This is simply a log of my experience adding an external USB2.0 HDD to kubuntu 8.04
PROBLEM: can't see/use blank/new external removable HDD
SOLUTION: must perform 3 tasks before new external removable HDD can be used. You must partition, select a filesystem, and format it.
After hours of googling and reading various solutions, it boils down to simply a few steps.
1. go to command mode to view the hardware log
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: dmesg <enter>
Now scan display for "usb-storage" to verify that your HDD was recognized.
2. if found, now determine device name
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: sudo fdisk -l <enter> (then enter password)
you should see a list of devices, one of which is your new external HDD
(note if you don't use the sudo command and type just 'fdisk -l', you'll see an error message or nothing at all)
3. now that you have the device name (Ex: /dev/sdc - note no number is assigned to an unformatted device), proceed to partition it.
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: sudo fdisk /dev/sdX <enter> (X is whatever your system device is)
now create a new primary partition and whatever else you'd like to do. I created only one partition that uses the entire HDD.
For more details at prompt type: man fdisk <enter>
This allows you to read the manual (simply press 'q' to exit/quit manual).
I used fdisk b/c it didn't require any additional packages to be installed and is part of the standard installation of kubuntu, but there are many other ways to partition a HDD. One that comes to mind is "Qtparted". This program must be downloaded and installed using Adept manager. This maybe easier to use if you can get it to work. It didn't work on my system.
4. At this point, the external HDD needs a filesystem and to be formatted. I chose the 'ntfs' filesystem so that this external HDD would be compatible with Windows. This however requires an additional software package to be installed. Using Adept Manager via GUI desktop, click Kstart|System|Adept Manager.
Now search for "ntfsprogs" and install it. This will enable you to use "mkntfs" which sets the HDD to use the Windows NT filesystem. Plus it formats the HDD at the same time.
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: sudo mkntfs /dev/sdXX <enter> (XX is your device letter and number; such as sdc1)
5. after format is complete (this will take a long, long time), turn external HDD off.
6. the next time you turn on your external HDD, kubuntu will now recognize your external HDD and a popup window will appear asking you to select an option. Select open in new window and you'll see an empty folder which represents your newly formatted external USB HDD. Close the window and you'll see an icon on your desktop that represents your removable HDD. And just like Windows, right click and select "Safely Remove" before you disconnect it. Then turn off your USB HDD.
7. Hurray you're finished. Your newly formatted external USB HDD is now ready for data transfers. Drag and drop files as you normally would.
REMAINING ISSUES:
1. Although this HDD works fine when attached to kubuntu, attaching this NTFS formatted external HDD to a windows machine is a problem. WinXP with SP3 couldn't read the files I had copied onto the HDD from kubuntu. In summary, kubuntu could read them, but WinXP could not. Fortunately, I had tested this with a small bunch of files before I had loaded up the HDD with 100s of Gbytes of data and discovered this problem before it was too late. The only solution I found, was to let WinXP format the external HDD.
There are a number of ways to do this in Windows, but I chose to use this method: WinXP's Control Panel|Administrative Tools|Computer Management|Disk Storage. Select Drive and partition it then format it. After WinXP formatted the external HDD, it now reads files from both WinXP and kubuntu. Unfortunately, I couldn't get kubuntu to provide this same interoperability.
2. In my quest to complete this task, I came upon many solutions. One of which was to install 2 packages: usbmount and usbutils. I installed them only to realize that they weren't needed. So I removed them. This then destroyed my system. Apparently, these two packages are intimated intertwined with konqueror and network manager and they ceased to function. After usbmount and usbutils were removed, konqueror disappeared and all access to the internet stopped. There was no FTPing, HTTPing, pinging ... nothing! This forced me to reinstall kubuntu and start all over.
3. This leads me to comment on a failed attempt at restoring files from a previous backup. In short, I created a backup of the system using tar and after this disaster struck, I extracted all of these files and rebooted only to discover that this backup didn't work. Konqueror wasn't restored and network manager wasn't restored. So I was forced to perform a fresh reinstall from my DVD. So this debacle taught me that I need to re-evaluate how I backup the system and find a way to successfully test it. I will try kubuntu's "Keep" (backup utility) and hope that it passes this test.
As a caveat to others who might tread this path of reinstalling kubuntu, I did learn something that was useful, and it worked as expected. Fortunately, I had partitioned my internal HDD into 3 parts: partition 1 (30Gb) was the root (/); partition 2 (468Gb) was /home; and partition 3 (2Gb) was "swap". By doing this, it allowed me to format the root partition without losing any user data, personal configuration files, etc. After the re-installation, my system was fully restored as if nothing happened. I didn't have to restore any user data. I didn't need to expand any backup files, which saved me a lot of time. So I strongly recommend that all new kubuntu installations use at least 3 partitions so that when you need to reinstall kubuntu, you will only need to reinstall kubuntu and not restore your entire system.
