Accessing drives/partitions files and folders...

fireflyte

Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:07:36 am

Hi all,
I keep giving up on Linux due to continuing problems, (always the same problems), but sometimes I don't get a choice as I use Raspberry Pi's a lot..
All my problems are a result of inability to perform many functions via the GUI, lack of knowledge of how to do what should be simple functions and constant restrictions to certain files or folders.

I would be great if I could find a simple, concise set of drive-access instructions covering how to access different drives/partitions, how to read/write/copy/paste files and folders and how to get round the various restrictions but no such instructions seem to exist anywhere.

At the moment, all I want to do (I seem to say that so often...), is access an SD Card in my Zorin laptop so I can edit certain files on it.
I can see it in the GUI but it won't let me change the files and won't even let me read some of them.
I have no idea how to access the SD Card in the terminal and when I try to Google how to do this I can only find information on how to mount the SD Card but it's already mounted.

Can anyone help, please?

Aravisian

Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:29:58 am

fireflyte wrote:Hi all,
I keep giving up on Linux due to continuing problems, (always the same problems), but sometimes I don't get a choice as I use Raspberry Pi's a lot..
All my problems are a result of inability to perform many functions via the GUI, lack of knowledge of how to do what should be simple functions and constant restrictions to certain files or folders.

I would be great if I could find a simple, concise set of drive-access instructions covering how to access different drives/partitions, how to read/write/copy/paste files and folders and how to get round the various restrictions but no such instructions seem to exist anywhere.

At the moment, all I want to do (I seem to say that so often...), is access an SD Card in my Zorin laptop so I can edit certain files on it.
I can see it in the GUI but it won't let me change the files and won't even let me read some of them.
I have no idea how to access the SD Card in the terminal and when I try to Google how to do this I can only find information on how to mount the SD Card but it's already mounted.

Can anyone help, please?

Is this an SD card that you slip into an SD card reader?
If I might ask, what File Manager are you using to access your files? (Thunar, Nautilus, Nemo, etc.)

fireflyte

Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:50:57 am

Aravisian wrote:Is this an SD card that you slip into an SD card reader?
If I might ask, what File Manager are you using to access your files? (Thunar, Nautilus, Nemo, etc.)

Well, yeah, just a standard 16GB SD Card.
The reader is built in to the laptop.
Like most laptops it just has an SD Card slot in the front.
I don't really know what you mean by File Manager.
I am just using Zorin..?

Aravisian

Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:24:14 am

fireflyte wrote:
Aravisian wrote:Is this an SD card that you slip into an SD card reader?
If I might ask, what File Manager are you using to access your files? (Thunar, Nautilus, Nemo, etc.)

Well, yeah, just a standard 16GB SD Card.
The reader is built in to the laptop.
Like most laptops it just has an SD Card slot in the front.
I don't really know what you mean by File Manager.
I am just using Zorin..?

The file manager is just what opens up your files in a GUI. The window that shows your files.
If you have not changed it, that should mean that you are using Nautilus.
I am not using Nautilus and it has been a while since I have... But my first novice guess is that you need to change the Permissions of the file you are trying to edit.
Let's start with thinking this is a permissions issue:
First, right click the Folder Icon that you have your files in that you want to edit. Scroll down the drop down menu and look for either "Open as Root" Or "Open as Administrator." If you see one of those, click it and then enter your password (the same one you enter for "Sudo" in terminal) and this will elevate your permissions in that folder.
If you DO NOT see either of those options, let's see if we can give you the option.
Open a new terminal and enter:

Code:: sudo apt-get install nautilus-admin

then restart Nautlius with

Code:: nautilus -q

Now, right click the folder again and look for "Open as Admin."

Alternatively, you can use terminal to immediately open Nautilus as superuser:

Code:: gksudo nautilus

fireflyte

Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:46:01 am

The "open as admin/root" option was not there so I keyed in "sudo apt-get install nautilus-admin" to the terminal and I got a whole load of information on the screen. It says "The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required" then a list of what I presume to be the packages but some seem unrelated to what I'm doing..
It asked if I wanted to continue and I, reluctantly, said yes.
I then typed "nautilus -q" and got "Failed to load module "overlay-scrollbar"".
What now?

