Can't create folders on hard drives

Dr_Dio · 22 February 2024 02:40

Recently used KDE Partition manager to install a new hard drive into my computer. Now, truth be told, I couldn’t even create folders on my install drive either. The drives are properly formatted (ext4) and mounted. But when I try to make folders on either drive I get an error back telling me that they couldn’t create a folder on the drive, assuming manjaro doesn’t even black out the option to do so.

What do I have to do to fix this issue? I would like to use my second drive for the purpose of notekeeping.

Here’s my inxi.

System:
  Host: alexander-rogstrixg614jvg614jv Kernel: 6.7.4-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64
    bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.10 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: ROG Strix G614JV_G614JV v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: G614JV v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: G614JV.321 date: 10/24/2023
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 85.5 Wh (100.0%) condition: 85.5/90.0 Wh (95.0%)
CPU:
  Info: 24-core (8-mt/16-st) model: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13980HX bits: 64
    type: MST AMCP cache: L2: 32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 816 min/max: 800/5400:5600:4000 cores: 1: 800 2: 800
    3: 960 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 905 10: 800 11: 936 12: 800
    13: 800 14: 800 15: 800 16: 800 17: 940 18: 800 19: 800 20: 800 21: 800
    22: 800 23: 800 24: 800 25: 800 26: 800 27: 800 28: 800 29: 800 30: 800
    31: 800 32: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-S UHD Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile] driver: nvidia
    v: 545.29.06
  Device-3: Sonix USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.4
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris
    gpu: i915,nvidia resolution: 1536x960
-:: 'Enter' to continue to next block. Any key + 'Enter' to exit:
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,kms_swrast,nvidia,swrast
    platforms: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 23.3.5-manjaro1.1
    renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (RPL-S)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.276 drivers: nvidia surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: NVIDIA driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.7.4-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.3 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-S PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: dc:46:28:23:e6:55
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    driver: r8169
  IF: enp108s0 state: down mac: 08:bf:b8:c3:13:07
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX211 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 state: up address: see --recommends
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel
    driver: vmd
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.64 TiB used: 22.01 GiB (0.5%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: WD BLACK SN850X 1000GB
    size: 931.51 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 model: XG7000-4TB 2280 size: 3.73 TiB
-:: 'Enter' to continue to next block. Any key + 'Enter' to exit:
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.53 GiB used: 22.01 GiB (2.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 296 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 1900
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.97 GiB used: 9.83 GiB (31.8%)
  Processes: 527 Uptime: 2h 23m Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.33

cscs · 22 February 2024 03:34

Linux and Ext filesystem format are permissions-based.

Likely you dont have the rights as a random regular using to write to the root of this formatted drive.

With dolphin open to the drive right-click and select “Open Terminal Here”

We can look at the permissions here:

ls -l -a .

You will probably see root as the owner.

So root can do things, and we can use sudo for that.

sudo mkdir -p data

You can look again using ls if you like.

But lets change the ownership of that folder.

sudo chown $USER data

Now, using dolphin or any other method, you should be able to freely use that directory.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/File_permissions_and_attributes

Dr_Dio · 22 February 2024 03:49

I tried what you suggested, still can’t place folders.

Here’s a log of what I did- Experimented a bit at the end to see if I was doing it wrong.

ls -l -a .                                                                                     ✔ 

total 164
drwx------ 18 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       root        4096 Jan 28 02:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    21 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    57 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  3270 Nov 23 10:24 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x 33 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .cache
drwxr-xr-x 24 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .config
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 Desktop
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  4855 Oct 29  2017 .dir_colors
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 20:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  7 19:33 Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   270 Feb 21 18:35 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 09:48 .hplip
drwxr-xr-x  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 .local
drwx------  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:25 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Music
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    53 Jul 24  2023 .nanorc
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:14 .nv
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Pictures
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 18:45 .pki
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Public
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Templates
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 .var
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:15 Videos
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd   100 Oct 29  2017 .Xclients
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1637 May 29  2023 .xinitrc
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd 48907 Feb 21 20:52 .zcompdump
-rw-------  1 alexanderd alexanderd   942 Feb 21 22:35 .zhistory
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   382 Jul 25  2023 .zshrc
    ~  sudo mkdir -p data                                                                             ✔ 
[sudo] password for alexanderd: 
    ~  ls                                                                                     ✔  10s  
data  Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos
    ~  ^[[200~sudo chown $USER data                                                                   ✔ 
sudo chown $USER datazsh: bad pattern: ^[[200~sudo
    ~  sudo chown $USER data                                                                        1 ✘ 

