Jellyfin Server - Ubuntu external drives

[mjpatey]

Hi,

I've previously installed Jellyfin server on Mac, and it had no trouble recognizing and reading from my external media drive. I've now started a new Jellyfin installation on Ubuntu 24.04LTS, and have attached the same external drive to the new machine via USB. When attempting to add a library in the Jellyfin web setup wizard, I navigate to /media/my_username, and the external drive is not there.

In the OS, I can see it's mounted as /media/my_username/Media, formatted as ExFAT. I can see all the files in Ubuntu's file browser, and double-clicking any media file plays it successfully in VLC. The drive seems to work fine in every other application in this Ubuntu install, and works fine with my Jellyfin server install on Mac.

How can I make Jellyfin server see this drive on Ubuntu 24.04?

Thank you in advance for any light you can shed!

-Mark

[TheDreadPirate]

The USB drive is being mounted via udisks2. The location the drive is currently at is protected by an ACL. You could remove the ACL as a temporary fix, but the proper solution is to manually mount the drive using fstab.

I've written a guide for how to do this, which also includes a Linux permissions primer.

https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-mounting-lo...ons-primer

[mjpatey]

@TheDreadPirate thanks so much for that very thorough primer! I've edited my /etc/fstab file using Gnome Text Editor, and re-saved. Here's a play-by-play from that point:

$ sudo umount /media/(username)/Media
$ sudo mount -a
mount: /media/(username): can't find UUID=(xxx).
mount: (hint) your fstab has been modified, but systemd still uses
      the old version; use 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload.
$ systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo mount -a
mount: /media/(username): can't find UUID=(xxx).

I've checked and the UUID is correct, copied and pasted. This happened once, and I assumed the failure was due to something I'd broken earlier in the process. My Ubuntu install was brand-new otherwise, so I just reinstalled the OS, then Jellyfin. Tnis is my second try, and I'm getting the same result.

My install method is using Jellyfin's repo, as they recommend:

curl -s https://repo.jellyfin.org/install-debuntu.sh | sudo bash

Could it matter that the external drive was originally formatted as exFAT using a Mac, or is there something else I can try?

-Mark

[mjpatey]

By the way, here's the line I added to /etc/fstab:

Code:

UUID=(xxx) /media/(username)/(drivename) exfat defaults 0 0

[TheDreadPirate]

By the way, here's the line I added to /etc/fstab:

Code:

UUID=(xxx) /media/(username)/(drivename) exfat defaults 0 0

Move your mount out of /media/username.  That directory almost certainly has an ACL on it preventing Jellyfin from accessing it.  You COULD remove the ACL, but Linux will mount all of your other removable storage in this directory.  To prevent any naming collisions, you should be mounting permanent storage elsewhere.  Directly in /media or /mnt are the most common locations.

Code:

UUID=(xxx) /media/(drivename) exfat defaults 0 0

Or

Code:

UUID=(xxx) /mnt/(drivename) exfat defaults 0 0

[mjpatey]

@TheDreadPirate thanks again for all your help. I just changed the /etc/fstab entry to:

UUID=(xxx...) /media/Media exfat defaults 0 0

...then did the following and got the response shown at the end:

Code:

$ sudo umount /media/(username)/Media
$ systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo mount -a
mount: /media/Media: can't find UUID=(xxx...).

It still can't find it. So I thought maybe I'm copying the wrong string as the UUID... When I do ls -lx, there are two long strings, one of which is labeled "Type-UUID" and the other of which is labeled simply "UUID". I've been using the one in the "UUID" column. Just tried changing the fstab entry to the other string, and that didn't work (as you might have predicted!)

What seems to be happening when I disconnect and reconnect the drive is that as soon as I reconnect it, the OS grabs it and places it in /media/(username)/(drivename).

Some more info: it's a 2TB drive, formatted as exFAT on a Mac, connected via USB 2.

