Mount point does not exist

[claydoh]

Good luck!

It isn't necessarily the specific incident here; it is the collection of symptoms that very heavily point to damage or failure.

[Jeremy_Ray]

It seems like others have had trouble mounting their Western Digital external hard drives.

I'm going to keep looking into it. I've recovered a "dead" hard drive before, and this one didn't take a hard impact. I could be wrong, but IMO it should not be physically damaged. It's also the newest and least used of my hard drives.

[claydoh]

It is you not accepting that the drive is damaged, is what it is.

Hate saying it because it stinks that it happened.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Windows 10 detected the drive, and said it was setting up the drive, then came back with the error message "driver is unavailable." Is that an issue with the drive, or Windows 10 support shutting down?

I doubt the drive hit hard enough to break it. I took one apart to see what was in there. The internals are simple and strong. They're actually pretty hard to take apart.

[Jeremy_Ray]

I'll try it on my Windows laptop tomorrow.

As for tonight, I deleted the easystore directory and rebooted. The easystore no longer shows up in Partion Manager. Lsusb was able to see it on boot. No need to unplug/replug this time. The power light on the external hard drive is staying on too. Last time, it was blinking.

[Snowhog]

I think you need to accept that, as claydoh opined, something inside the device broke when you knocked it to the floor.

[Jeremy_Ray]

I ran KDE Partition Manager, and it says about the Easystore "No valid partition table was found on this device"



I am wondering if Partition Manager is looking at the actual drive, or if it is seeing a mount point that points to nothing -

jeremy@jeremy-ga990fxaud3:/media/jeremy$ ls
848B-3B9A arcadia easystore manon

Here are the current contents of my fstab -

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
UUID=a878a7ce-fe90-4a42-a733-f9ff00392eff / ext4 discard 0 1
/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
#/dev/sdd1 /media/jeremy/easystore ext4 defaults 0 0

Perhaps I need to do something like sudo rmdir /media/jeremy/easystore and reboot?

[Jeremy_Ray]

Looks like the same output -

/dev/sdb1: LABEL="manon" UUID="b0ef4b51-acaf-4b46-a13a-efe53957dd40" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00017ea0-01"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="arcadia" UUID="c02bdb95-bfb3-4846-a499-e016ce1009dd" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00082ee7-01"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="kubuntu_2404" UUID="a878a7ce-fe90-4a42-a733-f9ff00392eff" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="8400f40b-02"
/dev/sda3: UUID="0b20d7e2-2c3f-4661-86b9-69c5c859dd23" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="8400f40b-03"
/dev/sda1: UUID="848B-3B9A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="8400f40b-01"
/dev/loop1: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop19: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop27: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop17: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop8: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop25: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop15: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop6: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop23: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop13: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop4: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop21: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop11: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop2: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop0: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop18: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop9: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop26: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop16: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop7: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop24: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop14: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop5: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop22: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop12: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop3: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop20: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop10: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"

[Snowhog]

Blkid does not appear to see it -

Try sudo blkid

[Jeremy_Ray]

I came across a .sh script I had been using at one point to keep usb devices on -

#!/bin/bash

for dev in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/power/control; do
echo $dev
echo on > $dev
done

I've added this to System Settings>Autostart as a Login Script. Incidentally, I found a comment saying login scripts need to be in the format -

#!/bin/bash

# Wait for the GUI to be ready
while [[ ! $(pgrep plasmashell) ]]; do sleep 1; done

# Do what I want

- so I'll make a note of that here, in case my script doesn't work.

Hopefully I can move on to addressing the original problem, which is "how to mount the external hard drive?"

Lsusb shows it -

Bus 005 Device 007: ID 1058:2624 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. easystore Portable 5TB (WDBKUZ0050)

Blkid does not appear to see it -

/dev/sdb1: LABEL="manon" UUID="b0ef4b51-acaf-4b46-a13a-efe53957dd40" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00017ea0-01"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="arcadia" UUID="c02bdb95-bfb3-4846-a499-e016ce1009dd" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00082ee7-01"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="kubuntu_2404" UUID="a878a7ce-fe90-4a42-a733-f9ff00392eff" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="8400f40b-02"
/dev/sda3: UUID="0b20d7e2-2c3f-4661-86b9-69c5c859dd23" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="8400f40b-03"
/dev/sda1: UUID="848B-3B9A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="8400f40b-01"
/dev/loop1: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop19: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop27: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop17: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop8: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop25: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop15: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop6: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop23: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop13: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop4: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop21: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop11: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop2: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop0: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop18: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop9: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop26: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop16: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop7: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop24: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop14: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop5: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop22: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop12: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop3: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop20: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop10: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"

So where do I go from here?

[Jeremy_Ray]

The internal drives show with blkid.

