External Hard Drive - Can't write files

[Intangles]

I'm trying to use a WD Passport external NTFS-formatted USB drive. I can see the drive under /media, but the folder names are just numbers (001, 002, 003, ...) with a single file 43 byte file named "001" under each folder name. When viewed on a WinXP system I'd see full folder names and multiple layers of folders and files beneath each of the top level folders. Additionally, if I try to create a new folder on this disk, I get a message that "Creating of folder /media/New Folder failed". I've tried playing with permissions, but that does nothing useful. I'd like to keep it as NTFS for compatibility.

My system: Sony VGN-A190 laptop running Hardy with a Western Digital WD Passport 250 external USB drive

My fstab:
/dev/sdb1 /media usbfs defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=6a6c0e3a-d4c4-4745-a3a2-4748a9032b01 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=80653c1a-19c3-42bd-b3eb-f4546e3df249 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,atime,noauto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 0
/dev/sda2 <mount\040point> auto nouser,noauto,atime,ro,nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0

Running blkid gives:
/dev/sda1: UUID="6a6c0e3a-d4c4-4745-a3a2-4748a9032b01" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: TYPE="swap" UUID="80653c1a-19c3-42bd-b3eb-f4546e3df249"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="7894DD4A94DD0C0E" LABEL="WD Passport" TYPE="ntfs"

lsusb gives:
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 1058:0702 Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

K>System Settings>Disk & Filesystems shows:
Removable USB Disk 2500BEV External
1 Partition 232.9Gb /media usbfs /dev/sdb1 Enabled

So ... any ideas?

[burnetbj]

Hello there

I am new but I can try am help with write issues. I know there is a tech way to mount drive as sudo in term but I cant remember what it is and I never did get it to work. However I am able to correct this ext hdd issue by using 3.5.8 or 9 Dolphin and select drive by Ctrl+left mouse then in lower left hand corner you will get option open as root

I need to use Ctrl first or it will open with a single click and bypass the root option dunno why just works this way ........If any pro's out there can explain why KDE4 Dolphin lost open as root function please tell as i hope this is fixed before I have to move to kde4

Why is 3.5.9 Dolphin better then KDE4 ver?

Thanks

[Intangles]

Hey burnetbj,

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately they don't seem to help. Here's what happens for me:

(1) First a note: In Dolphin the icon for the drive suggests that the drive is mounted. In K>System Settings>Advanced>Disk & File Systems the drive shows up as enabled.

(2) When I ctl-leftshift on either the Dolphin icon or the drive icon within Dolphin, I don't get the "open as root option" -- in fact nothing happens except the icon is selected (but not opened). My next topic may be to find out why my ctl-ls doesn't work as you describe .
..
(3) When I use kdesu to open dolphin as root, I get the same results as before:mislabeled and near-empty directories, inability to open new folders.

So, no joy.

About your questions on KDE4, I can't really help. A month or so ago I heard a quote that "KDE4 will eat your children". Make of that what you wish ... I took it as a Bad Thing on a production system, and won't install it yet. YMMV.

Again, thanks for your help here.

Mike

[Intangles]

<bump>