Linux mount point install

Ubuntu Documentation

Introduction

While it’s not every day that you need to add a new hard drive to your computer, the task does not have to be complicated. Use this guide to help you install a new hard drive with an existing Ubuntu system, and partition it for use. Before beginning, you need to consider for what you will be using the hard drive.

• Will the drive be used only with Ubuntu?
• Will the drive need to be accessible from both Ubuntu and Windows?
• How do you want to divide the free space? As a single partition, or as several?
• Do you want any of the partitions to be larger than 2 TB?

This guide goes over procedures for a single partition drive install only. Multiple partition drive installations are not very hard, and you may very well figure it out by using this guide; however, make sure you add an entry in /etc/fstab for each partition, not just the drive.

A Note about File Systems:

Drives that are going to be used only under Ubuntu should be formatted using the ext3/ext4 file system (depending on which version of Ubuntu you use and whether you need Linux backwards compatibility). For sharing between Ubuntu and Windows, FAT32 is often the recommended file system, although NTFS works quite well too. If you are new to file systems and partitioning, please do some preliminary research on the two before you attempt this procedure.

Determine Drive Information

We assume that the hard drive is physically installed and detected by the BIOS.

To determine the path that your system has assigned to the new hard drive, open a terminal and run:

This should produce output similar to this sample:

Be sure to note the «logical name» entry, as it will be used several times throughout this guide.

Partition The Disk

If you have already formatted the drive and it contains data, skip this step and move on to «Mount Point.» If the drive is still blank and unformatted, then you have two options: formatting the drive using the command line, or installing GParted for a graphical approach. Decide whether you want the drive to contain one single partition, or if you want to divide the space up between two or more partitions.

Partitioning Using GParted

If System > Administration > GNOME Partition Editor (or ‘Partition Editor’) is not available, install «GParted» using «sudo apt-get install gparted» from the command line, «Add/Remove Software» (or «Add/Remove. «) from the Applications menu, or «Synaptic Package Manager» from the System > Administration menu. Open GParted and let’s get started.

Always use gksu or gksudo for graphical applications like gparted and sudo for command line applications, like apt-get.

In the top-right corner of the window, choose your new hard drive from the drop-down list, referring back to the «logical name» from earlier. The window should refresh and show you a representation of the new drive. Assuming that the drive has yet to have been used, a white bar will run across the window. Use these steps to partition the drive with a single partition.

1) Right-click on the white bar and choose «New.»

2) For «New Size» the number should be the maximum allowable, to fill the entire disk.

3) Choose «Primary Partition»

4) Now decide on a filesystem. Use «ext3» if the drive will only be used with Ubuntu. For file-sharing between Ubuntu and Windows, you should use «fat32.» If you are unsure, search around the wiki and forums for advice.

5) Now click Add to compute the partition. The graphical display should update to show a new partition covering the entire disk.

6) To finish, click «Apply,» or Edit > Apply. The disk will then be partitioned and formatted. You may now close GParted.

Command Line Partitioning

There are two commands that can be used in the command line to partition a new drive: fdisk and parted. fdisk is an older program, and its main downside is that it can only create MBR partitions. parted allows you to create MBR or GPT partitions.

GPT vs MBR

MBR (Master Boot Record) has two main limitations: you cannot have a partition larger than 2 TB and you cannot have more than 4 primary partitions. GPT (GUID Partition Table) can do both of these things, but it is part of the EFI standard. This means your kernel must support EFI. The latest version of the kernel supports EFI, and almost all the latest distros do too.

fdisk

Refer back to the logical name you noted from earlier. For illustration, I’ll use /dev/sdb, and assume that you want a single partition on the disk, occupying all the free space.

If the number of cylinders in the disk is larger than 1024 (and large hard drives always have more), it could, in certain setups, cause problems with:

1. software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2. booting and partitioning software from other OSs (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Otherwise, this will not negatively affect you.

1) Initiate fdisk with the following command:

2) Fdisk will display the following menu:

3) We want to add a new partition. Type «n» and press enter.

