vmware usb mount esxi5

here is a note on how to mount a usb key or get it recognized by the hypervisor system (esxi system) and not use it to passthru to a guest on the system.

bad news, it only works with FAT16 file systems.

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/03/how-to-access-usb-storage-in-esxi-shell.html

only USB storage devices formatted with FAT16 can be accessed in the ESXi shell and is applicable to both ESXi 4.1 and 5.0. 

Step 1 - Login to ESXi Shell via SSH and disable the USB Arbitrator service (this is automatically enabled by default to allow pass-through of USB devices to your VMs) using the following command: /etc/init.d/usbarbitrator stop

Step 2 - Plug-in your USB device to your ESXi host and you can verify by using the two ESXCLI commands: verifying the storage device using the command: esxcli storage core device list | grep -i usb or viewing the mounted filesystems using the command: esxcli storage filesystem list

Step 3 - Lastly, after you verify the USB device can be seen by the ESXi host, you can of course browse and access your USB device by looking under /vmfs/volumes/

Te re-enable pass-through of USB devices to your VMs, you just need to start the usbarbitrator service. - See more at: 

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/03/how-to-access-usb-storage-in-esxi-shell.html#sthash.GBWjrX7X.dpuf