How do I access a USB drive in Linux?

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Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
I have plugged a USB thumb drive into a computer with Linux, but I cannot find a reference to the thumb drive. How do I access it?

Answer
 

Typically, an icon for the USB drive will appear on the Linux desktop.

It is also possible to view the last few entries in the /var/log/messages file, immediately after inserting the drive, to see if the device was identified and if it was mounted. Here are sample messages entries from a RedHat ES4 box:

kernel: usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using address 4
kernel: scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
…

 

kernel: sdc: sdc1
kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sdc at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
…

fstab-sync[19190]: added mount point /media/USB20FD for /dev/sdc1

In this case, the device was identified automatically and mounted as /media/USB20FD. In some cases, it may be necessary to mount the device manually by:
 

1. Create a directory in the /var, /media, a home directory or some other appropriate location, i.e., 'myusb'.
2. Run the command "mount /dev/sdc1 myusb".