What would prevent removable storage from being writable upon inserting

[malonn]

I have various removable media (several thumb drives and a hard drive). Some is mounted automatically as read/write, others not. What could cause this? I just want to get my bearings here.

 

[kc1di]

Hello @malonn,
Several things can affect detection. First what Distro are you using. How are the media formated what file system?
Some USB sticks go bad after time. Some maybe usb 3 various reasons. Give us a little more info. So usb stick have a little switch that turns off write.

 

[malonn]

Okay. I have 4 thumb drives, all operational. One was formatted with different filesystems for different partitions (ISO 999 and FAT) and didn't I didn't have access. One is pure FAT and I have access. One is ext4 and I have access. The other had multiple FAT partitions and I don't have access. My removable HDD is ext4 (and I think another small partition—it was originally formatted under Windows, so NTFS) and I don't have access.

I'm on Fedora 38 KDE. My sticks or HDD don't have any switches. Thanks for the help.

 

[camtaf]

Windows NTFS requires ntfs-3g
Multiple FAT could be a corrupt MBR

After inserting, run (you may need to use sudo)

dmesg |tail

to see what the system thinks they are.

 

[malonn]

Output from one drive that doesn't mount right:

[ 4358.322084] GPT:Primary header thinks Alt. header is not at the end of the disk.
[ 4358.322086] GPT:4703651 != 122544515
[ 4358.322087] GPT:Alternate GPT header not at the end of the disk.
[ 4358.322088] GPT:4703651 != 122544515
[ 4358.322089] GPT: Use GNU Parted to correct GPT errors.
[ 4358.322093]  sdd: sdd1 sdd2 sdd3
[ 4358.322282] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 4358.468809] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[ 4358.472372] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[ 4358.473370] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A

This particular thumby was formatted by Baelena Ether. Can you kinda decipher that for me. I can always take to the net, but since you're here...

The other two that don't mount with read/write access have entries in fstab 'cause I got frustrated and took the hard approach to making them work right. But, I was told that using fstab is kinda a long-winded approach, and shouldn't be ncessary.

 

[camtaf]

I seldom use (g)parted, but it looks like it should fix it.....

GPT: Use GNU Parted to correct GPT errors.

This may help - https://gparted.org/display-doc.php?name=help-manual#gparted-attempt-data-rescue

 

[malonn]

I'm hesitant to download gparted when I have KDE Partition Manager already installed. I think it's the fault of (with this particular drive) BalenaEtcher. I can just reformat in KDE PM, maybe.

Thanks for

dmesg | tail

. Is handy.

 

[wizardfromoz]

That's

dmesg | tail

Wizard

 

[malonn]

Oh yeah. Typo.

 

[sphen]

Oh yeah. Typo.

Look at your post, and you will see a small "Edit" link at the bottom of the post. You can make corrections or additions as needed. If you save the edit more than two minutes after your original post, there will be a small label that shows the edit date and time, in addition to the regular time stamp on your post.

They may block editing a post after a long period of time, but you have at least a day or two to edit your post(s) at Linux.org as of today.

(Writing only for myself: My posts are bad enough. Thank goodness for that Edit link!)

P.S. This post was edited after it was originally put up. Look for the "Last edited" timestamp in the lower right corner of this post.

 

[malonn]

Haha, I feel sheepish. All forum software has post editing capabilities, and I am quite familiar with it. But, I just never thought to edit the post. Thanks for the input. This site touts being a helpful place, and so far my experience backs that up.