If I have an USB hard disk drive connected to a USB port when I boot my Fedora Workstation 42, I don’t see it in the file explorer. If I un-plug it and plug it again, it’s visible and works fine.
(Be gentle, please, I’m a newbie.)
It sounds like you found a bug. 
Welcome to Fedora @goranike
Please give more information about how you connect the disk. Over a Docking station? Which kind of usb? Do you use a laptop or a desktop computer? If Desktop computer do you use the usb connection onboard or is the usb connector in the front (extended from motherboard)?
I guess we are.
To see how your system looks like you could create us a inxi -Fzxx in the terminal and using pre formatet text ( </> ) to post it here. You might have to install the application first with sudo dnf install inxi in the terminal.
Thank you, guys, for your time and effort!
Here are some informations you might be missing to help:
OS: Fedora Linux 42 (Workstation Edition), GNOME 48, Wayland
Kernel Version: Linux 6.14.5-300fc42.x86_64
Hardware: Hewlett-Packard HP ProDesk 600 G1 SFF
Firmware Version: L01 v02.75
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 × 4
GPU: NV138
RAM: 16GB
So, the machine is a desktop computer, and I don’t use any docking station.
The USB disk is pluged in an USB2 connector on the back of the machine, on the panel atached to the motherboard, but the same happens with any USB drive (a flash-stick, for example) connected to a connector in the front.
After the boot up, but before I unplug the USB disk and plug it back, the USB disk is “alive”, meaning it’s internal light is ON, but I don’t see it in the file explorer:
$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 238,5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 600M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot
└─sda3 8:3 0 236,9G 0 part /home
/
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
zram0 251:0 0 8G 0 disk [SWAP]
After I unplug the USB disk and plug it back:
$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 238,5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 600M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot
└─sda3 8:3 0 236,9G 0 part /home
/
sdb 8:16 0 465,8G 0 disk
└─sdb1 8:17 0 465,8G 0 part /run/media/user_name/FreeAgent Drive
sr0 11:0 1 3,9G 0 rom
zram0 251:0 0 8G 0 disk [SWAP]
The same happens with any USB drive (a flash-stick, for example).
pet, 9. svi 2025. u 06:01 via Fedora Discussion <notifications@fedoraproject.discoursemail.com> napisao je:
I’ve just noted something: if I restart Fedora, after I’ve made the USB disk visible, it’s still visible. If I shut the OS down and boot it again, the USB disk is not visible untill I un-plug it and plug it back again.
Check about your usb hdd it is usb2 or usb3 same with usb stick
@goranike do you have a faster/more powerful USB port available, to make a test? I just can guess that you have some power issues, or the system can not auto mount, for some case. This (auto mount) just happens when you reconnect.
If you want to have the device available as a share on the boot process, it needs to be configured in the file /etc/fstab.
p.s.
please for “cut & paste” use the pre formatet as thext option in the edit menu.
I change it for you in your topic, so you can see what I mean.