it fat32 but i still get the error message: unable to mount location can't mount file when i click on it in computer