How to find the /dev name of my USB device

Solution 1:

Try lsblk. This is the output from my current setup:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0 195.3G  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0     4G  0 part [SWAP]
└─sda3   8:3    0 266.5G  0 part /
sdb      8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   0 460.8G  0 part /home
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  

I'm using Ubuntu 12.10.

Solution 2:

ls -1 /dev > ~/before.txt

plug it in, then

ls -1 /dev > ~/after.txt

diff ~/before.txt ~/after.txt

Solution 3:

lsblk seems to work:

rishi@rishi-Inspiron-1018:~$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 232.9G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0 230.9G  0 part /
├─sda2   8:2    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0     2G  0 part [SWAP]
sdb      8:16   1   7.4G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   1   7.4G  0 part /media/3765-3233

So now I know my SD card is in /dev/sdb1.

Solution 4:

Try using lsusb to see if the sd card reader is picked up in virtualbox. Another option would be to use palimpsest (also known by its menu entry, Disk Utility.)

Don't be afraid to use the GUI programs - they do work! If palimpsest sees your device, it will tell you the device node, so you can use the CLI utilities.