External HDD doesn't appear in devices list

[Mike Wild]

I have an external USB HDD based on the SPIF225A controller which does not appear in the devices list unless I mount it manually with `sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sdc1 /media/mike`.

`fdisk -l`:

    Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
    /dev/sdc1 2048 625141759 625139712 298.1G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

`lsusb`:

    Bus 002 Device 004: ID 046d:0825 Logitech, Inc. Webcam C270
    Bus 002 Device 006: ID 05ac:0221 Apple, Inc. Aluminum Keyboard (ISO)
    Bus 002 Device 005: ID 09da:9090 A4Tech Co., Ltd. XL-730K / XL-750BK / XL-755BK Mice
    Bus 002 Device 003: ID 05ac:1006 Apple, Inc. Hub in Aluminum Keyboard
    Bus 002 Device 002: ID 1235:8016 Focusrite-Novation
    Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 001 Device 007: ID 04fc:0c25 Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd SATALink SPIF225A
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

`dmesg`:

    [15516.777055] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 7
    [15521.454944] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci
    [15521.590843] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=04fc, idProduct=0c25
    [15521.590848] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
    [15521.590852] usb 1-4: Product: USB to Serial-ATA bridge
    [15521.590854] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: Sunplus Technology Co.,Ltd.
    [15521.590857] usb 1-4: SerialNumber: FFFFFBA0FF00000000000705FF13FF
    [15521.592638] usb-storage 1-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
    [15521.592992] scsi host10: usb-storage 1-4:1.0
    [15522.595080] scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access TOSHIBA MK3265GSX PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
    [15522.595790] sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
    [15522.596766] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] 625142448 512-byte logical blocks: (320 GB/298 GiB)
    [15522.599329] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
    [15522.599335] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 38 00 00 00
    [15522.601844] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
    [15522.601852] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [15522.636412] sdc: sdc1
    [15522.647011] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk

I am running Loki with all packages up to date. I have tried a FAT32-formatted USB drive, which appears successfully. I have also tried multiple ports but with no luck.

There is also a StackExchange question about this here: https://elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/10361/external-hdd-doesnt-appear-in-files.

[Mike Wild (mikewild)]

Is there any additional info I can provide to help?

[Jeremy Wootten (jeremywootten)]

Mike: If you are able, can you try out the linked branch to see whether it fixes your problem?

[Jeremy Wootten (jeremywootten)]

If anyone experiencing this problem can build and try out the linked branch I would be grateful. You do not need to install it; look at the HACKING file for information on compiling the source. Note however there is a mistake in the file - when in the build directory the command to run the program is now ./src/pantheon-files. Make sure that no installed copy of Files is running in the background first, though. If you use the command ./src/pantheon-files --debug | grep Sidebar some relevant debugging information will show in the terminal.

[Mike Wild (mikewild)]

Hi Jeremy,

Just tested your branch on my system, but no luck - the device still does not appear until mounted manually. I've attached the debug output.

The external drive was plugged in after the last message, however no further messages appeared. Also worth noting is that I now have three devices listed:

1. File System
2. Samsung SSD 850 EVO (The drive elementary is installed on - there are no other systems installed here. Clicking on the drive does nothing)
3. 500GB Volume (Separate HDD with Windows).

[Jeremy Wootten (jeremywootten)]

Hi Mike,

Thanks very much for the information, thats very helpful. I am sorry it did not fix your problem. The last revision r2467 was supposed to cure the regression with the root drive showing - but obviously did not work in your case. Unfortunately I do not have drive containing only the root file system so I cannot test it.

It is interesting you get no further messages when you plug the external drive in - it seems GLib.VolumeMonitor is not detecting it being plugged in at all otherwise you should have got additional messages. This indicates that the fix may be outside Files.

[Jeremy Wootten (jeremywootten)]

Mike: I have abandoned the branch as the cause of this bug is not what I thought :(

[Mike Wild (mikewild)]

Thank you for your help anyway. I'm pretty bogged down at work at the moment but might try investigating this once I have some free time. Do you have any pointers on where a good place to start might be?

[Jeremy Wootten (jeremywootten)]

Mike: Does gparted find the NTFS drive before you have manually mounted it? Do other filemanagers such as Thunar or Nautilus detect when you have plugged in the drive (but not mounted it)?

You say that a FAT32 drive was detected successfully - was this the same HDD/controller or a different one?

Have you tried making an entry in etc/fstab for this drive?

As far as Files is concerned the relevant code is all in /src/View/Sidebar.vala but that relies on GLib.VolumeMonitor to tell it about connected drives.

[Mike Wild (mikewild)]

Jeremy: Gparted does pick the drive up without me mounting it manually, but interestingly it thinks it has a single ZFS partition!

The FAT32 drive is a regular flash drive and works as expected.

I have not created an entry in /etc/fstab.

[Jeremy Wootten (jeremywootten)]

I have a small ntfs partition on my internal SSD (created by gparted) which mounts and unmounts fine in Files. Was your external drive formatted by Windows? I have not tried that - appears to be a little odd from gvfs point of view which may be causing this problem.