# Unable to mount the volume 'OS'



## minierv (Apr 11, 2009)

Hi-

I'm having an issue with trying to mount a partition of my hard drive - I keep getting the following error message: Unable to mount the volume 'OS' 

I tried to search the forum about this but couldn't find anything relevant and the things I did find seemed to be solved on an individual basis. 

By the way, I wrote this (sudo fdisk -l) in terminal and got the following. I'm trying to access the sda3:

[email protected]:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x30000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 7 56196 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 8 1313 10490352+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 1313 30394 233597725 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 121601 976760001 7 HPFS/NTFS

Thanks-

erv


----------



## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

Show us the error messages of these commands

```
sudo su
mkdir /mnt/sda3
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3
ls /mnt/sda3
```


----------



## minierv (Apr 11, 2009)

Thanks saikee... This is the output I am getting

[email protected]:~$ sudo su
[email protected]:/home/ubuntu# mkdir /mnt/sda3
mkdir: cannot create directory `/mnt/sda3': File exists
[email protected]:/home/ubuntu# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3
$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sda3': Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one action:

Choice 1: If you have Windows then disconnect the external devices by
clicking on the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the Windows
taskbar then shutdown Windows cleanly.

Choice 2: If you don't have Windows then you can use the 'force' option for
your own responsibility. For example type on the command line:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 -o force

Or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 ntfs-3g force 0 0
[email protected]:/home/ubuntu# ls /mnt/sda3
[email protected]ubuntu:/home/ubuntu#


----------



## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

The information suggests your sda3 may have been mounted and in used by yourself. It is usually in the /media directory in Ubuntu.

Can you post /etc/fstab here?

You could try, after stopping all activities in sda3, these commands

```
umount /dev/sda3
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 -o force
ls /mnt/sda3
```


----------



## minierv (Apr 11, 2009)

Here is what I'm getting back:

[email protected]:~$ /etc/fstab
bash: /etc/fstab: Permission denied

[email protected]:~$ umount /dev/sda3
umount: /dev/sda3 is not mounted (according to mtab)
[email protected]:~$ mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 -o forc
mount: only root can do that
[email protected]:~$ ls /mnt/sda3
ls: cannot access /mnt/sda3: No such file or directory
[email protected]:~$


----------



## lotuseclat79 (Sep 12, 2003)

Hi minierv,

Assuming /devsda3 is not already mounted.

Try using sudo in front of the commands: mount, umount, e.g.:
[email protected]:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 -o force
or
just get into the root account with:
[email protected]:~$ sudo -i
# mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 -o force

-- Tom


----------



## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

All the activities related to the system files require root privileges and a user can only execute them as a root user. This is the price a Linux user must pay to operate the system safely. Whenever permission is denied and no reaction from the kernel it is because the user has no root privilege.

The root privilege is granted in Ubuntu by issuing the command

```
sudo su
```
 and then supplying the password of the ordinary user once. The root privilege terminates on exit of the terminal box but is given when "sudo su" is type ant any number of new terminals.

A Ubuntu user can get root privilege by preceeding every terminal command with "sudo" but "sudo su" turns him/her into a root user in that terminal as long as he/she doesn't exit from it.

The kernel will not act on commands if the user has no root privilege.

When a kernel refuses to mount a partition it is usually for a good reason. If that partition has defective superblocks rendering the files incorrectly indexed the kernel would rather keep its nose clean than messing around with something it doesn't know what to do.

Any Linux can mount a ntfs partition but only if it is healthy. The correct message from the kernel goes a long way to diagnose the problem if it exists.


----------



## imrui (Apr 13, 2009)

Logfile isn't clean, means it was not properly shutdown. Best way is to boot into that OS again, and do a clean shutdown. You're good to go.

Otherwise, if you are in a hurry.. you just can do:


```
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3 -o force
```


----------

