4

It's 4 GB USB pen drive. Formatted NTFS. USB2. Works fine on windows on the same computer (and others). It has the contents of a windows xp installation disc.

...I just cannot mount it. When I connect it nothing happens but I believe Ubuntu can see it.

Here are some command outputs


last few lines from dmesg

[  164.703187] ieee80211 phy0: rt2800usb_txdone: Warning - Got TX status for an empty queue 2, dropping
[  554.953670] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  565.092026] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[  565.227144] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0951, idProduct=1641
[  565.227150] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  565.227154] usb 1-4: Product: DataTraveler C10
[  565.227157] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: Kingston
[  565.227160] usb 1-4: SerialNumber: 0019B9087CD7A9C1164B005C
[  565.227564] usb-storage 1-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[  565.228288] scsi4 : usb-storage 1-4:1.0
[  566.228802] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kingston DataTraveler C10 8.20 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[  566.229160] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[  566.229950] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 7825408 512-byte logical blocks: (4.00 GB/3.73 GiB)
[  566.231158] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[  566.231164] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[  566.231904] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[  566.231910] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  566.237756] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[  566.237762] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  567.282038]  sdb: unknown partition table
[  567.287030] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[  567.287036] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  567.287040] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

the part concerned with the device from sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdb: 4006 MB, 4006608896 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 487 cylinders, total 7825408 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0066cd1f

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   ?          63     7825407     3912672+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

sudo blkid doesn't show the device


Tried to mount it with those commands:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/somefolder/someotherfolder but it gives

mount: special device /dev/sdb1 does not exist

and;

sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sdb1 /media/somefolder/someotherfolder

ntfs-3g: Failed to access volume '/dev/sdb1': No such file or directory

ntfs-3g 2013.1.13AR.1 external FUSE 29 - Third Generation NTFS Driver
    Configuration type 7, XATTRS are on, POSIX ACLS are on

Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Yura Pakhuchiy
Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Szabolcs Szakacsits
Copyright (C) 2007-2012 Jean-Pierre Andre
Copyright (C) 2009 Erik Larsson

Usage:    ntfs-3g [-o option[,...]] <device|image_file> <mount_point>

Options:  ro (read-only mount), windows_names, uid=, gid=,
          umask=, fmask=, dmask=, streams_interface=.
          Please see the details in the manual (type: man ntfs-3g).

Example: ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows

News, support and information:  http://tuxera.com

sudo ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/somefolder/someotherfolder gives exactly the same output as above.


pmount /dev/sdb1 kingston gives;

Error: device /dev/sdb1 does not exist

please help

edit! "Disks" sees the device!! (the Kingston one) ... but what next? disks output

edit: output of sudo mount -t ntfs -o loop=/dev/loop3 /dev/sdb /mnt

NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/loop3': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/loop3' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

5 Answers 5

3

Have you tried the Disks application? (Hit Super/Win key, type Disks) It lists all devices that Ubuntu can see. From there you can see what devices are mounted, edit partitions, format.

3
  • !!!! surprisingly it sees the flash drive!!! didn't think of that! ...but I don't know what to do next.
    – 842Mono
    May 24, 2014 at 16:04
  • ...who gave the guy a minus one!? -_-
    – 842Mono
    May 24, 2014 at 16:05
  • ...though you shouldn't have posted this as an answer, you should have added it as a comment. (rules are the rules).
    – 842Mono
    May 24, 2014 at 16:28
3

Maybe before you have to fix your drive. In any case you will need luck.

  1. Check if it is not mounted: df
  2. Try to mount it, maybe something like sudo mount -t auto /dev/sdb /mnt/. Maybe work with -oloop=/dev/loop and ntfs or ntfs-3g on -t

TestDisk

  • apt install testdisk
  • Run testdisk
  • Choose to create a log or not.
  • Choose the device:

    screenshot

  • Partition table type, probably Intel.
  • Advance > NTFS partition (if available) > [Boot] > Repair MFT

ntfsfix

Fix common errors and force Windows to check NTFS

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdb
1
  • +1. My problem was something else. For my flash drive programs were either unable to mount partitions, or were giving I/O error when making an image. Luckily, I came across this solution and found Testdisk mentioned. I immediately realized it is best if I just focus on making backup of my important data first instead of fixing an I/O error. I used Testdisk and (given that my flash drive was not encrypted or severely damaged) was able to save important files.
    – Firelord
    May 2, 2021 at 23:56
1

Try mounting the /dev/sdb (NO PARTITION number) with the loop option. i.e. treat it as a file you are mounting with the loopback, (and of course, the ntfs filesystem type. Since fdisk didn't seem to see a partition table, maybe it doesn't have one!

sudo mount -t ntfs  -oloop=/dev/loop /dev/sdb /mnt

Check the mount options (man mount). There is an offset, which might help since the starting sector is 63. You could read off the data blocks into a file with dd (again, use the offset), and mount the file with loop, or if you are willing to lose the data (what could be important anyway on a Windows installation disk ; ) , you could try to make a new partition table, using the existing 63 start and 7825407 end.

1
  • I feel positive about your answer; it's something I didn't try before ..but still doesn't work. Tried this exact command and it outputs /dev/loop: No such file or directory. ...I looked quickly at this so I tried sudo mount -t ntfs -o loop=/dev/loop3 /dev/sdb /mnt (notice loop3). I put the output in the main question up. (it looks really bad in a comment) ...I ONCE ASKED ABOUT THIS "NTFS signature" here but no answers :( help?
    – 842Mono
    May 24, 2014 at 16:20
1

It appears there is probably no /dev/sdb1 and there is probably only a single partition /dev/sdb. This is not uncommon.

Open a terminal and execute the following commands:

sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt

If there are no errors, you can view the device in nautilus:

nautilus /mnt

For read write permission:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /mnt
2
  • To be clear, linux sd stands for scsi device, letter behind it correlates founding order. Number after those are partition number, so if you have partition on your device, in linux it is /dev/sdb(n), not /dev/sdb. sdb is second found block device, sdb1 is first partition on that device. Apr 5, 2018 at 16:00
  • I have used sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt and it works! Thx
    – TomoMiha
    Mar 11, 2022 at 16:05
0

Have you tried mounting in read-only mode?

mount -o ro /dev/sdb1 /media/somefolder/someotherfolder
2
  • no good. mount: special device /dev/sdb1 does not exist. thanks.
    – 842Mono
    May 24, 2014 at 16:02
  • I believe it should be /dev/sdb instead of /dev/sdb1 as "disks" does not show a partition for /dev/sdb1.
    – mchid
    Jun 5, 2015 at 8:48

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