Cannot mount USB memory in Ubuntu 12.04

Question

Over the night I downloaded and installed Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop. Since I am yet unable to access my actual installation I boot the Live CD from which I installed (takes ages in a fast system).

I noticed that when I insert the USB stick (1GB) into the USB slot, it appears listed on the window. However when I double click on it or select Mount or Open or whatever it just does nothing.

No error message, no fiels are visible, nothing, it simply leaves me in the dark.

How do I know what's the name of the device? How can I mount it? Why doesn't it mount it on my command using the GUI?

Answer 1

Usually that's due to a bad file system on the USB drive, you can:

1)

Try to scan the USB drive for errors:

unmount the drive, then open a terminal with ctrl+alt+t and type:

sudo fsck /dev/sdb1

Assuming your USB drive to be at sdb1.

If something is wrong with the filesystem, some errors should popup, allowing you to fix it.

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2)

Alternatively, you can use the terminal to mount the drive and try to access it, to check if any type of error is presented.

1. Make a destination folder somewhere (e.g., /mnt/sdb1)

2. unmount the drive (if mounted)

3. open a terminal with ctrl+alt+t

4. type: sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1 (assuming your USB drive to be at sdb1)

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If you don't know the exact location of your USB drive on your system, you can:

Open a terminal with ctrl+alt+t and type:

• To see a list of your USB devices type: lsusb
• To see a super full information list, type: sudo lsusb -v