This is a perenial problem. I think it is intentional. The idea is that permissions make it so hard for anyone to copy files to a USB drive that its data security is second to none. No leaks! No industrial espionage! No nothing!
I formatted a USB. Couldn't copy to it, as usual. So looked up the PAAP (pain in the ass permissions), as usual. Faithfully followed the instructions to chmod and chown, as usual. So I had rw permissions for the drive and it was not owned by some other group (as it had been given by default - some other group, that is). But it still won't copy. This is not usual. Sometimes it works. Here's the permissions of the drive I cannot currently write to: # stat /dev/sdd1 File: ‘/dev/sdd1’ Size: 0 Blocks: 0 IO Block: 4096 block special file Device: 5h/5d Inode: 75108 Links: 1 Device type: 8,31 Access: (0666/brw-rw-rw-) Uid: ( 1000/ user) Gid: ( 1000/ user) Access: 2013-08-29 09:18:16.791966758 +0100 Modify: 2013-08-29 00:57:45.986852171 +0100 Change: 2013-08-29 15:47:32.943582691 +0100 Anyone will tell you, to write a file you need write permissions. It's not actually true. As you can see above. The drive has write permissions. So why can't I write to it? That's a rhetorical question. I'm not here for technical support. I'm here to protest about linux PAAP. Let's face it. It's rubbish. By one recent estimation, 20 per cent of all words written on the entire internet were messages of help from people trying to get their USB working with linux. Have you tried searching for an answer? You meet a lot of other lost souls on that road, I can tell you. But you won't get an answer. You see why it has also been said that another 20 per cent of words on the internet were published by people cutting and pasting the same unhepful answers to these unanswerable questions. It is as though nobody really knows at all. It has meanwhile been said that 20 per cent of all Google searches were made by people searching in vain for a straightfoward and comprehensive guide to getting your USB working with linux. Late at night, you can hear their howls. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/577594 Title: No write permission to files on external HDD (USB) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udisks/+bug/577594/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
