Can't read superblock error with Pen/Thumb USB Drive

das111 · #1 10th October 2004, 12:52 AM

I have a Handy Steno 2.0 thumb drive (aka flashdrive, pen drive, USB drive / jump drive) and when I boot with it in I can see it in the My Computer folder, but when I try to open it I get an error message saying:
Unable to Mount the Selected Volume.
/dev/sda1: Input/Output error
mount: /dev/sda1: can't read superblock

Does anyone know how to fix this?

imdeemvp · #2 10th October 2004, 10:01 AM

1. is you device supported by linux? www.linuxhardware.net

2. this tutorial may help you: http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?p=7360

das111 · #3 12th October 2004, 12:12 AM

According to Apacer's website my Handy Steno 2.0 (TN202) needs no driver to function in Linux Kernel 2.4.0 or above. (See http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english...teno_tn202.asp)

As for the linuxhardware site - I don't find this driver listed there as supported or unsupported.

I tried the instruction in the how-to section and got the same "Can't read superblock" Message.

The drive is formatted in FAT format.

Any new ideas?

bryanjg@yahoo.c · #4 12th October 2004, 12:45 AM

Hi

I got my USB pen working, but only the root can change the contents? I would really like to be able to change the pen from a normal user account. Thanks in advance.

Jim

PS. This may help other users. My pen was actually sdb1, after I figured this out, I finally got the pen to mount. I think the command I used to determine the letter assignment was "dmesg"

imdeemvp · #5 12th October 2004, 01:57 AM

Jim,

if you re-read the how-to in post #6 there is line you can use for the fstab it will mount on any user, check image attached!

Wabbit · #6 12th October 2004, 02:03 AM

The flags for your thumb drive mount entry in /etc/fstab should include the 'user' flag rather than the 'owner' flag.

The entry for my Apacer thumb drive looks like this.
/dev/sda1 /mnt/thumb vfat noauto,user,rw 0 0

Tony.

das111 · #7 12th October 2004, 03:16 AM

I think this was going to work - but somewhere along the way I screwed up the drive. Now the hardware browser doesn't even see the drive and in Windows the Flash Disk Utility provided by the manufacturer can't find it either (even though it is mounted in My Computer in Win XP) - I guess an aborted reformat I tried earlier really screwed things up.

Thanks for the help so far.

das111 · #8 12th October 2004, 03:58 AM

Now I am back to the bad superblock error-
I changed the fstab from owner to user so now it is like this:
/dev/sda1 /mnt/flash auto noauto, user, kudzu 0 0

Still won't mount (even as root). Is it that kudzu thing? because the floppy is fine and has that setting too.

Any ideas?

imdeemvp · #9 12th October 2004, 04:27 AM

did you make a directory to mount it?

das111 · #10 12th October 2004, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imdeemvp

did you make a directory to mount it?

Yeah, I think I did that right. It shows up in the Computer folder. If it shows up in the mnt/ folder then I did it correctly, right? It does.

Saskman · #11 12th October 2004, 05:37 AM

You didn't try to use fdisk on it, did you??

I bought one and tried it, the results were the same. It totally F****D it up. I took it back and got a replacement.

imdeemvp · #12 12th October 2004, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by das111

Yeah, I think I did that right. It shows up in the Computer folder. If it shows up in the mnt/ folder then I did it correctly, right? It does.

yes you did, now does it still work on windows? does it have a secure feture or small softwareapp in it for security?

das111 · #13 12th October 2004, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imdeemvp

yes you did, now does it still work on windows? does it have a secure feture or small softwareapp in it for security?

yes, it work in windows, and i have never used the encryption.

johovishta · #14 13th October 2004, 09:55 AM

das111,
...I feel your pain. I have the same USB key as you brand new...same error messages works fine in Xp
Am workin on it with no luck.
Johovishta

johovishta · #15 15th October 2004, 01:44 AM

hi there,
wee i decided to RTFM (read the manual) for the drive...and i followed the installation instructions .......an well things seem worse than before like it said ideleted the partition tables...created a new DOS table "o" created a primary partition "p" "1" ...."w" wrote it
then i tried to make the filesystem /sbin/mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1
seemed to go okay
howver when i try to mount it with
mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/flash it tells me
"/dev/sda1 is not a validblock device"
Dammit!! !What does this mean? What have I done wrong
Incidentally (im not surprised my USB key doesnt work in Xp now either

- Johovishta