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I have connected an external hard disk to an Ubuntu Desktop instance running on VMware workstation on my Win 7.

I connected the hard disk using the VM -> Removable Devices and connected the hard disk.

I can see the hard disk getting displayed on the status bar of VMware .

But I could not find the hard disk on the default mount point /media.

This is my first time connecting the hard disk to an Ubuntu system

What seems to be the issue here and how can I fix this.

The OS version is Ubuntu Desktop 12.04.3 and I did not mount anything I just used the VMware controls to connect the external hard disk to Ubuntu OS

BTW when I virtually connect the external hard disk I do get 2 pop ups from VMware as shown below but none from Ubuntu and still I cannot connect to the external hard disk.

Popup 1: The device "ASMedia StroJet Transcend" was unable to connect to its host controller.An attempt will will be made to connect this device to the best available host controller.This might result in undefined behaviour for this device.

Popup 2: A USB device is baout to be unplugged from the host and connected to this Virtual Machine.It will first bestopped to enable safe removal.With some devices, the host may display the message"The device can now safely be removed.

And the output of sudo fdisk -l command is:

Disk /dev/sda: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2610 cylinders, total 41943040 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0009896d

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048    39845887    19921920   83  Linux
/dev/sda2        39847934    41940991     1046529    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        39847936    41940991     1046528   82  Linux swap / Solaris

And the output of lsusb is

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0e0f:0008 VMware, Inc.
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  • Can you pls state the output of sudo fdisk -l? If the disk is larger than 2TiB, please use gdisk instead. – MariusMatutiae Oct 15 '13 at 14:13
  • I have pasted the output of sudo fdisk -l in the question – Dark Matter Oct 15 '13 at 14:37
  • Ok, it really is not seen. The output of lsusb? – MariusMatutiae Oct 15 '13 at 15:18
  • Have updated with output of lsusb as well. – Dark Matter Oct 15 '13 at 15:22
  • Ok, the first PopUp says it does not seem to have a suitable driver for your disk, but then it seems to guess at what it might be. You seem to have successfully transfered control of the disk to the VM, but from your VM the USB device is not seen. You may try two things: 1), change USB plug, Ubuntu used to have a problem with USB 3.0 devices, all it took to fix it was move them to a 2.0plug. 2) immediately after plugging the disk in, give the command "dmesg | tail", and see which, if any, error relating to the disk is detected. If in doubt. post output here. – MariusMatutiae Oct 15 '13 at 15:36
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I believe this is a limitation of VMware Workstation and not Ubuntu (or not entirely), try the following: Shut down the VM, enter the USB & Bluetooth settings dialogue, and expand Advanced USB options. Change the USB Compatibility setting to USB 3.0. When you start up your VM again, the device should work and should not be limited artificially to USB 2.0 speeds.

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  • Glad to be able to help! – Ruairi Oct 15 '13 at 16:51

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