reformatted iomega prestige usb hard drive but can't create folders/save data

[PublikDefender]

Used gparted to format a brand new iomega prestige 1 tb usb hard drive (ntfs) to ext4. The problem is that I can't create folders from nautilus because I don't have permission (root). There is one folder present already lost + found that appeared after reformatting. i can't access that folder because of permissions. Was any of this supposed to happen after formatting an external drive and how can I fix this? I intend to use grsync to back up important folders but can't create folders from grsync also. Thanks for your help.

note: the only account on ubuntu is mine and i have access to root privileges
update: added a screenshot but i am not sure what screenshots you guys need to help. i can take more if you have any requests.

[PublikDefender]

I added a second screenshot of what happens when I show the permissions info for the hard drive. Again, I'm not even sure this is where the problem lies. I just want to create folders for various media and use grsync to back up important folders.

[HermanAB]

Howdy,

The initial disk permissions are set by the mount command (read man mount). If a disk is mounted read only, then you cannot change anything with chmod or chown, you have to remount the disk with the correct permissions first.

[darolu]

You need to add permissions to it using your fstab file, mount your hard drive and open your terminal (Aplications - Accessories - Terminal) and type this in:

$ blkid

It will print a series of UUIDs, corresponding to your hard drive partitions, copy/write down the one corresponding to your external hard drive, we'll use that number later.

Now you need to create a mount point for your drive, in your terminal:

$ sudo mkdir /media/<mountpoint>

Sustitute <mountpoint> for whatever you like.

Now add your drive to your fstab file (with its permissions) type this in your terminal:

$ gksu gedit /etc/fstab

At the end of the file, add this lines:

#External hard drive.
UUID=<UUIDnumber>	/media/<mountpoint>	ext4	defaults,user,exec,rw	0	0

Save your file, and that's it.

[PublikDefender]

When I type blkid in terminal nothing happens. The next line is $.
$ blkid
$

I also unmounted the drive, and then remounted but still don't get anything from blkid.
I then tried cat /etc/fstab but it doesn't seem to show the hard drive:

user1@user1-deus:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=22ddea6d-0ad0-40e7-be68-e281c5f5b27f / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=07a32f7d-fb84-40fb-ba5a-5b382056a6bf none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
user1@user1-deus:~$

[darolu]

Oh my bad, you must run blkid with sudo:

$ sudo blkid

It should print something like this:

dan@danbuntu:~$ sudo blkid 
[sudo] password for dan: 
/dev/sda2: UUID="75670437-949c-48ee-97e8-641633ece53a" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sda1: UUID="400AA41B7790B28A" LABEL="Winbugs" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="7bf127fb-aa85-4bb1-bb38-c32bef9be900" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda6: LABEL="Linuxhome" UUID="cf396376-a6f1-456d-bd37-17dd36922f25" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sdb1: UUID="49B723546D64AA24" LABEL="Pato" TYPE="ext2"

Suppose your hard drive is /dev/sdb1 just like my "Pato" one, then you must add this to your fstab file:

...
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=07a32f7d-fb84-40fb-ba5a-5b382056a6bf none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

#External hard drive.
UUID=49B723546D64AA24	/media/pato	ext2	defaults,user,exec,rw	0	0

Don't forget to create the mount point first; in my example "/media/pato" (also my example is ext2, you have to use your file system [ext4]).

[PublikDefender]

ok, i followed those steps exactly.
I am getting the error message:

Unable to mount i9

Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 1: helper failed with:
mount: /dev/sdb1 already mounted or /media/h8 busy

Also, the computer appears to be reading the hard drive twice. the "new" drive is called h8 and always appears under places in the ubuntu menu. the old drive i9 only appears when i plug the drive in and immediately goes to the unable to mount i9 error.

when i first formatted the drive i used the directions here:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/format...ive-for-linux/

one of the steps i originally followed was:

mount
sudo apt-get install e2fsprogs
sudo e2label /dev/sdf1
sudo e2label /dev/sdf1 “M1″
sudo e2label /dev/sdf1

this is why the drive got labeled i9 (and my drive is actually sdb1). do you think this has something to do with the errors I am having now? can i start from scratch and reformat the whole drive again? what would i have do before starting over?

Update: I tried something else. I renamed the i9 drive to h8 using the command:
sudo e2label /dev/sdb1 "h8"
However, I am still getting the same errors except now "both" drives are called h8.

[nothingspecial]

unmount the drive

sudo e2label /dev/sd?? new_name

unplug then plug it back in

sudo chown -R yourusername:yourusername /media/new_name

You don`t have to relabel it although it sounds like you want to.

EDITED DUE TO INCORRECT INSTRUCTIONS

[PublikDefender]

it's not that I want to rename anything. i can't mount the drive or access it.

another error i get is when i try to "remove the drive safely":
Unable to stop drive
Failed to eject media. One or more volumes on the media are busy.

after i then unplug the drive and plug it back in later, the second h8 drive icon appears on the desktop. after I am unable to create a folder in that drive, i try to unmount it and get the error:
Unable to unmount the location.
unmount: /media/h8 mount disagrees with the fstab

So to sum up the errors:
1. the new h8 icon is in the places menu all the time.
2. i plug in the external drive.
3. another h8 icon shows up in "places" as well as desktop, but an error occurs.
4. next, if you click on the old h8 icon you get: Unable to mount h8. mount: /dev/sdb1 already mounted or /media/h8 busy. mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdb1 is already mounted on /mediia/h8
5. Then if I try to unmount the newer h8 icon i get the error: unable to unmount h8. Device is not mounted.
6. And then I can't remove device safely.

[nothingspecial]

Put a # infront of any line reffering to it in etc/fstab then reboot with it unplugged. Then plug it back in.

It should auto mount, then change the ownership to you with the chown command.