I mount using
mount LABEL=LEXAR-256MB-2 /mnt
for my labeled (e2label /dev/sdb1 LEXAR-256MB-2) ext3 thumbsized
Lexar JumpDrive Trio
which has inside the
SanDisk Ultra II SD (Secure Digital) 256MB
flash memory switched to unlock,
attached to USB.
While this mounts /dev/sdb1 as ext3 READ-ONLY, I get the response
mount: block device /dev/sdb1 is write-protected, mounting read-only
I get the same message if I initially try to force read-write,
mount -o rw LABEL=LEXAR-256MB-2 /mnt
After a couple hours trying to rectify this,
I found (the only Google response) this answer by Rick Moen at
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6867
**To correct this, I must enter
mount -o rw,remount /mnt
So, to mount my flash drive read-write, I must always mount in two steps,
mount LABEL=LEXAR-256MB-2 /mnt
mount -o rw,remount /mnt
Curiously, when I first got this flash drive,
I could mount it as read-write with the single line
mount LABEL=LEXAR-256MB-2 /mnt
as above.
However, after writing several files to this flash drive and unmounting this flash drive,
I could no longer mount it as above.
This severely confused my efforts.
So, perhaps the flash drive secures itself after it has some files.
Rick Moen had surmised that his flash drive also needed "-o rw,remount"
because the flash drive knew it could only write about 10,000 times before it wore out
(don't forget to use the mount option "noatime" so Linux does not keep
writing to flash memory with the latest access time).
Another oddity:
I did the above on a "sid" distribution.
When I move this flash memory drive to a "woody" distribution,
mount LABEL=LEXAR-256MB-2 /mnt
would mount the flash drive as a fat filesystem,
so "ls -a" returned no files.
I must specify the filesystem type to "woody" using
mount -t ext3 LABEL=LEXAR-256MB-2 /mnt
I suppose this just represents that my "woody" uses the older
version 2.11n-7 rather than the "sid" version 2.12-6
of "mount".
Since flash drives are praised as the replacement for diskettes (eg, by Dell),
in the Linux world, millions of desktop users are bound to be perplexed
and to never get their flash drives working.
Considering that these mount oddities hinder flash memory drives
from wearing out, I don't mind mind them NOW THAT I KNOW UNNATURAL
LINUX TRICKS.
--
Jameson C. Burt, NJ9L Fairfax, Virginia, USA
jameson@coost.com http://www.coost.com
(202) 690-0380 (work)
LTSP.org: magic "mysterious and awe-inspiring even though
we know they are real and not supernatural"
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