Can't Open My External Hard Drive in Thunar

Hello, I have the following issue with my new i3 installation. When trying to connect my 1TB external drive, I encounter the following error: “error mounting /dev/sda at /run/media/DriveName: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda missing codepage or helper program, or other error”. I initially thought it might be a dependency issue and found on some forums that it could possibly be due to not having “ntfs-3g” installed. However, this wasn’t the case because I did have it installed, and I reinstalled it to make sure it wasn’t the problem. I also considered that the external drive might be faulty, but upon checking it with another device, it works correctly. Initially, I could mount it from the terminal, but now when I try that, I get the same error. Do you know how I could resolve this? I keep all my backups on this drive and need access to the files.
Inxi:

System:
  Kernel: 6.8.1-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=dff22d3d-b43d-46f1-ae2a-0783aa03e2a1 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
  Desktop: i3 v: 4.23 with: i3bar tools: avail: i3lock,xautolock vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: H110M-E/M.2 v: Rev X.0x
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3401 date: 03/16/2017
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-7400 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Kaby Lake
    gen: core 7 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 9 microcode: 0xF8
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 256 KiB
    desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB
    desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3500 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 24000
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia
    v: 550.54.14 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+ status: current
    (as of 2024-02; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Pascal code: GP10x
    process: TSMC 16nm built: 2016-2021 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 4
    ports: active: none off: HDMI-A-1 empty: DVI-D-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1d01 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 compositor: Picom v: git-89c2c
    driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 93 s-size: 524x292mm (20.63x11.50")
    s-diag: 600mm (23.62")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled model: Samsung C24F390
    serial: <filter> built: 2019 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2
    size: 521x293mm (20.51x11.54") diag: 598mm (23.5") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
    drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia
    inactive: wayland,device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 550.54.14
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 1.95 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 driver: nvidia v: 550.54.14
    device-ID: 10de:1d01 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a170 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 4
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fb8 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.1-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.4 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASUSTeK PRIME B450M-A driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8192EE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
    driver: rtl8192ee v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: c000
    bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:818b class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 61.44 GiB (13.2%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT500P3SSD8
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: P9CR30A temp: 27.9 C
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 61.44 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 584 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 61.44 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 61.44 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 61.44 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.68 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 4 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 30.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 37 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.68 GiB used: 2.7 GiB (35.2%)
  Processes: 243 Power: uptime: 25m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 3.03 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager
    Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1428 libs: 397 tools: octopi,pacseek,paru
    Compilers: gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: Bash v: 5.2.26
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.33
Garuda (2.6.23-1):
  System install date:     2024-02-24
  Last full system update: 2024-03-19
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Failed units:            

Hi there, welcome to the forum.
Try from terminal with:

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/

(assuming you have your data in sda1)
In case of errors, try:

sudo ntfsfix -d /dev/sda1
2 Likes

Thank you, at first I thought it didn’t work, but after searching for the path /mnt/ using the Thunar file manager.
I saw that the disk was mounted and working. However, I have these two doubts now. The first one is why I can’t see the disk as before, from the Devices screen (image1, i took some screenshots, but i cant upload because im a new user). And how can I safely eject the external hard drive from the command line without damaging it.

sudo umount /dev/sda1

I don’t know.
Maybe check the Thunar documentation.

2 Likes

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