Automount not working! any ideas?

[Muttley]

I'm a new linux user with Kubuntu on my eee pc. This is may last resort as i've read all the how-to's to solve this.

I have formatted my 8 Gig SD card with a 200Mb swap file and the reast as ext2. My problem is it won't mount on startup and will not allow me as a user to mount from KDE. Although I can mount and unmount as root.

This is what I have done;

Chmod 777 my mount point for the card (/media/sdb1)
chown david /media/sdb1
altered my fstab file as shown:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=b2ea2642-6e60-4ad7-a059-2e64b9210668 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/sdb1 /media/SD_Card ext2 rw,auto,user,exec,sync 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /swap swap pri=42 0 0

Also, when i plug in my external USB drive the USB icon appears on the desktop and the SD card icon will appear and will mount!!!

Thanks in advance!

[integr8e]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

You may need to swap the location of each partition with the partitions' UUID; that will make sure the partition is read as it should, no matter if its location changes from /dev/sdb1 to /dev/sdc1.

To find the UUID of your partitions, run the command

sudo vol_id -u /dev/sd**

Where "sd**" is the drive and partition you're trying to identify. Say I wanted to identify my /dev/sda1 partition, this would be the output of the above command:

~$ sudo vol_id -u /dev/sda1
08F8ADE2F8ADCDEE

08F8ADE2F8ADCDEE is the partition's UUID. Then, just replace the partition's location in your fstab with its UUID. I would change my fstab from looking like

/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ext3 defaults 0 0

to

UUID=08F8ADE2F8ADCDEE /media/sda1 ext3 defaults 0 0

Try changing yours accordingly; if that doesn't work, I'll try to think of something else

[Snowhog]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

Understand, and keep in mind, that the fstab file exists to identify permanent (read:non-removable) devices. That's why removeable media storage devices aren't normally present in the fstab file. If they were, and you didn't have then connected at boot time, you end up with problems. But, if you intend to have the SD card connected all the time, then adding it to the fstab file with it's UUID designation should, as integr8e described, work.

The issue with USB devices, and why you want to identify them by UUID as opposed to /dev/xxxx, is that they get identified during boot in no certain order. When one only has a single USB device connected, it will always be given the same /dev/xxxx designation. But if you have more than one USB device connected, the /dev/xxxx designation is subject to being different every time you boot. This is why using UUID instead, works for USB devices in the fstab file.

[Muttley]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

Thanks for the prompt reply!

I've changed the device name to show the UUID as you both suggested but there is no change. I looked in mstab and it shows the device listed (as /dev/sdb1 not by UUID) so from what I have read, that means the system has auto-mounted the device?
It seems strange that when i connect my USB stick, both the stick and the SD_Card appear as icons on the desktop.
I have Kwikdisk installed and when i try and mount/umount the device it tells me I need to be superuser to do this. As you may know, the eee pc only has a 4 Gig internal drive so I bought the 8 Gig SD card as a permanent 'internal' drive and don't intend to remove it. If this device is mounted, I should see an icon on the desktop, shouldn't I?

Permissions? But, I did chown and chmod the mount point, would I need to chmod the executing file that mounts the devices? -guessing again!

[Snowhog]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

Unless configured to do so, no, mounted HD partitions aren't displayed on the desktop. Looking over your posted fstab file, I see 'errors' that you need to correct. Your posted fstab:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=b2ea2642-6e60-4ad7-a059-2e64b9210668 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/sdb1 /media/SD_Card ext2 rw,auto,user,exec,sync 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /swap swap pri=42 0 0

You need to change the mount priority on /dev/scd0, /dev/sdb1, and /dev/sdb2 from 0 to 2 so the fstab file looks like this:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=b2ea2642-6e60-4ad7-a059-2e64b9210668 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 2
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/sdb1 /media/SD_Card ext2 rw,auto,user,exec,sync 0 2
/dev/sdb2 /swap swap pri=42 0 2

[Muttley]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

I changed the priority as you suggested Snowhog. The reason I wanted the SD card to display an icon on the desktop was because a large part of the drive needs to be accessed by myself on a regular basis. Do you know how I can show the icon at bootup?

Thanks again for the advice!

[Snowhog]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

I've not found this to 'always' work, however.

K Menu | System Settings | Desktop | Behavior | Device Icons | Device Types to Display

Click on the devices you want displayed on the desktop.

[Muttley]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

I've not found this to 'always' work, however.

K Menu | System Settings | Desktop | Behavior | Device Icons | Device Types to Display

Click on the devices you want displayed on the desktop.

I have enabled them all and still no icon. How can I change permissions to mount and unmount the device? did i do something wrong above with chmod and chown?

[Snowhog]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

Mount points are owned by root. Keep in mind, that during system start, the mounting of devices is performed before the user logs in, meaning that root is performing the mounting. If you check /media with ls -l /media you will see that ownership and group for the mount points is root root

[Muttley]

Re: Automount not working! any ideas?

My SD_Card ownership was set to be owned by myself so I changed it back to root. I'd moved from Gnome desktop to try KDE. think I may go back to it. Do you think I should try KDE4? and would it solve my problem above?