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USB

1. Plug in the USB Device​

  • Insert the USB device into a USB port on your Linux machine.

2. Check if the USB Device is Detecte​

  • Open a terminal and type the following command to list all connected storage devices:
lsblk

This will display a list of all block devices. Look for your USB device, typically labeled as /dev/sdX (where X is a letter like a, b, etc.). You can also use:

dmesg | tail

This will show the latest kernel messages, which should include information about the connected USB device.

3. Create a Mount Point (if necessary)​

  • Create a directory where you can mount the USB device, for example:
sudo mkdir /mnt/usb

4. Mount the USB Devie​​

  • Mount the USB drive to the directory you just created. Replace /dev/sdX1 with the correct partition (e.g., /dev/sdb1):
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb
  • After mounting, you can access the files on the USB drive using:
cd /mnt/usb
ls

5. Access and Manage Files​

  • You can now copy, move, delete, or edit files on the USB drive using standard Linux commands like cp, mv, rm, etc. Example:
cp /path/to/file /mnt/usb/

6. Safely Unmount the USB Device​

  • Before removing the USB device, unmount it to ensure that all data is properly written and to avoid file system corruption:
sudo umount /mnt/usb
  • If you get a "device is busy" error, it means some process is still using the USB device. You can use the lsof command to find out what is using the device:
lsof +f -- /mnt/usb

After resolving the issue, try unmounting again.

7. Remove the USB Device​​

  • Once unmounted, you can safely remove the USB device from the port.

8. Additional Tips​​

  • Formatting the USB Drive: If you need to format the USB drive, you can use mkfs for various file systems like FAT32, NTFS, or ext4:
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdX1    # For FAT32
sudo mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdX1    # For NTFS
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX1    # For ext4
  • Checking Disk Usage: To see how much space is used or free on the USB drive:
df -h /mnt/usb

9. Auto-mount USB Devices​

  • Most modern Linux distributions automatically mount USB devices when plugged in. If this doesn't happen, you can add an entry to the /etc/fstab file for auto-mounting. Example entry in /etc/fstab:
/dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb <vfat> defaults 0 0

This guide should help you get started with using USB devices on a Linux system, whether you're accessing files, managing partitions, or safely removing the device.