[Brlailea]

I just installed RH 9 today and it doesn't recognize my second hard drive.

Well it recognizes it but I can't access it . .in the hardware manager it calls my second Hard drive

drive /dev/hdc Geom:1092/240/63 Model Samsung SV0844D




What might I be able to do so I can access this harddrive in RedHat? If it helps any to say , the harddrive is formatted in FAT32 and has all backup programs so it really can not be formatted if at all possible


Thanks,
Cynthia

[lynch]

How have you been trying to access this drive?There are a couple ways it can be done but we should look at your /etc/fstab file first;just to see what your current setup is.If you can copy/paste the /etc/fstab here that can help us figure things out.
If you see a line in the fstab that starts with /dev/hdc /mnt/somthing you can try this at the command line:

mount /dev/hdc -vfat /mnt/somthing (substituting "somthing" for the actual /mnt/*,of course.)
If it returns you to the prompt without a error message,then try looking at hdc to see if it worked.
HTH
lynch

[Brlailea]

LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
"fstab" [readonly] 9L, 707C 1,1 All

[lynch]

It looks like you need to make an entry for your drive in /etc/fstab,plus you need to create a mount point:
Open an xterminal and type the following:
su - (hit enter)
enter root password (hit enter)
Now, type this:
mkdir /mnt/fat32(you can name it anything but keep it short)(hit enter)
Next you want to save a copy of your existing fstab:
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.old(hit enter)
Now for the fstab entry:
vi /etc/fstab(hit enter)
hit the "i" key to enter insert-mode
Use the arrow keys to go to the end of the 2nd cdrom line and hit enter to start a new line above the one for the floppy.Then type this:
/dev/hdc /mnt/fat32 auto noauto,rw,user,kudzu 0 0
To save this hit the Esc key and type ZZ
Try mounting the drive:
mount /dev/hdc -vfat /mnt/fat32
Then take a look in your file manager to see if you can see the files in /mnt/fat32
That should do it.Let us know what windows environment you use(KDE or Gnome) and we can show you how to make a desktop icon to mount the drive.
HTH
lynch

[Brlailea]

Thank you soo much lynch!!!

I did all that and can see the /mnt/windows that I made. .. but when I go to mount it , it says :

mount: I could not determine filesystem type, and none was specified





Wierd!!!!!


Cynthia

[codejockey]

I suspect Lynch's fingers couldn't keep up with his thoughts () ... try using the command:

mount /dev/hdc -t vfat /mnt/fat32 (or)
mount -t vfat /dev/hdc /mnt/fat32

(note the addition of -t).

Hope this helps.

[Brlailea]

results. . . .


[root@localhost brlailea]# mount /dev/hdc -t vfat /mnt/windows
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdc,
or too many mounted file systems
[root@localhost brlailea]#

[codejockey]

OK, let's see what Linux thinks is out there on /dev/hdc. Try the command:

fdisk -l /dev/hdc

and post the results. You may need to be root to execute this command.

Hope this helps.

[Brlailea]

making sure before i do this. . it WILL NOT hurt any information on that harddrive. . .

VERY IMPORTANT STUFF. . (in law school)

[lynch]

Thanks,codejockey.You have it about right:slow fingers
Sorry about that,Brlailea.The command codejockey posted using the -l option will just list info about the drive.It wont hurt anything.
lynch

[Brlailea]

[root@localhost brlailea]# fdisk -| /dev/hdc
bash: /dev/hdc: Permission denied
bash: fdisk: command not found

[lynch]

Try /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/hdc
If you typed it like in your post you used the pipe function(|) instead of the lower-case L.
lynch

[Brlailea]

Yes indeed I did use the pipe function. . sorry about that. . they look really close together on the screen


Here are the results

[root@localhost brlailea]# /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/hdc

Disk /dev/hdc: 8455 MB, 8455200768 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1092 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 2 1092 8247960 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdc5 2 1092 8247928+ b Win95 FAT32
[root@localhost brlailea]#

[codejockey]

OK, so Linux agrees with you that your Windoze partition is formatted as FAT32. Why not try this command:

mount -t vfat /dev/hdc5 /mnt/fat32

Note that you are mounting a single partition on your drive, rather than the entire drive (/dev/hdc), which is what previous commands attempted to do. to my knowledge, it is not possible to mount an entire device; you must specify a partition on the device, even if the partition takes up the entire physical device.

Hope this helps -- and apologies for not seeing this sooner.

[Brlailea]

I don't think it likes me



[brlailea@localhost brlailea]$ su root
Password:
[root@localhost brlailea]# mount -t vfat /dev/hdc5 /mnt/windows
mount: mount point /mnt/windows does not exist
[root@localhost brlailea]#