Cannot Mount Volume - Ubuntu 8.04 - external usb ntfs drive

[rlj1965]

Hello,

Relative newbie here so please accept apology if I am not well versed in using Ubuntu.

I was using Win XP Pro SP3 on my old machine. The OS mucked up for the last time (crashed so bad so as to require a clean install) after installing a new antivirus program (Avast).

I decided to make the move to Ubuntu. No problem since all files on the primary drive of the old machine were just OS related. I kept all of the important stuff (music, documents, reg codes, etc.) on an external Seagate 500gb drive which is formatted in NTFS. Obviously, the external drive was not disconnected/shut down properly in windows since windows crashed. I purchased some new equipment and decided this was a good chance to upgrade both hardware. After setting up the new PC I decided to use my Ubuntu 7.04 live CD to boot and install to my new PC. The install went really well. I was prompted to do upgrades. After all upgrades were installed I added the Amarok program since I was used to Media Monkey in Windows and read that Amarok was similar. The computer had no problem importing the songs on the external drive to the music library. I am playing songs and loving it.

Next day I decided to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 and set out to do a clean install so I downloaded the 8.04 DVD, Burned it to a disc and then wiped my computer clean. I did the install and initial upgrades with no problem. Now the problem... when I connect the external drive, the OS recognizes the drive, but will not mount it.

I get a box stating:

$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sdf1': Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one action:

Choice 1: If you have Windows then disconnect the external devices by
clicking on the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the Windows
taskbar then shutdown Windows cleanly.

Choice 2: If you don't have Windows then you can use the 'force' option for your own responsibility. For example type on the command line:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdf1 /mnt/external/ -o force

Or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sdf1 /mnt/external/ ntfs-3g defaults,force 0 0



Before posting here I did a lot of research about the problem on the net and have not been able to find a solution that works for me. That is why I am hoping to appeal to a more experienced person to assist me in solving this problem. I do not have a windows pc in the house right now so I am unable to connect the drive and then properly shut it down. I have tried suggestions to force the drive to mount with no luck. I am able to post any log files that are needed if you ask. Please help. Why did this drive work well in Feisty Fawn but not in Hardy Heron?

Thanks,

Rich (rlj1965)

[avtolle]

Quick thought, which might help: is nfts-3g installed on your system? From terminal

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install nfts-3g

If it tells you the program is already installed, then my thought isn't any good. If it installs the app and its dependencies, then after you are back to the prompt, try the mount command again. Good luck.

[MaxGhost]

I'm actually having really similar troubles. I got a 250gb seagate external (freeagent). I just have the 7.04 CD and I booted my computer from it. Windows gave me a Blue Screen of Death, so I needed to drop all my important files from my internal to my external. I got that error too a few hours ago, but I just rebooted my comp and had a fresh boot of Ubuntu...

I made a topic about my troubles last night, but after a while nobody posted in it, didn't get help anymore, so I made a second one...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=835940
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=836196

Let me know if any of that helps you, or if anyone can help me?

[rlj1965]

Quick thought, which might help: is nfts-3g installed on your system? From terminal

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install nfts-3g

If it tells you the program is already installed, then my thought isn't any good. If it installs the app and its dependencies, then after you are back to the prompt, try the mount command again. Good luck.

Here is what I got... paste from the terminal:

richard@richard-desktop:~$ sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install nfts-3g
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security Release.gpg
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security Release
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/multiverse Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/multiverse Sources
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Building tag database... Done
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "nfts-3g"
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "nfts-3g"
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Building tag database... Done
richard@richard-desktop:~$

[rlj1965]

Hello,

Relative newbie here so please accept apology if I am not well versed in using Ubuntu.

I was using Win XP Pro SP3 on my old machine. The OS mucked up for the last time (crashed so bad so as to require a clean install) after installing a new antivirus program (Avast).

I decided to make the move to Ubuntu. No problem since all files on the primary drive of the old machine were just OS related. I kept all of the important stuff (music, documents, reg codes, etc.) on an external Seagate 500gb drive which is formatted in NTFS. Obviously, the external drive was not disconnected/shut down properly in windows since windows crashed. I purchased some new equipment and decided this was a good chance to upgrade both hardware. After setting up the new PC I decided to use my Ubuntu 7.04 live CD to boot and install to my new PC. The install went really well. I was prompted to do upgrades. After all upgrades were installed I added the Amarok program since I was used to Media Monkey in Windows and read that Amarok was similar. The computer had no problem importing the songs on the external drive to the music library. I am playing songs and loving it.

