Installing and mounting exFAT in Linux (with write option)

To install ExFat support in Ubuntu, pull up a console (‘Applications > Accessories > Terminal’) and run:

sudo -s
apt-add-repository ppa:relan/exfat
sudo apt-get update
apt-get install fuse-exfat

The driver uses the FUSE (filesystem in userspace) framework. For it to work, FUSE needs to be enabled in the kernel. If you use the stock Ubuntu kernels then this is the default, so you don’t have to do anything else. If you roll your own drill down to ‘Filesystems > FUSE’ and either compile it in statically or enable it as a ‘M’odule, then compile and install your kernel.

While available as a module, Ubuntu won’t know to automatically use the driver when you insert an exFAT device. For now you’ll need to manually mount the device and specify the exFAT filesystem. Plug in your device and run:

cat /proc/partitions

Chances are your USB device will be the last partition listed. You can also check by looking at its size and seeing if it matches the size of your USB key.

Next make a temporary directory where you can mount the device. Ubuntu by default attaches removable media under the /media directory, so you might as well do the same. Enter the following:

cd /media
sudo -s
mkdir usbdrive
mount -t exfat /dev/sdd1 usbdrive

The drive will appear on your desktop, and you can read and write to it like any other. To safely unmount it before removing, use following command:

sudo umount usbdrive