Help needed from linux wizards

stevev1 · December 11, 2016, 4:00pm

Hi,

Since last week I changed my core to a NUC running Ubuntu 16.04 . I’m trying to use a usb drive to store my music.
My NUC mounts the drive fine but I can’t seem to share that drive over the network (to add music to it from my mac). I’m unable to change the access rights of the drive to read and write. Even after a sudo nautilus command I can’t change ownership or access… The drive was formatted as exFat.

I’ve tested a few usb sticks as well but again I cannot change the permissions.
Also It seems I’m the owner of any drive that gets mounted… not root. Is that normal?

For now roon’s watched folder is on a NAS so I can access it just fine from my mac and roon is happy but I’d like to simplify my setup and only have a usb drive attached to the NUC. Obviously I need a way to add music to this drive but I’m failing to do just that

Did I mess something up? It must be possible to share drives…right?

Any help is much appreciated !

AMP · December 11, 2016, 4:35pm

I think that this is the issue. exFAT is a special beast and IIRC one has to pay a licensing fee to Microsoft to get full functionality. I think that a base linux install can read it, but not write it (I think).

Regardless, the FAT-based filesystems don’t have provisions for any sort of file ownership and aren’t the best option for something like this. Try reformatting the drive as ext4 and see if that improves things. I can’t remember for certain, but I think if it’s formatted ext4 the system won’t automatically mount it and you’ll either need to use the mount command or edit the fstab file with the appropriate info.

evand · December 11, 2016, 5:50pm

Have you configured a samba share for the mount-point?

RBM · December 11, 2016, 5:57pm

Seeing that you mention Nautilus – I guess you’re running one of the desktop releases?

Any special reason? If the NUC is just for Roon, you could run Ubuntu Server with a lot less overhead.

I echo the ext4 remarks: if you switch your Core to Linux, you’ll do yourself a favour using ext4.

stevev1 · December 11, 2016, 6:03pm

Hi Evan
Thanks for trying to help.

How does that work? The drive is mounted and I can access all files in nautilus.
I can also see the drive in osx finder but it has a no access sign…

When I right click in ubuntu and click and check permissions I can see the drive is owned by me and I have read and write access but I cannot change the access rights and ownership of group and others

stevev1 · December 11, 2016, 6:11pm

No particular reason. i hoped it would be the easiest way as Linux is pretty daunting.
i used exFat after reading

perhaps I should wait for Roon core kit…

evand · December 11, 2016, 6:12pm

Haven’t used ubuntu desktop or server for some time but in order to share a drive/ folder on a Linux machine you need to have installed SAMBA and configured the folder as a shared folder. As you can see it from OSX I’m guessing SAMBA is already installed, otherwise I’ve no idea how it is showing up on your network. Have a read here: https://www.google.co.za/amp/s/www.maketecheasier.com/install-and-configure-samba-in-ubuntu-for-file-sharing/amp/

RBM · December 11, 2016, 6:15pm

Do you need to mount the drive on your macOS machine locally? If not – go ext4 and share it over the network.

From (distant) memory, on Ubuntu Desktop Samba is already installed. I guess the are ways to share the drive from the GUI, but otherwise the guide @evand linked to should work fine.

stevev1 · December 11, 2016, 6:22pm

No as long as I can write to the drive after going to connect to server in finder it’s fine. I just need to be able to add music to it over the network.

I’ll try to format a usb stick as ext4 and see if I can change the permissions.

danny · December 11, 2016, 6:28pm

i wonder if your exfat is mounted readonly
exfat doesnt have permissions – the filesystem cant do that. unsure who your OS is mapping the files to. root? 755? 750?
if you dont need to move the drive, exfat/ntfs/etc… are all horrible. use ext4 if you can stay Linux only (and share over network).

stevev1 · December 11, 2016, 6:34pm

Thanks Danny I’ll give ext4 a try with a usb stick and see if I can acces it over the network.

I’m running ubuntu only until I can move over to roon core kit.
Would formatting to ext4 give me any issues once I install your OS?

danny · December 11, 2016, 6:37pm

no issues. ext4 works fine there

stevev1 · December 11, 2016, 9:29pm

Thanks @RBM , @AMP, @evand, @danny ext4 was the solution.
I’ve formatted the drive and am copying over everything.

stevev1 · December 12, 2016, 6:57pm

OK I’ve encountered a small issue

I can only connect as a guest from finder as the drive needs a user and password (but I never set one).
So when I connect as guest and add music to the drive it seems Ubuntu does not set an owner or group and the folder has a locked icon attached to it.

Roon has no problem adding the file to it’s library but I hope this doesn’t cause issues later on?

Rugby · December 12, 2016, 8:57pm

nobody and nogroup is a user and a group actually.

stevev1 · December 12, 2016, 9:02pm

Thanks Daniel
Do you know how I can make myself the owner automatically when I add files to the drive?

RBM · December 12, 2016, 9:05pm

You’ll need to add yourself to the samba user list:

sudo smbpasswd -a <username>

and log in to the samba share as yourself, instead of guest.

stevev1 · December 12, 2016, 9:27pm

thanks Rene !
I was now able to log in as myself instead of guest from finder. When I add a new file to the drive I’ll check the rights.

RBM · December 12, 2016, 9:31pm

You’ll be fine.