Here's how lsusb shows the external HD entry -

Bus 003 Device 008: ID 1058:2624 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. easystore Portable 5TB (WDBKUZ0050)

Here's the output of blkid -

/dev/sdb1: LABEL="manon" UUID="b0ef4b51-acaf-4b46-a13a-efe53957dd40" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00017ea0-01"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="arcadia" UUID="c02bdb95-bfb3-4846-a499-e016ce1009dd" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00082ee7-01"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="kubuntu_2404" UUID="a878a7ce-fe90-4a42-a733-f9ff00392eff" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="8400f40b-02"
/dev/sda3: UUID="0b20d7e2-2c3f-4661-86b9-69c5c859dd23" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="8400f40b-03"
/dev/sda1: UUID="848B-3B9A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="8400f40b-01"
/dev/loop1: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop19: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop17: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop8: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop15: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop6: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop13: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop4: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop21: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop11: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop2: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop0: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop18: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop9: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop16: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop7: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop14: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop5: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop22: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop12: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop3: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop20: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/loop10: BLOCK_SIZE="131072" TYPE="squashfs"

That's after replugging the external so lsusb can see it. I don't think the external is in there. Sda1-3 are, I believe, partitions on the flash drive I boot from, and sdb1 and sdc1 are the other two internal hard drives.

[jlittle]

Wouldn't the usb connectivity issue need to be solved first?

Do they show running sudo blkid? If so, you've got past a USB problem.

In my case failed mounts using the device notifier sometimes caused confusion, with drives becoming stuck until a system restart; even unplugging them and powering them off wouldn't allow a successful mount on being attached again. I learned not to do that.

If the drive has no label you can use the "KDE Partition Manager" or gparted to set one. I find such labels easy to work with, compared to the UUIDs claydoh has suggested.

I'm not sure your problems and mine have the same cause, especially as you're on 24.04. I had no trouble till 25.10.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Some of the external drives that before 25.10 automatically popped up inviting a mount stopped working for me, and btrfs drives gave problems I've discussed in another thread.

IMO something changed in this behaviour causing trouble for some users.

My workaround has been to add the drives to /etc/fstab, with options noauto,user, mounting by label in case the device changes. F.ex. :

LABEL=othniel /mnt/othniel btrfs noatime,noauto,user 0 2
LABEL=noah /mnt/noah btrfs noatime,noauto,user 0 2
LABEL=saul /mnt/saul btrfs noatime,noauto,user 0 2
LABEL=micah /mnt/micah btrfs noatime,noauto,user 0 2

then, I can click on them in dolphin.

Do you see the drives in system settings, disks & cameras, device auto-mount, disconnected devices? Only some of mine do.

The external hard drive does not show up in system settings>Removeable Storage>Removable Devices>Disconnected Devices (or Attached Devices - the internal hard drives are visible in Attached Devices). The external hard drive is also absent from the Digital Camera section. Even if I replug the USB cable, the external hard drive does not appear.

This is how my external hard drive appears in lsusb -

Bus 003 Device 000: ID 1058:2624 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. easystore Portable 5TB (WDBKUZ0050)

What should I enter in fstab?

Wouldn't the usb connectivity issue need to be solved first?

[jlittle]

Some of the external drives that before 25.10 automatically popped up inviting a mount stopped working for me, and btrfs drives gave problems I've discussed in another thread.

IMO something changed in this behaviour causing trouble for some users.

My workaround has been to add the drives to /etc/fstab, with options noauto,user, mounting by label in case the device changes. F.ex. :

LABEL=othniel /mnt/othniel       btrfs   noatime,noauto,user                0 2
LABEL=noah    /mnt/noah          btrfs   noatime,noauto,user                0 2
LABEL=saul    /mnt/saul          btrfs   noatime,noauto,user                0 2
LABEL=micah   /mnt/micah         btrfs   noatime,noauto,user                0 2

then, I can click on them in dolphin.

Do you see the drives in system settings, disks & cameras, device auto-mount, disconnected devices? Only some of mine do.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Why doesn't the external hard drive automatically connect on boot? It is plugged into a USB port. I boot up, run lsusb, it does not show. I unplug/replug the cable, run lsusb, now the hard drive is there. But it disconnects after a few minutes, and I have to repeat the process for lsusb to find it again.

In the distant past, when I booted up, the external hard drive was mounted and ready to go. I suppose, for security reasons, we can't have nice things anymore. Now none of my hard drives mount automatically, but at least the two internal drives show up in dolphin and all I have to do to mount them is click on them. Before I reinstalled the OS yesterday, the external didn't show up at all in dolphin until I mounted it manually through konsole. But, at least the external was automatically connecting via USB. I didn't have to pull the USB cable and plug it back in.