FWIW, the permissions thing is generally fixable with fstab entries or editing mount options instead of always doing chmod. The uid/gid and umask/fmask mount options are what you're looking for. I think mint has a UI method to modify mount options for it's auto mounter, but I've not used it in a while so I can't be super specific. I'd recommend fstab for anything that's always connected and the other way for things you plug/ unplug