How to resolve the issue of being unable to mount a portable hard drive in Ubuntu?

2 years ago
Benjamin Taylor
2 minutes

If Ubuntu is unable to mount the external hard drive, you can try the following troubleshooting methods:

  1. Check hardware connections: Make sure the external hard drive is properly connected to the computer’s USB port. Try using a different USB cable or connecting to another USB port to rule out the possibility of hardware failure.
  2. To check the disk status: Open the terminal and run the following command to view the list of disk devices:
sudo fdisk -l

Find the name of your portable hard drive device (such as /dev/sdb1).

  1. Try manual mounting: Use the following command to manually mount the hard drive:
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

Among them, /dev/sdb1 is the name of your external hard drive device, and /mnt is the target mounting point. If the directory does not exist, please create it first.

  1. Check the file system: Run the following command to check the file system type of the external hard drive:
sudo blkid /dev/sdb1

Once you have confirmed the type of file system, try using the corresponding command to mount it. For example, if the file system type is NTFS, you can use the following command to mount it:

sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sdb1 /mnt
  1. Check for filesystem errors: If there are errors in the filesystem of the external hard drive, you can try to repair them. Run the following command to check and fix NTFS filesystem errors:
sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdb1
  1. Update drivers: Make sure your Ubuntu system and hardware drivers are up to date. You can update system packages using the following command.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

If the above methods still cannot resolve the issue, further investigation into hardware or software configuration may be necessary. You can try seeking help on Ubuntu forums or communities, or consult technical support personnel.

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