4) We want a primary partition. Enter «p» and enter.

5) Since this will be the only partition on the drive, number 1. Enter «1» and enter.

If it asks about the first cylinder, just type «1» and enter. (We are making 1 partition to use the whole disk, so it should start at the beginning.)

6) Now that the partition is entered, choose option «w» to write the partition table to the disk. Type «w» and enter.

7) If all went well, you now have a properly partitioned hard drive that’s ready to be formatted. Since this is the first partition, Linux will recognize it as /dev/sdb1, while the disk that the partition is on is still /dev/sdb.

parted

Refer back to the logical name you noted from earlier. For illustration, I’ll use /dev/sdb, and assume that you want a single partition on the disk, occupying all the free space.

1) Start parted as follows:

2) Create a new GPT disklabel (aka partition table):

3) Set the default unit to TB:

4) Create one partition occupying all the space on the drive. For a 4TB drive:

5) Check that the results are correct:

There should be one partition occupying the entire drive.

6) Save and quit «parted»:

Command Line Formatting

To format the new partition as ext4 file system (best for use under Ubuntu):

To format the new partition as fat32 file system (best for use under Ubuntu & Windows):

As always, substitute «/dev/sdb1» with your own partition’s path.

Modify Reserved Space (Optional)

When formatting the drive as ext2/ext3, 5% of the drive’s total space is reserved for the super-user (root) so that the operating system can still write to the disk even if it is full. However, for disks that only contain data, this is not necessary.

NOTE: You may run this command on a fat32 file system, but it will do nothing; therefore, I highly recommend not running it.

You can adjust the percentage of reserved space with the «tune2fs» command, like this:

This example reserves 1% of space — change this number if you wish.

Using this command does not change any existing data on the drive. You can use it on a drive which already contains data.

Create A Mount Point

Now that the drive is partitioned and formatted, you need to choose a mount point. This will be the location from which you will access the drive in the future. I would recommend using a mount point with «/media», as it is the default used by Ubuntu. For this example, we’ll use the path «/media/mynewdrive»

Now we are ready to mount the drive to the mount point.

Mount The Drive

You can choose to have the drive mounted automatically each time you boot the computer, or manually only when you need to use it.

Automatic Mount At Boot

Note: Ubuntu now recommends to use UUID instead, see the instructions here:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingUUID

You’ll need to edit /etc/fstab:

Add this line to the end (for ext3 file system):

Add this line to the end (for fat32 file system):

• The defaults part may allow you to read, but not write. To write other partition and FAT specific options must be used. If gnome nautilus is being used, use the right-click, mount method, from computer folder. Then launch the mount command from terminal, no options. The last entry should be the FAT drive and and look something like: All of the parts between the parenthesis are the mount options and should replace «defaults» in the fstab file. The «2» at the end instructs your system to run a quick file system check on the hard drive at every boot. Changing it to «0» will skip this. Run ‘man fstab’ for more info here.

You can now run «sudo mount -a» (or reboot the computer) to have the changes take effect.

If you want to allow a normal user to create files on this drive, you can either give this user ownership of the top directory of the drive filesystem: (replace USERNAME with the username)

or in a more flexible way, practical if you have several users, allow for instance the users in the plugdev group (usually those who are meant to be able to mount removable disks, desktop users) to create files and sub-directories on the disk:

The last «chmod +t» adds the sticky bit, so that people can only delete their own files and sub-directories in a directory, even if they have write permissions to it (see man chmod).

Manually Mount

Alternatively, you may want to manually mount the drive every time you need it.

For manual mounting, use the following command:

When you are finished with the drive, you can unmount it using:

That’s it

Need Additional Help?

If you run into problems or need more help, search the wiki or forums at http://ubuntuforums.org. If you cannot find what you are looking for, simply ask for help.

