How To Mount an Exfat Filesystem in Ubuntu?

In the world of Linux, dealing with different file systems is a common task. One such file system is exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table), which is a Microsoft file system optimized for flash drives. This article will guide you through the process of mounting an exFAT file system in Ubuntu.

Understanding exFAT

exFAT is a file system introduced by Microsoft in 2006, and it is particularly used for flash drives. It is designed to be a lightweight file system like FAT32 without the extra features of NTFS, and without the limitations of FAT32 like the maximum file size of 4GB.

However, Ubuntu doesn’t support the exFAT file system by default. If you try to mount an exFAT file system, you may encounter an error like “unknown filesystem type ‘exfat'”. This is because the necessary packages to handle exFAT are not installed in Ubuntu by default.

Installing exFAT Support

The steps to install exFAT support depend on the version of Ubuntu you are using.

For Ubuntu 13.10 or higher:

1. Open a terminal. You can do this by searching for ‘terminal’ in the application menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T.
2. Update the package list by running the following command: sudo apt update. The sudo command is used to run the following command with root privileges. apt is the package handling utility in Ubuntu, and update is the command to resynchronize the package index files from their sources.
3. Install the necessary packages by running the following command: sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils. The install command is used to install new packages. exfat-fuse and exfat-utils are the packages needed to handle exFAT file systems.

For Ubuntu 12.04:

1. Open a terminal.
2. Add the necessary repository by running the following command: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:relan/exfat. The apt-add-repository command is used to add a new repository. ppa:relan/exfat is the Personal Package Archive (PPA) that contains the packages needed to handle exFAT file systems.
3. Update the package list by running the following command: sudo apt-get update.
4. Install the necessary package by running the following command: sudo apt-get install fuse-exfat.

If you encounter the error gpg: "tag:launchpad.net:2008:redacted" not a key ID: skipping during the apt-add-repository step in Ubuntu 12.04, follow these additional steps:

1. Manually install the signing key by running the following command: sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 4DF9B28CA252A784. The apt-key command is used to manage the list of keys used by apt to authenticate packages. The adv command is used to give advanced options. --keyserver specifies the keyserver to use. --recv-keys is used to receive keys from a keyserver.
2. Update the package list by running the following command: sudo apt-get update.
3. Install the necessary package by running the following command: sudo apt-get install fuse-exfat.

Mounting the exFAT Filesystem

After installing the necessary packages, you can mount the exFAT file system. To do this, use the mount command followed by the device and the mount point. For example, if your device is /dev/sdb1 and you want to mount it to /media/exfat, you would use the following command: sudo mount -t exfat /dev/sdb1 /media/exfat.

The -t option is used to specify the file system type, which is exfat in this case. /dev/sdb1 is the device file for your file system. /media/exfat is the directory where the file system will be mounted.

Conclusion

Mounting an exFAT file system in Ubuntu may seem daunting at first, but once you understand the process, it becomes straightforward. Remember to install the necessary packages before attempting to mount the file system. If you encounter any issues, don’t hesitate to consult the Ubuntu community or the man pages for the commands used in this article.