how to start up automountd (simple steps, please)

JinxsBSD

JinxsBSD

I've been trying to mount some USB sticks and drives, and can't seem to find the device to use to mount them (e.g., /dev/sda2) and then mount that to a directory. Frankly, I'd rather just have it automatically mounted for me, as I'm transferring stuff on USB drives because networking on my Slackware system (primary) is currently nonop.

I'm just setting up this relatively new $20 Dell desktop, and am running on very low energy levels (most cancer survivors and/or caretakers will know what I mean when I mention negative energy levels and why I don't want to go there). After three brain tumors (cancer #1, 2006--7, 2nd met), I sometimes need things explained to me in terminology like a rank newbie needs, despite the years of working with Unix variants (prefer BSD always). When you have a fracked up brain, plus chemobrain from harsh chemo, past experience often isn't very helpful.

I do have another question, but that's for a second thread.

Thanks
 
The name of a newly attached device should show up in the last 20 or so lines of dmesg output. That's where I look when I manually mount sticks.
 
This is what I get:
Code: 
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI sense: ILLEGAL REQUEST asc:20,0 (Invalid command operation code)
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): Info: 0
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): Error 22, Unretryable error
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus6 target 0 lun 0
da0: <USB3.2 FLASH DRIVE 8.01> Removable Direct Access SPC-4 SCSI device
da0: Serial Number 8AF254EB
da0: 400.000MB/s transfers
da0: 237400MB (486195200 512 byte sectors)
da0: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE>
ugen0.6: <USB3.2 FLASH DRIVE> at usbus0 (disconnected)
umass0: at uhub0, port 17, addr 10 (disconnected)
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus6 target 0 lun 0
da0: <USB3.2 FLASH DRIVE 8.01>  s/n 8AF254EB detached
(da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): Periph destroyed
umass0: detached
I have not unplugged the USB stick, and it's a new one, first time ever plugged into a USB port.

So which is the block device to mount it on? da0? umass0? Here's what I get:
Code: 
root@JinxsBSD:~ # mount /dev/umass0 t
mount: /dev/umass0: Invalid fstype: Invalid argument

root@JinxsBSD:~ # mount /dev/da0 t
mount: /dev/da0: Invalid fstype: Invalid argument
So I'm missing something (and given that during my first cancer, I had a large tumor in my left occipital lobe, which processes vision, it's not surprising). I'm probably looking right at it and not seeing it.

Thanks
 
JinxsBSD said:
So which is the block device to mount it on? da0?
Click to expand...
That depends on what is on the stick. After plugging it in, dmesg will show you the name of the device, da0 in your case. Next step is to see what is already on the stick: boot sectors, slices, partitions, file systems...
You can do that with ls -1 /dev/da0*. Then for each entry, e.g. da0s1, try file -bs da0s1. That should give you the info that you are looking for.
 
JinxsBSD said:
So which is the block device to mount it on? da0? umass0?
Click to expand...
It was da0. But there's an error before it detects the device, followed by disconnects of the device. So it's never attaching properly. Which is why da0 doesn't exist and/or give an error trying to mount it.

I typically do tail -F /var/log/messages, then plug the device in. Watch the messages. If it starts off with an error that's a bad sign.
 
Hmm. The "da0 disconnected/detached/destroyed" messages indicate a problem with the stick. Maybe you can rescue the stick by plugging it into a different system (Windows?) and see if it is recognized. If not, it's time to get a new stick.
 
It's a brand new stick, but I'll test it on my ancient Mint system. I got rid of M$ CrashOS 10 for my Slackware system and for this $20 Dell desktop with FreeBSD 13.2-RELEASE (thanks, uname).

I mounts instantly on my ancient Mint system.

OT Rant: (apologies) Firefox is about to get FIRED. Every time I see the notifications indicator up, I click on it, check it out, and close its tab, and the current tab that I was in is history. Totally UNSAT. There used to be an extension that fixed that. But Mozilla deliberately did away with it and countless other great extensions. Even the esr releases don't bring them all back. How is Opera on FreeBSD?

Thanks
 
I used to have trouble with auto-mounting until I realized that the stick is just not seated properly. In my case, just clearing some junk off my desk and making sure everything can lay flat - that did make a difference.

Oh, and if you don't like Firefox, a usable alternative is Chromium. I think there's even a 'De-Googled' version available in ports... Changing the user-agent string is easier in FF, though.
 
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