InstallingANewHardDrive (последним исправлял пользователь runverzagt 2019-01-25 15:30:08)

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What mount point should I use for data/free space

I am installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on a PC that has 2 hard drives (160 GB and 320 GB) These drives were set up with Ubuntu on the 160 and Vista on the 320 as dual boot. I am currently re-partitioning the drives to remove Vista and the old Ubuntu and only have Ubuntu 12.04 on the PC. As I set up the 320 HDD to be a single partition with Ext4 as it’s file system, I’m supposed to select a «Mount Point» before proceeding with the install or the partition will be ignored. I’m not sure which mount point to choose. /usr/local looks good but that’s a wild guess on my part. Also when I set up the partitioning for the 160 GB HDD I had approx. 88 GB of free space left. Should that also be formatted as Ext4 and be given a Mount Point?

Please let me know as I’m on hold with the install right now

3 Answers 3

First, you need to understand Linux/Unix mount points a bit better. I wrote this article on the topic a while back, so you might consult it for background information. I’m sure there are other tutorials on this topic you might consult, but I don’t have any other URLs handy.

Once you’ve got a better understanding of mount points, you should realize that your disk sizes are a bit awkward. A complete Ubuntu installation takes about 5-8GiB, although it’s common to create a root ( / ) filesystem in the 10-30GiB range to give some space for growth and temporary files, plus a separate /home partition (as thom suggested) for your user files. ( /home is not used in a default Ubuntu installation, but IMHO it should be.) A separate swap partition as large as your RAM or a bit larger is also common. If you add up the needs of root ( / ) and swap, it’s almost certain to be well under half the size of your smaller disk. If you mount your 320GB drive at /home , that means you’ll have either a ridiculously oversized root ( / ) or you’ll have unused space on the 160GB disk and no convenient place to mount it.

Some people deal with this issue by using some of the storage space as a partition that will be auto-mounted somewhere under /media by Ubuntu. This is awkward, though, since your user files normally reside in /home , so you’ll have to decide what goes where, and if you make bad decisions, you’ll run out of space and have to spend time juggling files around to deal with it.

A more sophisticated way to handle the problem is to use Logical Volume Management (LVM), which enables you to group together several partitions (physical volumes in LVM-speak) into a volume group, which you can then carve up into logical volumes that can be any size — even larger than any given physical volume. Using LVM will therefore enable you to set up a /home partition that spans both your disks — perhaps 400-450GB in size. The trouble with LVM is that Ubuntu’s desktop editions provide poor support for it, so you’ll need to jump through extra hoops to use it. (FWIW, Fedora provides much better out-of-box LVM support than Ubuntu.)

I recommend you read a bit about LVM (at the link in the previous paragraph) before making any decision. You might decide that it’s more hassle than it’s worth, and just deal with your awkwardly-sized disks in some other way; or you might decide to take the plunge and set up an LVM for your computer. The point is to make an informed decision.

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What does ‘mount point’ mean in a Linux installer?

While installing Linux, it asks for a ‘mount point’ selection. I gave it / , but I don’t know the exact meaning and aim of this.

Also, now I want to create one more mount point, /home in my machine with the already installed Linux with mount point / . Is it possible to do that from my current Linux install? If yes, what are the steps/commands?

My understanding of ‘mount point’ is, when I need to preserve my /home contents in a safer way that it won’t get deleted if my current Linux get corrupted. For example, by detaching and connecting the hard disk from the machine with corrupted Linux to a new Linux machine, I should get my /home content.

1 Answer 1

The mount point specifies at which location in the directory hierarchy a device or disk partition appears.

If you want to move /home to a new partition, you have to create a new partition for it, say /dev/sda4 and format it, e.g. with ext4. Creating partitions and formatting them can be comfortably done using e.g. gparted.

Then you have to copy the old contents to the new partition and modify /etc/fstab so /home points to the new partition. As root do something like this after having the partition created and formatted. Again, I assume /dev/sda4 for the partition, this is just an example and you have to use your real partition device:

Now check if your system is still working correctly. If it does, add a line like this to /etc/fstab :

and delete the backup in /old_home

if however you find that something went wrong, you can move back by not adding respectively removing the above line in /etc/fstab and doing as root

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