USB Storage Device Troubleshooting Guide

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Currently, the ARCS (Linux-based) operating system supports USB drive recognition, including but not limited to FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT file systems. In practice, when a USB drive cannot be recognized or mounted, the cause may involve file system issues, hardware connection faults, system configuration or permission problems, etc. The following is a systematic troubleshooting step guide:

1. Hardware Troubleshooting

First ensure that the USB drive's own hardware works normally and that it is correctly inserted into a USB port.

Steps:

• Try inserting the current USB drive into other USB ports, or test it on another computer, to rule out hardware faults in the USB drive or the USB interface.
• If the USB drive cannot be recognized on other devices either, the USB drive itself may be damaged.

2. Check Whether the System Has Mounted It

A system mounting error, or failure to unmount the mount directory in time, may prevent a new USB device from being mounted again.

Steps:

• Log out of the ARCS software and open the file system from the desktop.
• When no USB drive is connected, check whether any other invalid drive letters exist.
• If an invalid drive letter exists, manually eject it, then reconnect the USB drive and test.

3. Detecting Hardware Connection via the System

Use system logs and command-line tools to detect whether the USB drive is detected by the operating system.

Steps:

• Use the tail command to view the system log in real time when the USB drive is connected, and look for output information about the USB device:

  tail -f /var/log/syslog

  Normally, you should see information similar to New USB device found, indicating that the USB drive has been detected by the system.

  

• To check whether the USB drive is recognized as a block device, you can use the lsusb command to list all USB devices:

  lsusb

  The output should contain information about your USB drive. If nothing is displayed, there may be a hardware fault or a USB driver issue.

• Use the fdisk command to view the block devices recognized by the system:

  fdisk -l

  List all disk and partition information and check whether there is a new device (usually /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc, depending on the system configuration). If the USB drive exists but the partition information is empty or the format is incorrect, it may be a file system problem.

4. File System Check

If the current system lacks the driver corresponding to the USB drive's file system, mounting may fail.

• FAT32:

  • The FAT32 file system is natively supported by the Linux kernel, so no additional driver installation is required.

• NTFS:

  • For the NTFS file system, Linux usually uses the ntfs-3g driver; run the following command to check whether the driver is working normally:

    dpkg -l | grep ntfs-3g

  • If the command returns relevant information, the driver is installed; otherwise, install the driver by running the following command:

    sudo apt install ntfs-3g

• exFAT:

  • Support for the exFAT file system usually requires installing exfat-fuse and exfat-utils.

    dpkg -l | grep exfat

  • If the command returns relevant information, the driver is installed; otherwise, install the driver by running the following command:

    sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils

5. Auto-Mount Issues

Sometimes the USB drive is recognized, but is not mounted due to a configuration problem with the auto-mount tool.

Steps:

• Check whether the udev service is running normally:

  systemctl status udev

• Try mounting the USB drive manually:

  • Insert the USB drive and identify the device name (usually /dev/sdb or a similar device):

    fdisk -l

  • Create a mount point (i.e., an empty directory). The USB drive is usually mounted under the /media directory:

    mkdir /media/usb

  • Mount the USB drive; use the mount command to mount the USB drive to the mount point just created (assuming the device name is /dev/sdb1 and the mount point is /media/usb):

    mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb

  • Check the mount status and view all mounted file systems:

    df -h

6. USB Drive Reset

If the USB drive's file system is damaged, mounting may fail; try formatting the current USB device and then test.

Steps:

• Insert the USB drive into the computer's USB port:

  sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /media/usb

• In "This PC", you will see the USB drive listed under "Devices and drives"; right-click it and select Format.

  

Through the above process, you can generally troubleshoot and resolve the problem of a USB drive not being recognized under the ARCS operating system on your own. If it is determined to be a system problem, please report it to colleagues in the R&D Center - Software Department, who will trace the device source. If it is a USB drive hardware fault, you can try replacing the USB drive for further use.