Using a Flash Drive

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Using a Flash Drive
started by: skibum09

Posted by skibum09 on May 02 2008,21:24

I successfully installed DSL 4.2.1 on the hard drive of my Gateway 1150 Solo (2000-ish). I wish to be able to use a flash drive (PNY Attache Pro 8G) with DSL and Windows XP, and I have been unable to figure out how (I'm a beginner). What is the best way to format a flash drive to do this?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on May 02 2008,21:47

Any format is fine as long as the host os can read it.

Posted by curaga on May 03 2008,13:02

Ie fat32..

Posted by shankus on May 03 2008,14:58

mount sda1

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on May 03 2008,17:13

Quote (shankus @ May 03 2008,14:58)

mount sda1

That's not formatting.

Posted by Gustav on May 04 2008,23:36

I use a flash drive formatted in fat32 without any problems. To mount it I use the command: mount /mnt/sda1
But I also have a question: to mount the usb flash drive, I need to plug it when dsl is booting. Otherwise, I can't mount it because it "isn't in the proc partition table". Which is the command I need to use in order to mount it properly?

Posted by shankus on May 05 2008,13:13

mount /dev/sda1

Posted by curaga on May 05 2008,14:15

Gustav: mounting usually requires two parameters, what you want to mount (/dev/sda1) and where to mount it (a directory somewhere, like /mnt/sda1).

If your stick has been recognized on boot, a dir has been created for it in /mnt, and an entry added in /etc/fstab, so you can mount it with only one parameter, and the rest are filled in from fstab.

Posted by skibum09 on May 05 2008,21:44

Quote (shankus @ May 03 2008,14:58)

mount sda1

how do i do this?

Posted by lucky13 on May 06 2008,01:26

Quote

mount /dev/sda1

Nope. If hotplug has assigned it mount point and it's in /etc/fstab, you mount it on that point (in /mnt). If it assigns /dev/sda1 to mountpoint /mnt/sda1, you mount that:

Code Sample

mount /mnt/sda1

You don't mount nodes in /dev.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on May 06 2008,17:34

Quote (lucky13 @ May 06 2008,01:26)

Quote

mount /dev/sda1

Nope. If hotplug has assigned it mount point and it's in /etc/fstab, you mount it on that point (in /mnt). If it assigns /dev/sda1 to mountpoint /mnt/sda1, you mount that:

Code Sample

mount /mnt/sda1

You don't mount nodes in /dev.

It shouldn't matter as mount will look it up in /etc/fstab.

But for Gustav's question, I agree with curaga's answer.

Posted by Gustav on May 06 2008,19:17

Quote

If your stick has been recognized on boot, a dir has been created for it in /mnt, and an entry added in /etc/fstab, so you can mount it with only one parameter, and the rest are filled in from fstab.

And if it wasn't recognized during boot? (ie: I plug it afterwards)
How can I make dsl recognize it?

Posted by Gustav on May 06 2008,19:17

Sorry, double post

Posted by lucky13 on May 06 2008,20:33

Quote

How can I make dsl recognize it?

Hotplug will set the mount point when you insert it as long as there's nothing funky happening with the filesystem(s) on it. All you have to do is mount it, use it, umount it, remove it.

Posted by jpeters on May 06 2008,20:46

Quote (lucky13 @ May 06 2008,20:33)

Quote

How can I make dsl recognize it?

Hotplug will set the mount point when you insert it as long as there's nothing funky happening with the filesystem(s) on it. All you have to do is mount it, use it, umount it, remove it.

kindof like bad sex...

Posted by Gustav on May 06 2008,22:08

Quote

Hotplug will set the mount point when you insert it as long as there's nothing funky happening with the filesystem(s) on it. All you have to do is mount it, use it, umount it, remove it.

Thanks, that showed me it was a BIOS problem (I changed the usb config), not a DSL issue.

Quote

Hotplug will set the mount point when you insert it as long as there's nothing funky happening with the filesystem(s) on it. All you have to do is mount it, use it, umount it, remove it.

kindof like bad sex...

lol