USB Devices

From summer 2007, departmental desktops will be running Scientific Linux 5. Once your desktop has being upgraded the way you access your USB device will change.

From Summer 2007

Gnome

If you are using Gnome or similiar desktop, plug the device into your computer and an icon will appear on the desktop. Double click on this icon to open it to access files on the device or put files onto the device.

When you are finished using the device unmount it by right-clicking on its icon and selecting unmount. After that remove it from the computer. Do not remove it from the computer before unmounting it or you risk data loss.

If your USB device fails to show up on the desktop please email the departmental computing helpdesk.

Command line or FVWM

Two ways. One is pure command line. cd /media. List the devices in /media and you'll see one that should correspond to your device. Change directory into this and there are your files. To write to the device copy the file in to /media/device-name/

The second way involves using a graphical interface


      nautilus --no-desktop computer:/

to open a graphical window showing the devices attached to their computer. There is help given on finding your files via this graphical window device under the write to CD/DVD section.

When you are finished using the device unmount it by right-clicking on its icon and selecting unmount. After that remove it from the computer. Do not remove it from the computer before unmounting it or you risk data loss.

If your USB device fails to show up on the desktop please email the departmental computing helpdesk.

Old way (pre Summer 2007 setup) USB Devices

Accessing your USB Device (from linux)

If your device is a cd reader or writer you will access it using the /opt/med syntax which also explains how to access multiple cdrom devices on your computer.

If your device is a USB disk ("flash-memory disk, "pen-disk", "keyring-disk" etc) it can be accessed using the mtools commands with the "drive letters" u:, v: and w:

u: refers to the FIRST attached usb disk, v: to the SECOND and w: to the THIRD. If anyone needs to access more than 3 drives at once email help@damtp.

You must be logged onto the console of a machine for this to work.

If you attach two devices simultaneously it is unpredictable which will get the first label and which the second.

Constraints on which USB Disks can be used

There are some constraints on which usb disks can be used:

  • The disks must be of a type which we recognise (in a table we maintain)

  • They must implement usb-storage

  • The disks must have a single "partition 1" which spans the area of the disk you plan to use

  • The partition must be formatted VAT or VFAT

The drives should work on any damtp linux RH8 based machine which has working usb support. Not all public machines currently have usb enabled e.g. if the hardware wasn't supported when they were installed.

What to do if your USB Device is not detected

If you have a device which you want to use, which does not get detected automatically when you attach it to a usb port, then run the command

     probe-usbdisk

The output will contain information about known usb hardware, and any usb-storage devices which can be detected. It will also list any SCSI disks or CD drives, but they can be ignored.

If you mail the output to help@damtp we will add your device to our table, or configure the USB hardware on the machine in question.

Windows and USB Devices

Windows uses plug and play so that the damtp windows computers should recognise your device without you needing to do anything after plugging it in. The kind of devices supported are memory sticks, cameras and mice. If you find your device is not recognised email  the departmental computing helpdesk describing the device and mentioning that the problem is on a windows system.

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