13.5. USB Flash
Drives
A recent development in removable media is the USB Flash Drive.
This is a small, solid-state memory device, normally no larger than
a pen.They can be carried conveniently on a key ring, and are
sometimes referred to as 'USB Keys' as a result. These small drives
can contain files, directories, and even software. Red Hat
Enterprise Linux has the ability to use these drives through the
auto-mount features of Nautilus.
Like diskettes, USB drives are useful for carrying files between
machines not on the same network, or between computers that use
different operating sytems. Linux can read files from a USB drive
formatted to work in Windows. However, if you encrypt the files or
filesystem on your USB drive, Linux may not be able to read those
files.
13.5.1. Mounting your
USB drive
When you plug the drive into a USB port o your Red Hat
Enterprise Linux system, several things happen. Nautilus recognizes the drive and auto-mounts it
to the directory /media/<manufacturer>/, where
<manufacturer> is the
name of the maker of your drive. Nautilus also creates an incon of the same name
on your desktop. Finally, Nautilus adds
a similar icon to the Computer window.
To mount your USB drive manually:
-
Open a terminal window.
-
Enter the command mount /media/<manufacturer>/.
To mount your USB drive with Nautilus
-
Open the Computer window from the
desktop.
-
Double-click the USB key icon, or right-click on the icon and
select Mount Volume.
13.5.2. Accessing the
USB drive
You can access your USB drive from the desktop or from a shell
prompt. From the desktop, you can either double-click the icon or
you can first open the Computer window,
then double-click the USB drive icon. From a shell prompt, enter
the command cd /media/<manufacturer>, making
sure to replace <manufacturer> with the drive's
manufacturer.
13.5.3. Unmounting
the USB drive
You must unmount your USB drive before removing it from your
system, or problems similar to those that can affect diskettes may
aflict your USB drive.
To unmount your USB drive manually:
-
Open a terminal window.
-
Enter the command umount /media/<manufacturer> at the shell
prompt.
To unmount your USB drive with Nautilus
-
Locate the USB drive icon on your desktop or inside the
Computer window.
-
Right-click on the icon and select Unmount
Volume.
Once the USB drive has been unmounted, you may safely remove it
from your USB port.
 |
Tip |
| |
The icon for the USB drive will remain visible from the
Computer window as long as the drive is
plugged in to the port. It will remain visible even if the drive is
not mounted. If you think your drive should have files on it but
cannot see them, verify that the drive is mounted.
|