    ~  ls -l -a .                                                                                     ✔ 
total 168
drwx------ 19 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:38 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       root        4096 Jan 28 02:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    21 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    57 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  3270 Nov 23 10:24 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x 33 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:37 .cache
drwxr-xr-x 24 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .config
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd root        4096 Feb 21 22:36 data
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 Desktop
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  4855 Oct 29  2017 .dir_colors
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 20:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  7 19:33 Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   270 Feb 21 18:35 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 09:48 .hplip
drwxr-xr-x  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 .local
drwx------  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:25 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Music
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    53 Jul 24  2023 .nanorc
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:14 .nv
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Pictures
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 18:45 .pki
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Public
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Templates
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 .var
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:15 Videos
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd   100 Oct 29  2017 .Xclients
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1637 May 29  2023 .xinitrc
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd 48907 Feb 21 20:52 .zcompdump
-rw-------  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1027 Feb 21 22:38 .zhistory
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   382 Jul 25  2023 .zshrc
    ~  ls -l -a .                                                                                     ✔ 
total 168
drwx------ 19 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:38 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       root        4096 Jan 28 02:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    21 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    57 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  3270 Nov 23 10:24 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x 33 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:37 .cache
drwxr-xr-x 24 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .config
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd root        4096 Feb 21 22:36 data
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 Desktop
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  4855 Oct 29  2017 .dir_colors
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 20:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  7 19:33 Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   270 Feb 21 18:35 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 09:48 .hplip
drwxr-xr-x  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 .local
drwx------  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:25 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Music
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    53 Jul 24  2023 .nanorc
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:14 .nv
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Pictures
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 18:45 .pki
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Public
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Templates
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 .var
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:15 Videos
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd   100 Oct 29  2017 .Xclients
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1637 May 29  2023 .xinitrc
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd 48907 Feb 21 20:52 .zcompdump
-rw-------  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1027 Feb 21 22:38 .zhistory
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   382 Jul 25  2023 .zshrc
    ~  sudo mkdir -p data                                                                             ✔ 
    ~  ls -l -a .                                                                                     ✔ 
total 168
drwx------ 19 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:41 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       root        4096 Jan 28 02:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    21 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    57 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  3270 Nov 23 10:24 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x 33 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:37 .cache
drwxr-xr-x 24 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .config
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd root        4096 Feb 21 22:36 data
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 Desktop
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  4855 Oct 29  2017 .dir_colors
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 20:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  7 19:33 Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   270 Feb 21 18:35 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 09:48 .hplip
drwxr-xr-x  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 .local
drwx------  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:25 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Music
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    53 Jul 24  2023 .nanorc
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:14 .nv
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Pictures
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 18:45 .pki
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Public
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Templates
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 .var
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:15 Videos
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd   100 Oct 29  2017 .Xclients
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1637 May 29  2023 .xinitrc
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd 48907 Feb 21 20:52 .zcompdump
-rw-------  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1057 Feb 21 22:41 .zhistory
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   382 Jul 25  2023 .zshrc
    ~  sudo chown $USER data                                                                          ✔ 
    ~  sudo chown alexamderd data                                                                     ✔ 
chown: invalid user: ‘alexamderd’
    ~  sudo chown alexanderd data                                                                   1 ✘ 
    ~  ls -l -a .                                                                                     ✔ 
total 168
drwx------ 19 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:44 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       root        4096 Jan 28 02:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    21 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    57 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  3270 Nov 23 10:24 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x 33 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:42 .cache
drwxr-xr-x 24 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:42 .config
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd root        4096 Feb 21 22:36 data
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 Desktop
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd  4855 Oct 29  2017 .dir_colors
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 20:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  7 19:33 Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   270 Feb 21 18:35 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 09:48 .hplip
drwxr-xr-x  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 .local
drwx------  4 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:25 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Music
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    53 Jul 24  2023 .nanorc
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:14 .nv
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Pictures
drwx------  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 18:45 .pki
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Public
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 02:21 Templates
drwxr-xr-x  3 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb  4 13:09 .var
drwxr-xr-x  2 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Jan 28 17:15 Videos
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd   100 Oct 29  2017 .Xclients
-rwxr-xr-x  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1637 May 29  2023 .xinitrc
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd 48907 Feb 21 20:52 .zcompdump
-rw-------  1 alexanderd alexanderd  1145 Feb 21 22:44 .zhistory
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   382 Jul 25  2023 .zshrc
    ~ 

cscs · 22 February 2024 03:51

Dr_Dio:

ls -l -a .                                                                                     ✔ 

total 164
drwx------ 18 alexanderd alexanderd  4096 Feb 21 22:35 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root       root        4096 Jan 28 02:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    21 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd    57 Nov 23 10:24 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexand

Dr_Dio:

-rw-r--r--  1 alexanderd alexanderd   382 Jul 25  2023 .zshrc
    ~  sudo mkdir -p data                                                                             ✔ 
[sudo] password for alexanderd: 
    ~  ls                                                                                     ✔  10s  
data  Desktop

Shows you in HOME, not the formatted disk.
(so … of course there was no impact on that disk)

Looks like you did change the permissions of the created directory though.

So … just make sure to be in the right place and do it again.

Using “Open Terminal Here” option from dolphin would be the easiest, but navigation is possible using cd; ex:
print location:

pwd

move somewhere:

cd /dev/sdb3

An extra note: Do not go changing permissions on random pieces of your local filesystem.
The above approach is both to illustrate the permissions and to create a single directory for your user to access.
But the fact that it is an additional drive has been considered in the previous and following suggestions.
If you would prefer not to deal with permissions on this extra drive at all then you might consider other filesystem formats like exfat.

Aragorn · 22 February 2024 10:37

Dr_Dio · 23 February 2024 02:24

Thank you very much. I’ll keep this thread in my bookmarks in case I need it again.

system · 24 February 2024 14:25

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