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dj_wheels
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 4:20 am    Post subject: Can't write to USB flash drive Reply with quote

I can mount and read from a 256 MB Lexar JumpDrive Sport USB flash drive, but whenever I try to copy files to the drive with Nautilus I get an error message box.

Code:
Error "Invalid parameters" while copying.


I've tried the drive on a friend's computer with Windows XP and it works fine. Also, I've tried another flash drive and it works fine on my computer.

Does anyone have a similar problem or know how to solve this one?
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yaneurabeya
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check the mount flags (just type in mount)? Read man mount in regards to the umask and owner options.

You should have something similar to this in fstab if you have udev:
Code:

/dev/usbwhatever   /mount_location         fs_type noauto,uid=your_username,gid=your_groupname,umask=002,user
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Cr0t
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:01 am    Post subject: Re: Can't write to USB flash drive Reply with quote

dj_wheels wrote:
I can mount and read from a 256 MB Lexar JumpDrive Sport USB flash drive, but whenever I try to copy files to the drive with Nautilus I get an error message box.

Code:
Error "Invalid parameters" while copying.


I've tried the drive on a friend's computer with Windows XP and it works fine. Also, I've tried another flash drive and it works fine on my computer.

Does anyone have a similar problem or know how to solve this one?
Try re-fdisking and re-formating the drive.
I had a similar issue with a different memory stick.
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dj_wheels
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Repartitioning and reformating the drive did not change it's behavior and I don't see how my fstab entry could be the problem because I can successfully mount, read, and write to another usb flash disk.

In any case here is the entry in fstab:
Code:
/dev/sda1      /mnt/usb   auto      defaults,noauto,users,rw   0 0


I've also tried various entries using the umask property without any success. Perhaps this is a problem with the JumpDrive Sport.
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yaneurabeya
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Run a new instance of nautilus using a terminal by invoking
Code:
nauiltus &


Try and copy to the disk and watch for errors in the terminal.

Also, look into your /var/log/messages file for any usb related errors or filesystem errors.
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dj_wheels
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yaneurabeya wrote:
Run a new instance of nautilus using a terminal by invoking
Code:
nauiltus &


Try and copy to the disk and watch for errors in the terminal.


Nautilus will not run in the terminal, running it with or without the & starts nautilus, but then it runs the gui and frees the terminal for another command. Gnome's Actions -> Run Application also will not display the terminal for console output. (I checked the 'Run in terminal' option).

I have also changed /etc/fstab to read:
Code:
/dev/sda1      /mnt/usb   auto      noauto,uid=wagnerd,gid=users,umask=000,user   0 0


With umask=000 everyone should have all permissions right? But I still cannot write to the drive.

Also, I do not have a /var/log/messages file, is this a problem?
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dj_wheels
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, after some experimentation I have discovered that this is strictly a problem with Nautilius. I can copy files to the usb flash drive using the command line. I also emerged xfce and it's file manager reads and writes flawlessly to the flash drive.

Is there any way to fix Nautilus so that it will properly write to my usb drive?
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Cintra
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dj_wheels wrote:
Okay, after some experimentation I have discovered that this is strictly a problem with Nautilius. I can copy files to the usb flash drive using the command line. I also emerged xfce and it's file manager reads and writes flawlessly to the flash drive.

Is there any way to fix Nautilus so that it will properly write to my usb drive?
http://www.gnome.org/projects/nautilus/
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c0bblers
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

I take it the usb drive is fat16? This is a bug that's been around a LONG time (about almost 3 years according to gnome bugzilla) in gnome-vfs. Basically, to check whether a destination is writable it tries to open a file for writing in the destination directory. This file is ".vfs-write.tmp". In FAT16, thanks to MS, you can't have files with a preceeding ".", so the whole thing goes tits up. I think it should work if you format it as FAT32 though....Anyway, check out the bug http://bugs.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=78486. As stated near the end, the easiest way to fix this would be to change the written file to "vfs-write.tmp"....though a quickly appearing/disappearing file in nautilus (since it would be visible I guess), might be a bit unsightly.

Cheers,
James
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dj_wheels
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, it is formatted as Fat 16, I read somewhere that I should use Fat 16 if I wanted to boot from the drive.

Thanks a lot, I'll try it with a different format.
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metalcoat
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

o man did this help me out alot...i just got the mobilemate107 and it said on the box it was a mass storage drive
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