Using an Externally-connected USB Memory Stick

How to use an External USB Memory Stick (or Drive)

Check Baseline Configuration

First see what is installed on the USB bus before beginning.

pi@firewalla:~$ lsusb

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Next check what storage (block) devices are installed.

pi@firewalla:~$ lsblk -o NAME,TRAN

NAME         TRAN
mmcblk0
├─mmcblk0p1
├─mmcblk0p2
├─mmcblk0p3
├─mmcblk0p4
├─mmcblk0p5
├─mmcblk0p6
├─mmcblk0p7
├─mmcblk0p8
└─mmcblk0p9
mmcblk0boot0
mmcblk0boot1
zram0
zram1
zram2
zram3

Insert the USB Memory Stick

Insert the USB memory stick and run the same commands again looking for what has changed.

pi@firewalla:~$ lsusb

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 0204:6025 Chipsbank Microelectronics Co., Ltd CBM2080 / CBM2090 Flash drive controller
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The USB memory stick has been recognized and can be seen on the new line.

Bus 001 Device 008: ID 0204:6025 Chipsbank Microelectronics Co., Ltd CBM2080 / CBM2090 Flash drive controller

Identifying the block device of the USB memory stick

pi@firewalla:~$ lsblk -o NAME,TRAN

NAME         TRAN
sda          usb
└─sda1
mmcblk0
├─mmcblk0p1
├─mmcblk0p2
├─mmcblk0p3
├─mmcblk0p4
├─mmcblk0p5
├─mmcblk0p6
├─mmcblk0p7
├─mmcblk0p8
└─mmcblk0p9
mmcblk0boot0
mmcblk0boot1
zram0
zram1
zram2
zram3

The new entry in the lsblk results is where the USB memory stick is.

sda          usb
└─sda1

Create a mount point

This will be the folder where you access the content of the USB memory stick. Any name or location can be used.

pi@firewalla:~$ sudo mkdir /mnt/usb-stick

Mount the USB memory stick

Associate the partition shown in lsblk to the mount point just created.

pi@firewalla:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb-stick/

Confirm that the USB drive is mounted.

pi@firewalla:~$ df

Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             4011396       0   4011396   0% /dev
tmpfs             808308   91560    716748  12% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p3   3546848 2843428    503536  85% /media/root-ro
tmpfs-root        204800  193276     11524  95% /media/root-rw
overlayroot       204800  193276     11524  95% /
tmpfs            4041540       0   4041540   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120       0      5120   0% /run/lock
tmpfs            4041540       0   4041540   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p4   3546848   14328   3332636   1% /var/lib/docker
/dev/mmcblk0p2    487634   78217    379721  18% /boot
/dev/mmcblk0p8   4062912   38492   3798324   2% /data
/dev/mmcblk0p7    999320  393640    536868  43% /log
/dev/mmcblk0p9    258095     242    257853   1% /boot/efi
/dev/mmcblk0p5   1998672  969612    907820  52% /media/home-ro
/dev/mmcblk0p6   1998672  985308    892124  53% /media/home-rw
overlay          1998672  985308    892124  53% /home
tmpfs              30720     348     30372   2% /bspool
tmpfs             808308       0    808308   0% /run/user/1000
/dev/sda1        1024736       0   1024736   0% /mnt/usb-stick

This line confirms the USB memory stick is properly setup.

/dev/sda1        1024736       0   1024736   0% /mnt/usb-stick

See what files are on it

pi@firewalla:~$ ls /mnt/usb-stick/ -la

total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 Dec 31  1969 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root    60 Aug 28 10:12 ..

Removing the USB memory stick

It’s important to always make sure that any unwritten cached data is written to the USB memory stick. Use the sync command to syncrone chaed writes to persistent storage.

pi@firewalla:~$ sync

Then unmount the USB memory stick
pi@firewalla:~$ sudo umount /mnt/usb-stick

Confirm it’s unmounted and safe to remove.

pi@firewalla:~$ df

Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             4011396       0   4011396   0% /dev
tmpfs             808308   91560    716748  12% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p3   3546848 2843428    503536  85% /media/root-ro
tmpfs-root        204800  193276     11524  95% /media/root-rw
overlayroot       204800  193276     11524  95% /
tmpfs            4041540       0   4041540   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120       0      5120   0% /run/lock
tmpfs            4041540       0   4041540   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p4   3546848   14328   3332636   1% /var/lib/docker
/dev/mmcblk0p2    487634   78217    379721  18% /boot
/dev/mmcblk0p8   4062912   38564   3798252   2% /data
/dev/mmcblk0p7    999320  393808    536700  43% /log
/dev/mmcblk0p9    258095     242    257853   1% /boot/efi
/dev/mmcblk0p5   1998672  969612    907820  52% /media/home-ro
/dev/mmcblk0p6   1998672  985308    892124  53% /media/home-rw
overlay          1998672  985308    892124  53% /home
tmpfs              30720    1072     29648   4% /bspool
tmpfs             808308       0    808308   0% /run/user/1000nmounted

The USB memory stick is no longer listed.