Next day I decided to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 and set out to do a clean install so I downloaded the 8.04 DVD, Burned it to a disc and then wiped my computer clean. I did the install and initial upgrades with no problem. Now the problem... when I connect the external drive, the OS recognizes the drive, but will not mount it.

I get a box stating:

$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sdf1': Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one action:

Choice 1: If you have Windows then disconnect the external devices by
clicking on the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the Windows
taskbar then shutdown Windows cleanly.

Choice 2: If you don't have Windows then you can use the 'force' option for your own responsibility. For example type on the command line:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdf1 /mnt/external/ -o force

Or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sdf1 /mnt/external/ ntfs-3g defaults,force 0 0



Before posting here I did a lot of research about the problem on the net and have not been able to find a solution that works for me. That is why I am hoping to appeal to a more experienced person to assist me in solving this problem. I do not have a windows pc in the house right now so I am unable to connect the drive and then properly shut it down. I have tried suggestions to force the drive to mount with no luck. I am able to post any log files that are needed if you ask. Please help. Why did this drive work well in Feisty Fawn but not in Hardy Heron?

Thanks,

Rich (rlj1965)

I should also add that when I try to mount the drive manually, it tells me that only root can do that.

[MaxGhost]

do the fallowing code to get ntfs-3g:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g ntfs-config

[rlj1965]

do the fallowing code to get ntfs-3g:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g ntfs-config

OK MaxGhost... thats done and I selected to allow to write to external drives. Still getting the cannot mount volume error. Anyone have complete directions for a fix from here? Thanks in advance.

Rich

[halfling85]

Hey RLJ, fellow noob here...

I ran into the same problem and did some google researching and ran across this. It fixed my problem for me. Apparently my external MY BOOK 500gb NTFS HD and yours as well has an internal Log File which says whether or not it was shut down properly. You need to clear that log file and someone somewhere created a very handy program to do just that. Here are the commands to enter into the terminal to get the program and then to tell it to fix your particular device.

sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs

- ok That will get the program ntfs fix that you need the next command will tell it to fix your drive, make sure your drive is plugged in at this point:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdb1

now the "sdb1" is the particular device which is popping that error cannot mount message at you. In order to find out what the device is designated as, plug in the device, wait for the error to pop up and then look at the error details. It should tell you /dev/sdb1 or /dev/sdb2 or something to that extent. In my case and most likely in yours if you don't have any other usb storage devices plugged in it is probably sdb1.

This work like a charm for me, the program ran and cleared the log file, then proceeded to mount the drive for me, I was then able to access the drive.

Hope it works for you to, cheers!
Halfling

[garloosh]

Thanks Halfling - That worked for me. I have a seagate external hd and am running hardy heron

[rlj1965]

Hey RLJ, fellow noob here...

I ran into the same problem and did some google researching and ran across this. It fixed my problem for me. Apparently my external MY BOOK 500gb NTFS HD and yours as well has an internal Log File which says whether or not it was shut down properly. You need to clear that log file and someone somewhere created a very handy program to do just that. Here are the commands to enter into the terminal to get the program and then to tell it to fix your particular device.

sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs

- ok That will get the program ntfs fix that you need the next command will tell it to fix your drive, make sure your drive is plugged in at this point:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdb1

now the "sdb1" is the particular device which is popping that error cannot mount message at you. In order to find out what the device is designated as, plug in the device, wait for the error to pop up and then look at the error details. It should tell you /dev/sdb1 or /dev/sdb2 or something to that extent. In my case and most likely in yours if you don't have any other usb storage devices plugged in it is probably sdb1.

This work like a charm for me, the program ran and cleared the log file, then proceeded to mount the drive for me, I was then able to access the drive.

Hope it works for you to, cheers!
Halfling

Thanks halfling85,

I ended up taking the drive in to my office where I have a few Windows machines. I connected it via usb, allowed it to be recognized and then unmounted it through the disconnect hardware aplet. That reset the logfile and when i brought it back home and connected it on my 8.04 machine it mounted perfectly!

rlj1965