Score:0

Ubuntu 20.04 doesn't see external USB drive, but powers it

pl flag

I have some external USB drives that 1 ubuntu install can see, mount, write to, etc. and 1 ubuntu install cannot.

The one that cannot does not show the drive with lsusb, nor in any /dev/sd* entry. Of course it doesn't auto-mount.

Neither disks nor gparted can see it either. The only indication that it's even there is when I plug it into any USB port on the machine, the LED lights up. Note that it does NOT flash at all, indicating to me that it isn't being queried.

All the advice I've read so far is based on the fact that it does get assigned a /dev entry, but mine does not.

Any other ideas welcome.

waltinator avatar
it flag
Watch `sudo journalctl --follow` as you connect the drive.
Score:0
in flag

the different in kernel and mod could result in different usb device support. Bad news is that the problem could be very specific to your case. The good news is that one of your ubuntu system is working. So I would suggest you to run following commands and compare the outcomes. My guess is that there is one usb chip driver missing on the malfunc machine. and you need to pin down to the chip dirver's mode name and manufacture. After that, you down load the driver from their home page.

  • lsusb: as you already know, could help with the usb chip name
  • usb-devices: yet another usb tool could help
  • dmesg: some times provide more info than we need, but useful to try
  • cat /proc/version : probably starts with kernel version comparison..
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