I can confirm this behavior with Ubuntu 13.10, also.
I have no problem in accesssing the usb drive using Kernel 3.8.0-33-generic #48~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 24 16:28:06 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux with Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Raring HWE Stack)
I can confirm this behavior with Ubuntu 13.10, also.
I have no problem in accesssing the usb drive using Kernel 3.8.0-33-generic #48~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 24 16:28:06 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux with Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Raring HWE Stack)