PROBLEM: can't see/use blank/new external removable HDD
SOLUTION: must perform 3 tasks before new external removable HDD can be used. You must partition, select a filesystem, and format it.
After hours of googling and reading various solutions, it boils down to simply a few steps.
1. go to command mode to view the hardware log
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: dmesg <enter>
Now scan display for "usb-storage" to verify that your HDD was recognized.
2. if found, now determine device name
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: sudo fdisk -l <enter> (then enter password)
you should see a list of devices, one of which is your new external HDD
(note if you don't use the sudo command and type just 'fdisk -l', you'll see an error message or nothing at all)
3. now that you have the device name (Ex: /dev/sdc - note no number is assigned to an unformatted device), proceed to partition it.
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: sudo fdisk /dev/sdX <enter> (X is whatever your system device is)
now create a new primary partition and whatever else you'd like to do. I created only one partition that uses the entire HDD.
For more details at prompt type: man fdisk <enter>
This allows you to read the manual (simply press 'q' to exit/quit manual).
I used fdisk b/c it didn't require any additional packages to be installed and is part of the standard installation of kubuntu, but there are many other ways to partition a HDD. One that comes to mind is "Qtparted". This program must be downloaded and installed using Adept manager. This maybe easier to use if you can get it to work. It didn't work on my system.
4. At this point, the external HDD needs a filesystem and to be formatted. I chose the 'ntfs' filesystem so that this external HDD would be compatible with Windows. This however requires an additional software package to be installed. Using Adept Manager via GUI desktop, click Kstart|System|Adept Manager.
Now search for "ntfsprogs" and install it. This will enable you to use "mkntfs" which sets the HDD to use the Windows NT filesystem. Plus it formats the HDD at the same time.
enter terminal mode; at prompt type: sudo mkntfs /dev/sdXX <enter> (XX is your device letter and number; such as sdc1)
5. after format is complete (this will take a long, long time), turn external HDD off.
6. the next time you turn on your external HDD, kubuntu will now recognize your external HDD and a popup window will appear asking you to select an option. Select open in new window and you'll see an empty folder which represents your newly formatted external USB HDD. Close the window and you'll see an icon on your desktop that represents your removable HDD. And just like Windows, right click and select "Safely Remove" before you disconnect it. Then turn off your USB HDD.
7. Hurray you're finished. Your newly formatted external USB HDD is now ready for data transfers. Drag and drop files as you normally would.
REMAINING ISSUES:
1. Although this HDD works fine when attached to kubuntu, attaching this NTFS formatted external HDD to a windows machine is a problem. WinXP with SP3 couldn't read the files I had copied onto the HDD from kubuntu. In summary, kubuntu could read them, but WinXP could not. Fortunately, I had tested this with a small bunch of files before I had loaded up the HDD with 100s of Gbytes of data and discovered this problem before it was too late. The only solution I found, was to let WinXP format the external HDD.
There are a number of ways to do this in Windows, but I chose to use this method: WinXP's Control Panel|Administrative Tools|Computer Management|Disk Storage. Select Drive and partition it then format it. After WinXP formatted the external HDD, it now reads files from both WinXP and kubuntu. Unfortunately, I couldn't get kubuntu to provide this same interoperability.
2. In my quest to complete this task, I came upon many solutions. One of which was to install 2 packages: usbmount and usbutils. I installed them only to realize that they weren't needed. So I removed them. This then destroyed my system. Apparently, these two packages are intimated intertwined with konqueror and network manager and they ceased to function. After usbmount and usbutils were removed, konqueror disappeared and all access to the internet stopped. There was no FTPing, HTTPing, pinging ... nothing! This forced me to reinstall kubuntu and start all over.
3. This leads me to comment on a failed attempt at restoring files from a previous backup. In short, I created a backup of the system using tar and after this disaster struck, I extracted all of these files and rebooted only to discover that this backup didn't work. Konqueror wasn't restored and network manager wasn't restored. So I was forced to perform a fresh reinstall from my DVD. So this debacle taught me that I need to re-evaluate how I backup the system and find a way to successfully test it. I will try kubuntu's "Keep" (backup utility) and hope that it passes this test.
As a caveat to others who might tread this path of reinstalling kubuntu, I did learn something that was useful, and it worked as expected. Fortunately, I had partitioned my internal HDD into 3 parts: partition 1 (30Gb) was the root (/); partition 2 (468Gb) was /home; and partition 3 (2Gb) was "swap". By doing this, it allowed me to format the root partition without losing any user data, personal configuration files, etc. After the re-installation, my system was fully restored as if nothing happened. I didn't have to restore any user data. I didn't need to expand any backup files, which saved me a lot of time. So I strongly recommend that all new kubuntu installations use at least 3 partitions so that when you need to reinstall kubuntu, you will only need to reinstall kubuntu and not restore your entire system.