[SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

Devarch · 2025-06-21 09:30:52

Devuan Excalibur, KDE - updated as of today.

I encountered an error message: "Could not write to external drives."

Just yesterday everything was working fine. The system is updated today. Now, my USB drives are only mounting read-only in /media/user/exfat_drive with permissions drwxr-xr-x for user:user.

A windows virtual machine check did not reveal any issues.

Why has this occurred? How can I restore the ability to auto-mount all external drives as read-write without having to manually add each new drive to fstab, apply masks, and reboot?

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · 2025-06-21 11:03:57

is this the same install as what you were referring to in this previous post?

https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=56173#p56173

This explains why I was unsuccessful in converting Trixie to Excalibur by eliminating systemd (the process was challenging as well).

delgado · 2025-06-21 12:01:21

Maybe the file system needs to be checked?

greenjeans · 2025-06-21 15:08:55

Perhaps a change in rules in whatever polkit is used in KDE? Just a guess, I know zilch about KDE.

Devarch · 2025-06-21 22:18:52

is this the same install as what you were referring to in this previous post?

No. It's pure devuan.

Maybe the file system needs to be checked?

I've checked it using virtual windows.

Perhaps a change in rules in whatever polkit is used in KDE? Just a guess, I know zilch about KDE.

I'm also new to KDE.

PedroReina · 2025-06-22 08:14:18

Check the logs looking for something unusual. I came across a similar puzzling problem years ago to find that a damaged file system was put read only automatically when an error in it was detected. So, the culprit was the USB drive, not the system.

Last edited by PedroReina (2025-06-22 17:31:19)

greenjeans · 2025-06-22 15:01:04

Okay, if it were me, my first step would be to look at the apt history via synaptic in my case (also a copy in root's home usually), and note what packages were updated, then figure out which one did it. Specifically was there an update of UDisks?

Maybe a setting in the file manager too, most have some adjustable settings for what to do with external media.

/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.UDisks2.policy is where the permissions for devices are, this is most likely culprit in my experience.

ETA: Or a messed up stick that has the wrong permissions. Have had that before, but mostly with sd cards.

Last edited by greenjeans (2025-06-22 15:09:55)

Devarch · 2025-06-22 16:17:51

So, the culprit was the USB drive, not the system

I have another machine running devuan. No problems there. After the second attempt on the first machine, I mounted the filesystem using 'mount -o remount,rw exfat' and rebooted it. It worked fine. I've realized for a while now that computer science isn't an exact science. :lol

/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.UDisks2.policy is where the permissions for devices are, this is most likely culprit in my experience.

- noted for the future, thanks.

Solved itself.

Last edited by Devarch (2025-06-22 16:19:21)

PedroReina · 2025-06-22 17:30:05

Devarch wrote:

computer science isn't an exact science. :lol

I see your smile, but can't stop myself:

It is, but we rely on damn hardware :lol

Devarch · 2025-06-22 20:01:40

hardware.

Hardware: Yep, right now I'm fighting with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. All firmware is up to date. Turbo boost is disabled, the governor is set to conservative while on battery, and energy_performance_preference is set to power. The kernel is new and allows AMD control.

However, the system constantly ramps up from 600 MHz to 2 GHz even when in idle state (0-2% load on some but not all cores). At least turbo boost is disabled; otherwise, while running tasks on battery, it would reach up to 5 GHz.

This machine is compact and lightweight, so I can take it with me. This is the reason to have it. On Intel hardware, I don't have such issues except for sometimes very long wake-up times (~1 minute) from sleep mode. I suspect this is because ME (Management Engine) is disabled. Starting from the 11th generation, disabling ME can make machines unbootable at times. It might take 1 or 3 minutes to power on; if it doesn't want to power on, I have to switch it off and then back on again. So, I prefer not to shut down too often.

Unfortunately, the corporations have won. Now these hardware backdoors like Intel ME and AMD PSP (I don't know the names of hardware backdoors for Mac and Huawei) are becoming mandatory. Unfortunately, there weren't enough people who cared or small businesses that cared about this issue. Pity.

Now, if you have old hardware like Intel 10th generation or earlier, keep it carefully as all new hardware comes with permanent backdoors.

I'm not sure whether eliminating software cancers like systemd will win the war when there are hardware backdoors and proprietary BIOSes.

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#1 2025-06-21 09:30:52

[SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#2 2025-06-21 11:03:57

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#3 2025-06-21 12:01:21

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#4 2025-06-21 15:08:55

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#5 2025-06-21 22:18:52

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#6 2025-06-22 08:14:18

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#7 2025-06-22 15:01:04

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#8 2025-06-22 16:17:51

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#9 2025-06-22 17:30:05

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

#10 2025-06-22 20:01:40

Re: [SOLVED] Could not write to external drives after update

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