I'm using Linux Mint 22.3 and I'm having trouble changing the permissions and ownership of my USB3 external HDDs. I have four 4TB drives, and they all seem to have the same issue. I've tried running `sudo chown -R username:username /media/user/4TB_Travel/`, but I keep getting an error that says 'Read-only file system.' When I attempt to use `sudo chmod -R 777 /media/user/4TB_Travel/`, I receive a similar message. I've also looked at the drive details in Disks, and I see that it's mounted correctly, but I can't seem to change the ownership or permissions no matter what I do. I even tried editing the `/etc/fstab` file to add the correct UUID and mount options, but I'm getting a 'wrong fs type' error when I try to mount it. I've restarted and checked everything but still can't get it to work. What am I missing? Any guidance would really help!
1 Answer
It looks like you're trying to set too many options in your fstab entry. For EXT4 formatted external drives, you generally just need `defaults`. So, you might only need something like `UUID=0a2efd43-c580-4654-a76e-d89dfb665f7c /media/usb ext4 defaults 0 0`. That should simplify things and might solve your problem. Don't forget, the ownership and permissions must be set on the mount point for your user to access it properly.
Thanks for the tip! Just to confirm, I only need the UUID and `defaults`, right? No need for other options like ext4?