Aravisian

Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:49:00 am

fireflyte wrote:The "open as admin/root" option was not there so I keyed in "sudo apt-get install nautilus-admin" to the terminal and I got a whole load of information on the screen. It says "The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required" then a list of what I presume to be the packages but some seem unrelated to what I'm doing..
It asked if I wanted to continue and I, reluctantly, said yes.
I then typed "nautilus -q" and got "Failed to load module "overlay-scrollbar"".
What now?

But Nautilus opened, right?
Once you have opened Nautilus with Elevated Privileges, try opening and editing your files and see if it works.

As an aside, you can probably get rid of that error with:

Code:: dpkg -l | grep '^rc' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs dpkg --purge

to remove any leftover config files remaining after items were previously uninstalled.
That "failed to moad module "overlay scrollbar" is probably a residual comfiguration file from a file that is removed and you are only seeing it because you actively opened the GUI from the terminal. In fact, that is how I sometimes check for errors is by opening something from Terminal instead of by double clicking its icons. Otherwise, I might never notice them.

fireflyte

Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:59:19 am

OK, it did work and I accessed the folder via "open as administrator".
Now.. I want to copy two files (R Pi files) from one SD Card to the HD so that I can then overwrite them in another SD Card.
It is allowing me to copy one file "passwd" but not the other "shadow". It says "Error opening file: Permission denied".

Edit: Nevermind.. I managed to edit the Permissions.

Aravisian

Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:08:27 am

fireflyte wrote:OK, it did work and I accessed the folder via "open as administrator".
Now.. I want to copy two files (R Pi files) from one SD Card to the HD so that I can then overwrite them in another SD Card.
It is allowing me to copy one file "passwd" but not the other "shadow". It says "Error opening file: Permission denied".

Edit: Nevermind.. I managed to edit the Permissions.

Good deal and now that you know how, that will become as routine as opening any other window.

Off topic and additional info:
For those leftover junk files, you may want to use a Computer Janitor for Linux. I just use the one that is in Ubuntu Tweak Tool (GUI) that I downloaded and installed when I first installed Zorin OS. But you can look around and see what else you can find.
In Synaptic package Manager, under status tab, you can see an option for "Broken" that helps you to fix broken packages that are installed, too.

fireflyte

Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:14:26 am

Thanks. I'll look into that.

This, ("open as admin"), should solve a lot of problems I've been having when it comes to editing and moving files and folders around, thanks.

Aravisian

Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:18:34 am

fireflyte wrote:Thanks. I'll look into that.
This, ("open as admin"), should solve a lot of problems I've been having when it comes to editing and moving files and folders around, thanks.

You are welcome. Glad I could help instead of destroying someones computer for a change. Just please be careful with using the Root Functionality on Folders. Moving and deleting your own files shouldn't be an issue but if you remove a system file protected by Root, it could spell disaster.
You can easily see the security there, though. Unlike Windows OS where a malicious file can remove, add or move files with a rootkit, Linux OS's requiring that root password really inhibit that behavior.

fireflyte

Fri Jun 14, 2019 9:34:15 am

Why it's so secure, of course.

Nice to have freedom with my R.Pi files, though.
I'd lost log-in information on one of my Pi's (including username) so I needed to use Zorin to copy the default log-in information from a working Pi card to the other one.
That way I can gain access and create a new log-in. ^_^

Finston Pickle

Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:29:57 pm

Using the Terminal and entering gksudo nautilus is a quick way of gaining good access to all features for that session of nautilus. Enter your password when prompted and nautilus will open.

To get to terminal click on the blue Z, bottom left of your screen and type nautilus - where it says type to search.

Good luck.

This is a static archive of the old Zorin Forum.

Accessing drives/partitions files and folders...