How to Mount SD Card in Linux

In computer language, mount refers to connecting an external storage device to your system. The SD Card is one of the storage devices that is mostly used in mobile phones and smart cameras. In simple terms, when you mount the SD card to your operating system like Linux, you can access all that data in your system.

In this post, we will illustrate with examples how to mount SD cards on Linux systems. For demonstration, we mounted SD card on Ubuntu.

How to Mount SD Card in Linux?

Here are the two commonly used methods for mounting SD Cards in Linux:

1. How to Mount SD Card Using Terminal?
2. How to Mount SD Card Using “Disks”?

Method 1: How to Mount SD Card Using Terminal?

In this method, we will utilize the terminal to mount SD cards in Linux.

Step 1: Check System Information

Run the following command to check your system details. By using this command, you can check the kernel name, release, and architecture, which can be useful for troubleshooting:

uname -srm

When the command runs the terminal, it displays the kernel name (Linux), release (6.5.0-15-generic), and machine architecture (x86_64).

Step 2: Identify SD Card Partitions

Before proceeding with mounting, execute the provided command to identify the correct partition of the SD card:

lsblk | grep -iE 'sd[a-z]+'

The command displays the list of partitions available on your Linux system. Additionally, you will find the SD card partition name, size, and default mount point (/media/karim/F7DE-B179) in your terminal.

Step 3: Create SD Card Mount Point

To create a new mount point for your SD Card, execute the provided command in your terminal:

sudo mkdir /media/sd-card

The directory sd-card will be the destination for mounting your SD card.

Step 4: Mount SD Card to Mount Point

After completing the aforementioned steps, execute the one-line command to mount your SD card to the specified mount point:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sd-card -v

In the output, you will see that the command has successfully mounted the SD card to the specified mount point like /media/sd-card.

Step 5: Verify Mounting

You can verify if the SD card partition is successfully mounted:

lsblk | grep -iE 'sd[a-z]+'

If you see the new mount point, such as /media/sd-card, it indicates that the SD Card has been mounted.  

Step 6: Unmount SD Card

To unmount the SD card, utilize the simple command in your terminal:

sudo umount /media/sd-card -v

With the help of -v flag, you can see detailed output during the unmounting process.

Method 2: How to Mount SD Card Using “Disks”?

In the following steps, you will see how to utilize the “Disks” for mounting SD cards in Linux. 

Step 1: Launch “Disks”

Open the “Disks” application to manage your disk drives:

In Linux, the “Disks” is a graphical interface that simplifies the process of mounting and unmounting SD cards.

Step 2: Mount SD Card via “Disks”

In the “Disks” application, navigate your SD Card and click on the Play button to mount the selected SD card partition:

Step 3: Check SD Card Properties

To check the SD card mounted point; 

1. Go to SD Card 
2. Right-click inside the SD Card 
3. Select “Properties”

Step 3: Unmount SD Card

You can unmount the SD card partition at any time by navigating through “Disks”:

1. Locate and select the SD Card
2. Click on the Stop button to Unmount the SD Card.

These methods ensure a proper and secure unmounting of the SD card from your Linux system.

Conclusion

In Linux, you can mount and unmount SD cards using simple methods: through the terminal and a graphical interface. To mount an SD card using the terminal, use the command sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sd-card -v. Alternatively, you can utilize “Disks”, a graphical interface, for a secure mounting process. This post provides an overview of how to mount an SD card in Linux. 

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