Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

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runbei
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Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

Post by runbei » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:54 pm

I'm trying to install Mint 13 LTS to a laptop hard drive in an external USB enclosure.

Windows 7 can see the disk and contents, so I know the HD is readable.

The problem is, the Mint live DVD can't see the drive. Neither could a Puppy Linux live CD that I tried.

Seems like there ought to be a boot command or some terminal commands that will do this. But after extensive searching I'm not able to find 'em.

The external drive is IDE/PATA from a ThinkPad T43. Once Mint is installed there, I'll plug it in the T43 and boot, and everything will work perfectly. :-)
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gold_finger
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Re: Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

Post by gold_finger » Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:56 pm

Try booting live Mint DVD without external hard drive attached. After fully loaded, then plug in hard drive (make sure to power it on if has switch on enclosure). See if it sees and/or mounts the drive. Check if it shows up under "Places" menu.

Check file system to see if mounted at either:
/media
/media/mint
/mnt

If none of above work, open GParted and see if the program finds it. If so and it's unmounted, mount the partition with GParted to get system to see it. Then exit GParted and start install.

Hopefully one of above will work.
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runbei
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Re: Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

Post by runbei » Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:06 am

Thanks. Tried the recommended steps, but no luck. The USB ports are working in "that other" OS.
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runbei
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Re: Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

Post by runbei » Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:32 am

Thinking it might be Mint that couldn't see the external USB hard drive, I tried three other distros: Puppy, CentOS, and OpenSuse, all latest versions. No luck, so it's definitely a Linux thing. Beats me.
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gold_finger
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Re: Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

Post by gold_finger » Thu Nov 14, 2013 1:34 pm

Long Shot: maybe it's got something to do with the brand of external drive you're using needing a special driver to work under Linux. I've not run into this problem with my external enclosures, but try doing a search for problems with your specific brand/model enclosure in the Linux Beginner Search Engine first, then try a regular Google (or other) search if no luck on first engine.
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runbei
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Re: Mint 13 Live CD doesn't see external USB hard drive

Post by runbei » Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:07 pm

Thanks. Could be helpful - I find lots of relevant posts at the URL you suggested. Search results: http://bit.ly/1aVQVzY.

When I have time - seems unlikely in the near future - will check these guides.
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