Ubuntu

mounting storage disk

Asked by sandra.bodkin

My storage disk is 10 gig and want to use it but can't because I don't know how to mount it in Ubuntu or where to mount it. Gparted tells me it contains unallocated space. My question is: how do you mount this storage disk to use for music photos and other items? What are the steps involved in doing this? Thanks.

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Pramod Dematagoda
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sandra.bodkin (lotus1s) said : 		#1

I meant 20 gig, not 10. Sorry.

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Vojtěch Trefný (vojtech.trefny) said : 		#2

"Gparted tells me it contains unallocated space." → it means that there is no filesystem - you have to format it and make some partition(s) before using...

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sandra.bodkin (lotus1s) said : 		#3

Thanks Vojtech. I'll do that first.

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Albrecht Mühlenschulte (a7p) said : 		#4

As soon, as the Disk is formated properly, ubuntu will mount it automatically as soon as you plug it in.

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sandra.bodkin (lotus1s) said : 		#5

To: a7p: Thanks for telling me this. I've only been using Ubuntu for 3 weeks. How do you plug it in? I would really appreciate a step by step instruction on this. Thanks.

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Pramod Dematagoda (pmdematagoda) said : 		#6

If you have an internal hard disk, then you do not need to plug it in again, but you may need to edit the fstab file accordingly. If you could provide the filesystem type you are formatting the hard disk to, then we could provide you with the necessary changes to the fstab file.

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sandra.bodkin (lotus1s) said : 		#7

This is what fdisk gives me:sandra@snoopy:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for sandra:

Disk /dev/sda: 10.0 GB, 10005037056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1216 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x64956495

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1158 9301603+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1159 1216 465885 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1159 1216 465853+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 20.4 GB, 20490559488 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2491 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x380e380d

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 2491 20008926 83 Linux
sandra@snoopy:~$

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Pramod Dematagoda (pmdematagoda) said : 		#8

Could you please provide the specific file system to which you formatted the hard disk to.

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sandra.bodkin (lotus1s) said : 		#9

Sorry about that: Ok. The first hard disk is the one Ubuntu is using. It was already formatted and partitioned for linux swap, ext3, and extended. The second hard disk on my computer was unallocated so I created a new partition which reads: /dev/sdb1 Filesystem: ext2 Size: 19.08GB Used: 350.67MB Unused: 118.74GB. I may have partitioned it wrong. If you need more information let me know. Thanks.

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Best Pramod Dematagoda (pmdematagoda) said : 		#10

Ok, now first create a folder called "sdb1" using:-

sudo mkdir /media/sdb1

then open the fstab file for editing and enter this line to the end of the file:-

/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 ext2 defaults 0 2

After that is done, save the file and then execute:-

sudo mount -a

that should properly mount your second hard drive.

P.S. Just a suggestion, but I strongly recommend that you use ext3 as the file system on the hard drive, especially since you are going to store data on it as ext3 is more reliable than ext2 is.

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sandra.bodkin (lotus1s) said : 		#11

Thank you ! Thank you ! You have solved my problem. I wasn't sure what to do because I have never done it before. Thanks for your patience. I was looking for the right procedure and without your answer I would still be looking. So, thanks again.

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Peter Bladon (cbas25) said : 		#12

I have two (vaguely related) problems

I am running Ubuntu 9.10 64 Bit, and while I am new to Ubuntu I am familiar with Linux and Unix in general

Problem no 1 is this
I am having difficulty in mounting discs on other machines on my LAN

My /etc/fstab file has typical entries:

/dev/sdb /crocusdisc3 ext3 defaults 0 0 # typical for local mounting on the host machine
......
192.168.10.11:/localdisc1 /localdisc01 nfs rw,bg 0 0 # typical for remote mounting via the LAN

When I run sudo /bin/mount -a, the local disc(s) are mounted OK, but the LAN discs produce errors:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on 192.168.10.11:/localdisc1,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       (for several filesystems (e.g. nfs, cifs) you might
       need a /sbin/mount.<type> helper program)
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

this message is repeated for all of the remote discs; I think that I can rule out all of these discs having bad
superblocks!! But I do not know how to implement the other suggestions. Any hints??

Problem no 2 arose when I tried to REBOOT the system with a faulty /etc/fstab in place. The system failed to
reboot, and then offered me the "rescue" mode. In this mode, although the system said I was logged in as
root, (whoami said so), whenever I tried to edit (vi) /etc/fstab, the system would not allow me to store the
corrected file (it said that the file was readonly). I thought that root had overriding priveleges.

In the end I had to install Ubuntu again from scratch.
Any help would be appreciated. I have had a look through other posted problems.

Peter Bladon