Ubuntu 10.10 + USB Drive

[ronch]

Hi folks...

Just upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10. Noticed first that when I insert a USB flash disk, no icon appears on the desktop which allows me to access the flash disk. I've used Ubuntu since 9.10, and this behavior, or lack thereof, puzzles me. Is anyone else encountering this? I've already updated the OS fully but still no go. Thanks in advance.

[bthylafh]

Check under Places in the menu bar, it should be there. I don't know how to change it back to appearing on the desktop.

[notfred]

Not seen that one before. Is it being mounted at all (i.e. if you open a prompt and type "mount" do you see anything in the list for it - path will be under /media)?

Here's some useful info on making sure it automounts and also configuring Nautilus (the file browser - just click on anything under the Places menu to open it):
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/USB

[bryanl]

look in system->administration->disk utility with your USB drive plugged in . That will show you what the system sees including partition type and so on. if it is available, you can mount it from there as well.

[sironomus]

If it is mounting properly it's possible, but unlikely, that you need to change a setting in gconf.

To open it, type "gconf-editor" into a terminal or the Run command(ALT-F2) and hit enter.

Navigate the window to "apps/nautilus/desktop".
Check to see if the "volumes_visible" checkbox is checked.

[just brew it!]

Was this a fresh install, or an in-place upgrade from 10.04 (or earlier)?

[ronch]

Good day! Thanks for the responses, folks.

bthylafh : No, it's not there..
notfred : Thanks, I tried the suggestion in your link. Automount is enabled. But still no go.
bryanl : Sorry, it doesn't appear there.
sironomus : Yup, that's also what notfred suggested. The boxes are checked. No go..
justbrewit : Fresh install. Reformatted hard disk from Windows XP.

Update : I reinstalled Ubuntu 10.10 again, and this time the USB drive is mounted. Thing is, when I 'safely remove' the drive, i always end up doing it twice because Ubuntu will not dismount the drive the first time I do it. Fed up, I just went back to Ubuntu 10.04. It works well enough anyway. No time to look for solutions. It's just sad that Ubuntu always has lots of bugs.

Thanks for all your help, fellas. Have a good holy week.

[just brew it!]

... Fed up, I just went back to Ubuntu 10.04. It works well enough anyway. No time to look for solutions. It's just sad that Ubuntu always has lots of bugs.

I do tend to stick with the LTS releases for any machines I really care about. I just upgraded my work desktop from 8.04 to 10.04 a few weeks ago, and that was more because patch support for 8.04 Desktop will be ending soon, than out of any need for the new 10.04 features. It's been easy enough to set up a VM if I need to run something that disagrees with the old kernel and/or libraries on 8.04...

Sometimes the non-LTS releases feel like they just threw whatever they had on release day over the fence. (9.10 actually wasn't bad, so I am currently running that on my primary desktop at home even though it isn't LTS; I've been meaning to bump the home desktop to 10.04 and just haven't gotten around to it.)

One final question: You did update your installation with all the latest patches, right?

[ronch]

just brew it,

Yep. I noticed the issue before updating. After the update it still wasn't fixed.

[notfred]

I think the problem is that this is a USB card reader and you are doing "Safely Remove Drive". That option powers down the USB endpoint i.e. the card reader and so it will not work again until it is unplugged from the USB bus and plugged back in again. You only want to do "Safely remove drive" if this is something directly plugged in to the USB ports e.g. a USB key or an external USB storage enclosure that you are about to unplug the USB connection on. For everything else like card readers, you need to do "Eject", that will stop the computer from using the device any more so it is safe to remove the flash card from the reader but not power down the actual reader so that when you insert your next item then it will pick it up and work.

It's actually easiest to just use "Eject" all the time and make sure never to click on "Safely Remove Drive".

[bryanl]

re: "bryanl : Sorry, it doesn't appear there." -- no need to be sorry.

The disk utility will show you the stack all the way down. That makes it a decent, easily used, diagnostic to determine what the system sees. That can help localize problems. If the system does see a storage device, you can see how the system interprets the partitioning and formatting of the partitions.

As noted, if a USB drive is 'safely removed' is will be powered down and, if the device supports that function, it won't be there anymore so it won't be visible.