mount cannot mount ufs / ffs

[Lars Noodén]

Mount does not recognize FFS partitions:

$ dmesg |tail
[ 588.940772] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 588.940774] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 588.940777] sdb: sdb4
[ 589.022072] sdb4: <openbsd: >
[ 589.022165] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 589.022209] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 591.326093] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write
[ 619.143630] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write
[ 631.177276] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write
[ 634.095300] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write

$ mount -V
mount (util-linux-ng 2.13.1)

$ lsb_release -rc
Release: 8.04
Codename: hardy

$ uname -a
Linux macbook 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Wed Aug 20 17:53:40 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

Still present in the release version of Karmic Koala:

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 9.10
Release: 9.10

$ apt-cache policy libufs2
libufs2:
  Installed: 7.2-1
  Candidate: 7.2-1
  Version table:
 *** 7.2-1 0
        500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ apt-cache policy linux-image-2.6.31-16-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-16-generic:
  Installed: 2.6.31-16.52
  Candidate: 2.6.31-16.52
  Version table:
 *** 2.6.31-16.52 0
        500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

from dmesg:

[42186.821767] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[42186.821774] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[42214.144308] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write
[42227.398989] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

Still present in Lucid RC2

It does not mount automatically.

Trying mount a FFS file system manually without specifying the filesystem gives this error:

    mount: Stale NFS file handle

Trying to mount a FFS file system manually and specifying UFS:

   mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb4,
          missing codepage or helper program, or other error
          In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
          dmesg | tail or so

Trying to mount a FFS file system manually and specifying FFS:

   mount: unknown filesystem type 'ffs'

Linux 2.6.32-11-generic #15-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 19 20:38:41 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Description: Ubuntu lucid (development branch)
Release: 10.04

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

From /var/log/messages it complains about not being able to mount the UFS device as R/W:

Jan 22 10:50:33 mini kernel: [ 1558.209769] USB Mass Storage support registered.
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.202709] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic STORAGE DEVICE 9407 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.203521] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.350327] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 7959552 512-byte logical blocks: (4.07 GB/3.79 GiB)
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.351434] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.354694] sdb: sdb4
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.357311] sdb4: <openbsd: >
Jan 22 10:50:38 mini kernel: [ 1563.359945] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 22 10:51:19 mini kernel: [ 1604.499096] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write
Jan 22 10:53:11 mini kernel: [ 1716.200282] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write

Mounting it read-only as UFS seems to give small errors in kern.log and syslog:

/var/log/kern.log:Jan 22 11:03:01 mini kernel: [ 2307.101309] UFS-fs error (device sdb4): ufs_readdir: bad page in #2
/var/log/syslog:Jan 22 11:03:01 mini kernel: [ 2307.101309] UFS-fs error (device sdb4): ufs_readdir: bad page in #2

And though it seems to have been mounted read-only, trying to use it gives errors:

ls: reading directory /mnt/: Input/output error

[Yi Dai (plmday)]

Lars Noodén:

Read this.

http://wiki.netbsd.se/How_to_mount_FFS_partition_under_Linux#Mount

I guess it might not be a bug. I had the same problem in Arch, but I can now mount the !emu image of NetBSD following the instruction in the linked wiki above.

[Savvas Radevic (medigeek)]

Try this for read & write support:
sudo modprobe -v ufs

Then mount your drive:
mount -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2 /dev/sdXY /mnt/
(change /dev/sdXY according to your device)

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

# modprobe -v ufs
insmod /lib/modules/3.0.0-11-generic/kernel/fs/ufs/ufs.ko
# mount -t ufs /dev/sdb4 /mnt
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb4,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

From /var/log/syslog, :

Oct 5 18:17:36 xubuntu kernel: [ 329.727520] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

# mount -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2 /dev/sdb4 /mnt/
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb4,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

Still present in Quantal.

$ lsb_release -rd;uname -a
Description: Ubuntu quantal (development branch)
Release: 12.10
Linux easynote 3.5.0-13-generic #13-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 27 21:32:34 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

Excerpt from syslog:

Aug 29 18:56:02 easynote kernel: [ 617.874764] sdb: sdb4
Aug 29 18:56:02 easynote kernel: [ 617.874764] sdb4: <openbsd: >
Aug 29 18:56:02 easynote kernel: [ 617.993375] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present
Aug 29 18:56:02 easynote kernel: [ 617.998831] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Aug 29 18:56:02 easynote kernel: [ 618.004133] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Aug 29 18:57:44 easynote kernel: [ 719.698043] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write
Aug 29 18:57:52 easynote kernel: [ 728.077865] You didn't specify the type of your ufs filesystem
Aug 29 18:57:52 easynote kernel: [ 728.077865]
Aug 29 18:57:52 easynote kernel: [ 728.077865] mount -t ufs -o ufstype=sun|sunx86|44bsd|ufs2|5xbsd|old|hp|nextstep|nextstep-cd|openstep ...
Aug 29 18:57:52 easynote kernel: [ 728.077865]
Aug 29 18:57:52 easynote kernel: [ 728.077865] >>>WARNING<<< Wrong ufstype may corrupt your filesystem, default is ufstype=old
Aug 29 18:57:55 easynote kernel: [ 730.767071] UFS-fs error (device sdb4): ufs_check_page: bad entry in directory #2: rec_len is too small for name_len - offset=0, rec_len=12, name_len=260
Aug 29 18:57:55 easynote kernel: [ 730.777725] UFS-fs error (device sdb4): ufs_readdir: bad page in #2
Aug 29 19:02:28 easynote kernel: [ 1004.365054] UFS-fs error (device sdb4): ufs_readdir: bad page in #2

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

If you are still getting the stale file handle error when you don't specify the fs type, please run it under strace and attach the output.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for util-linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

Error mounting /dev/sdb4 at /media/lars/disk: Command-line `mount -t "ufs" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid" "/dev/sdb4" "/media/lars/disk"' exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb4,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

That was in saucy alpha

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu Saucy Salamander (development branch)
Release: 13.10

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for util-linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

still present in Saucy beta2

[Lars Noodén (larsnooden)]

still present in 13.10beta2

$ uname -a
Linux lubuntu 3.11.0-11-generic #17-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 1 19:42:04 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Yuv (yuv)]

I am experiencing this bug with a CF media. I can mount it manually with
  sudo mount -r -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2 /dev/sdh m
but Dolphin (and Thunar) give me an error trying to mount /dev/sdh1

[Ben Alex (ben-alex)]

I notice dmesg is reporting this as an OpenBSD partition ("sdb4: <openbsd: >"). To mount an OpenBSD partition you need to use the ufstype=44bsd. For example:

mount -t ufs -o ro,ufstype=44bsd /dev/sdb4 $HOME/mnt

The above was tested on Linux 4.3.3-2-ARCH. I don't have an Ubuntu machine to test this on.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Closing this bug with Won't fix as this kernel is no longer supported.
Please feel free to open a new bug report if you're still experiencing this on a newer release (Bionic 18.04.3 / Disco 19.04)
Thanks!