[mjpatey]

I just tried one more thing, plugging in a USB thumb drive to see if I could get that to be recognized using the same process. I get the same error message for both drives:

Code:

$ sudo mount -a
mount: /media/Media: can't find UUID=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7.
mount: /media/MediaTest: can't find UUID=45DBF1F7-7FE6-45C5-B07F-A691F7BF6030.

The drives are still being mounted by the OS in /media/(username)/(drivename)... and with this one I noticed that the drives are being named using their original labels when Ubuntu is mounting them there, not the names I'm assigning in fstab. (Makes sense, since it's saying it can't find them as entered in fstab)...

[TheDreadPirate]

Can you share the full output of "sudo fdisk -lx"?

[mjpatey]

@TheDreadPirate here's the full output of sudo fdisk -lx:

Code:

$ sudo fdisk -lx
[sudo] password for (username):
Disk /dev/loop0: 4 KiB, 4096 bytes, 8 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 /dev/loop1: 74.27 MiB, 77881344 bytes, 152112 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 /dev/loop2: 269.77 MiB, 282873856 bytes, 552488 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 /dev/loop3: 10.72 MiB, 11239424 bytes, 21952 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 /dev/loop4: 505.09 MiB, 529625088 bytes, 1034424 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 /dev/loop5: 91.69 MiB, 96141312 bytes, 187776 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 /dev/loop6: 10.54 MiB, 11051008 bytes, 21584 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 /dev/loop7: 500 KiB, 512000 bytes, 1000 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 /dev/nvme0n1: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: KINGSTON SNV2S500G                     
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 8F754519-697D-4F9F-8443-A301B0D62C87
First usable LBA: 2048
Last usable LBA: 976773134
Alternative LBA: 976773167
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device          Start      End  Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                Name Attrs
/dev/nvme0n1p1    2048  2203647  2201600 C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B 42E624A8-52C0-42A7-ACCD-A6E674A63CF3     
/dev/nvme0n1p2 2203648 976771071 974567424 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 1D804213-C156-4792-B2EC-C8DE650D1A5C     


Disk /dev/loop8: 38.83 MiB, 40714240 bytes, 79520 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 /dev/loop9: 149.63 MiB, 156901376 bytes, 306448 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 /dev/loop10: 568 KiB, 581632 bytes, 1136 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 /dev/loop11: 11.11 MiB, 11649024 bytes, 22752 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 /dev/loop12: 149.88 MiB, 157155328 bytes, 306944 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 /dev/loop13: 74.25 MiB, 77852672 bytes, 152056 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 /dev/loop14: 10.67 MiB, 11186176 bytes, 21848 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 /dev/sda: 1.82 TiB, 2000365289472 bytes, 3906963456 sectors
Disk model: Elements 2620 
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3ECA23EC-08BB-4DB7-886A-DB35A5DD39BF
First usable LBA: 34
Last usable LBA: 3906963422
Alternative LBA: 3906963455
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device    Start        End    Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                Name    Attrs
/dev/sda1  2048 3906961407 3906959360 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 DA8FDD93-3C49-492C-B366-0FA744D04E1E Elements


Disk /dev/sdb: 119.51 GiB, 128320801792 bytes, 250626566 sectors
Disk model: Flash Drive FIT
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 4F9769A4-BEFE-43EE-B182-960E20803F7A
First usable LBA: 34
Last usable LBA: 250626532
Alternative LBA: 250626565
Partition entries starting LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128
Partition entries ending LBA: 33

Device      Start      End  Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                Name                Attrs
/dev/sdb1      40    409639    409600 C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B 2AFBB759-C75E-43F4-A126-2905B638AADB EFI System Partition
/dev/sdb2  411648 250626047 250214400 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 45DBF1F7-7FE6-45C5-B07F-A691F7BF6030                     

...sda is the drive I care about, and sdb is the thumb drive I inserted as a test.

[theguymadmax]

Run this command

Code:

sudo blkid /dev/sda1

You should get a different UUID, use that instead of the UUID listed by fdisk.