4

Environment

Ubuntu 20.04

Problem

Ubuntu is not able to access USB drive.

Click here to see Error

Facts

My USB drive works perfectly on Windows.
My USB drive used to work perfectly on Ubuntu 18.04

History

Last week, I upgraded from Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 19.10 >> USB failed to mount successfully after upgrade.
Today, I upgraded from Ubuntu 19.10 to Ubuntu 20.04 >> It is still failing.

Questions

How can I fix my lost usb functionality? Ubuntu can see the disk but I am not able to access it.

Please click here to see it

jet2016
  • 243
  • How is your USB drive formatted? FAT32, NTFS, etc.? Try also checking that drive for errors in Windows if Windows can see it properly. Also, make sure that when you remove the drive from Windows that you choose the Safely Remove drive so that it closes all open files and syncs the drive before it ejects. – Terrance May 07 '20 at 05:35
  • NTFS but the USB drive has no errors. In fact, I tried 3 different USB drives that worked before in Ubuntu 18.04. The problem is coming from the upgrade from Ubuntu v 18.04 to 19.10, but I dont know how to fix this problem. – jet2016 May 07 '20 at 07:52
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    Try a sudo apt install --reinstall ntfs-3g, which will reinstall the Ubuntu NTFS driver. – Daniel M. May 07 '20 at 09:10
  • Perfec!! It worked. Thanks Daniel. – jet2016 May 07 '20 at 10:44
  • @DanielMassey You should write that up as a answer. =) – Terrance May 07 '20 at 14:10
  • I have to wait till tomorrow to accept it.... says... askubuntu :) – jet2016 May 07 '20 at 17:07

3 Answers3

12

This solved my issue:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdb4
sotirov
  • 3,169
Sachin Rane
  • 121
  • This also worked for me (with the obvious modification for my port as /dev/sda1). Thanks. – alpakyuz Nov 22 '23 at 07:23
  • works great! actually, it's only the 'dirty-bit' turning off after unexpected ejects: sudo ntfsfix -d /dev/sdb1 – oyd11 Feb 05 '24 at 05:51
7

From @DanielMassey
Try a sudo apt install --reinstall ntfs-3g, which will reinstall the Ubuntu NTFS driver.

jet2016
  • 243
  • Worked for me too. Ubuntu 22.04, stopped working some time in the past 2 months but this fixed it. – RPBCL May 08 '23 at 05:58
  • This is an odd solution. Why would reinstalling ntfs-3g do anything? It is the same logic of performing a rain dance to stop the rain. Believe it or not, sometimes it stops. – mikewhatever Sep 16 '23 at 05:08
1

My USB drive works perfectly on Windows. My USB drive used to work perfectly on Ubuntu 18.04

The same here. For me the solution was:

  1. Go into Windows. (In my case, a Windows 11)
  2. Open a command prompt as administrator.
  3. Run the next command: chkdsk e: /f ("e" is the letter of my disk)
  4. Restart twice the Windows with the external drive connected.
  5. After that my Ubuntu 20.04LTS recognize it.

Before this I had exactly the same error. For more info about CHKDSK tool take a look to the next article: https://computing.which.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/115005587645-How-to-use-CHKDSK-Check-Disk-to-repair-a-hard-drive

Arritmic
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