External USB hard-drive suddenly won't mount!

[Elswood]

This is what comes in terminal when I input suggested commands:

Disk /dev/sdb: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00017b5b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 30233 242846541 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 30234 30515 2265165 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 30234 30515 2265133+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
elswood@dharma-bang:~$ df -hT
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 ext3 224G 24G 189G 11% /
varrun tmpfs 1007M 140K 1007M 1% /var/run
varlock tmpfs 1007M 0 1007M 0% /var/lock
udev tmpfs 1007M 144K 1007M 1% /dev
devshm tmpfs 1007M 0 1007M 0% /dev/shm
lrm tmpfs 1007M 38M 970M 4% /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile
elswood@dharma-bang:~$ blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="e0e76dbb-4829-4758-93b1-ffbf62e64d94" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: UUID="360e2384-d76e-4a77-adbc-9c2f32d94bb4" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb5: TYPE="swap" UUID="6e43bbcf-e84b-4534-810e-c4c43b18ab46"
elswood@dharma-bang:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=e0e76dbb-4829-4758-93b1-ffbf62e64d94 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# /dev/sda5
UUID=360e2384-d76e-4a77-adbc-9c2f32d94bb4 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,atime,noauto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 0
<device> <mount\040point> auto nouser,noauto,atime,rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
elswood@dharma-bang:~$ cat /etc/fstabcat /etc/fstab
cat: /etc/fstabcat: No such file or directory
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=e0e76dbb-4829-4758-93b1-ffbf62e64d94 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# /dev/sda5
UUID=360e2384-d76e-4a77-adbc-9c2f32d94bb4 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,atime,noauto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 0
<device> <mount\040point> auto nouser,noauto,atime,rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
elswood@dharma-bang:~$

Can someone help with this? Thanks! (It has back-up files I need to back-up!)

[Snowhog]

Re: External USB hard-drive suddenly won't mount!

The last line of your fstab is bad and should be removed or at least, commented out.

How is the USB HD formatted? ext2, ext3, vfat, ? If it's a Linux format, then after fixing the fstab, perform a normal shutdown. Then, attached the USB HD and reboot.

[Elswood]

Re: External USB hard-drive suddenly won't mount!

Snowhog,
I'm a real idiot. Which line is that? I have tried using a LIVECD and the USB external hard-drive doesn't show there as well. Do you think the external hard-drive has died? I will comment out the line you suggest, only help me find it please

[Snowhog]

Re: External USB hard-drive suddenly won't mount!

The 'bad' line in your fstab file is the one I've bolded.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=e0e76dbb-4829-4758-93b1-ffbf62e64d94 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# /dev/sda5
UUID=360e2384-d76e-4a77-adbc-9c2f32d94bb4 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,atime,noauto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 0
<device> <mount\040point> auto nouser,noauto,atime,rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0

You should remove it, or at least comment it out with a leading #