20.04 sees all my external drives as read only

Linux Support
1

Hi my 20.04 has decided that all my external drives are read only which means I cant swap files n folders. How do I change this please…also my scrren goes off after 1 min I used to be able to extend the time via appearance in 16.04 but cant find how to do this on 20.04. I am sure you guys have hidden it away somewhere…please help

cheers Diggsy

2

Hi Diggsy - and welcome to the Forum.

You will find it very helpful to read the guide for new members: http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?board=209.0 where you will find information about the best way to post a topic.
In particular, you should provide as much information as you can about your system. For example, what operating system are you using? It looks like an Ubuntu-based OS, but might be Mint.

Assuming you are using Ubuntu, you can change the screen-blanking time by going to Settings/Power and changing the Blank Screen time.

As for your external drives:

  1. You need to know your user ID (uid) - if you are the only user of your computer the user ID will almost certainly be 1000 but you can check by starting a terminal session and entering the following command:
uid
  1. Now you need the path to your external drive. enter the following code:
df | grep media

and look for something like /media/diggsy/device-name. A random USB drive of mine says “/media/keith/USB1G”. At the start of that line you will see something like /dev/sdb1. Copy this phrase.

  1. Having found your uid and /dev name, enter the following code:
sudo mount -o remount,uid=1000,gid=46,rw /dev/sdb1

inserting the appropriate uid and /dev name.

This should allow you to access the device.
Please let us know the outcome.

Keith