Mount can't find device in /etc/fstab
Solution 1
Why this error?
You probably forgot to tell mount
where to mount your drive.
Linux uses device files (/dev/sda
, /dev/sdb1
, etc.). And unlike Windows drives (C:
, D:
, etc.), you cannot access them directly (cd /dev/sdb1
will inevitably fail, telling you that it is not a directory but a file). If you want to open a drive with mount
, you need to provide a mountpoint. A mountpoint is a directory wherein your USB drive will be opened and where you will be able to access your files.
Solution
-
Create a directory that you will use as the mountpoint for your drive:
mkdir /mnt/mydrive
-
Mount your drive with this command:
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/mydrive
Note: If you don't know your drive's device file, you can run
sudo fdisk -l
orlsblk
to identify the partition you're looking for. Now if you run
ls /mnt/mydrive
, it should list your drive's files.-
When you're done, don't forget to unmount your USB drive before removing it from the computer:
umount /dev/sdb1
More information about this error
/etc/fstab
is a file in which you can associate a partition with a mountpoint, allowing you to run mount <device>
instead of mount <device> <mountpoint>
. This is why you get this confusing error.
fstab has many more uses like mounting a partition at boot time, etc. More information about fstab on the Arch Linux wiki
Solution 2
sudo mkdir /mnt/spider sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o remove_hiberfile /dev/sda2 /mnt/spider
Remember to replace the drives name from /dev/sda2 to yours. You can find the name of your drives by using the command sudo fdisk -l .
Solution 3
To know your device name use sudo fdisk
. Your device can be recognized by its size, and probably looks like /dev/sdx
, where x
could be any letter from a to z. (Usually a is assigned to your first internal hard-drive)
To mount a usb drive sudo mount <Your Device Name> <Mount Position>
, for example:
sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt
To access what you have just mounted use the position where you have mounted. In the above example I have used /mnt
, so I would type:
cd /mnt
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Double S
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
Double S over 1 year
It is my second day on Linux. I am having difficulties mounting an USB drive. It shows this error:
mount: can't find /dev/sdb1/mnt in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
How can I get rid of this error?
-
Mostafa Ahangarha about 8 yearsHow do you mount?
-
Double S about 8 yearssudo mount /dev/sdb1/mnt
-
Mostafa Ahangarha about 8 yearsThis is wrong. You should mount your device on a mountpoint. for example:
mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb
. Just remember that the/media/usb/
should be made before mounting -
Mostafa Ahangarha about 8 yearsfor USB, it is better it be mounted inside
/media/
folder. moreover,/mnt/
is not made by you. it is built-in folder in ubuntu -
Double S about 8 yearsI created a directory named "media" and a subdirectory "usb"under media.Then i tried mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb.. But it still have the problem : can't find /dev/sdb1/media/usb in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
-
Mostafa Ahangarha about 8 yearsYou have made this
media
in your home directory while we are talking about root directory (/). Run this firstsudo mkdir /media/usb
then mount your USB bysudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/usb
-