'mount' command available???

[tomcloyd]

I'm running a WinXP / Gutsy dual boot - all on on HD. I wanted to search my entire filesystem without wandering on my Win partition, so I 'umount'ed it. Worked fine. Now I want it back...and there's apparently no 'mount' command. I don't get it. Help!

I could always reboot and I assume the Win partition will mount automatically, but I want to understand this puzzle....

Umm. Just tried the reboot trick. Didn't work. I still cannot get to my Win partition, not even running a root level Konqueror. Not good. I don't get it. Is this a matter of restoring system state - such that what's mounted stays mounted, and and what isn't also does? It would seem so.

Again...why no 'mount' command, I'm wondering...

Search KDE Help for 'mount', all that comes up is 'fdmount'. Doesn't sound right, but it's all I have. Getting a root console and trying this yields: 'invalid drive name', then 'use fd[0-7]'. The fully qualified directory/drive which shows up in konquerer is /media/sda1. What does it want?

[dibl]

Re: 'mount' command available

I'm confused -- are you running the Live CD or what? You can't unmount the hard drive that's running your current Linux OS -- if you tried that, it didn't unmount (regardless of what you saw).

With Linux running, in a Konsole window you can enter

man mount

and learn all about the mount command.

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

Thanks - I'll do that.

Re: my umount - I have a single partitioned HD. WinXP is installed in one partition, and Kubuntu in the other. While in Kubuntu I unmounted the WinXP ... uh...don't know what call that reference to it in the dir list visible in Konquerer. Anyway, I uninstalled it, and it didn't show up in my subsequent filesystem search. Perfect. Now I want it back.

But....the plot thickens.

Now I'm trying to get to a text file on a CDRW. I loaded it in my CD drive. It does NOT appear in the list of whatevers in Konqueror. I'm stunned. This is incredible. Why doesn't K. recognize this? This should happen automatically.

It's very simple - it's a notion that's core to the Ruby programming language (which I use) - the principle of least surprise. When my CD doesn't show up in konqueror I'm VERY surprised.

What's up? What do I do now? KDE Help, searched for cdrom, shows me a "APT-CDROM" page which babbles on about junk I simply don't understand. Sigh. Aiiiiie!

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

Unbelievable. I just loaded the output of 'man mount' into a text file so I could actually read it. Didn't help much. This is mostly unintelligible garble, and it makes me just a little upset. Getting access to a CD in your drive is like turning on a light switch. It should just work. Linux lives or dies on its usability - or is that a totally new idea? That this should have stalled me for the better part of 45 minutes is simply awful.

In the late '60s I was a computer operator on some large Univac and IBM systems. We had literally 4 feet of manuals to peruse when we wanted to get something done. I recall still the nightmare of trying to understand any of this. Our systems programmer could, and a few other people. I couldn't. This unix manual output is only a little better than I recall the IBM systems manuals to be. Example:

"OPTIONS
The full set of options used by an invocation of mount is determined by
first extracting the options for the file system from the fstab table,
then applying any options specified by the -o argument, and finally
applying a -r or -w option, when present."

Glad we got THAT cleared up.

Is there anything available anywhere which can actually be used by an ordinary reasonably informed person? After 20 minute of scanning and reading (and I read fast) I'm still no closer to figuring out how to get to the 3 kb file on my CDRW.

[claydoh]

Re: 'mount' command available

sudo mount -a

will remount everything that is in the /etc/fstab file, which is where all the drive setup info was set during the install. You need to use sudo to mount/unmount drives
How did you 'unmount' your windows drive? I think we need a bit more info, like Kubuntu version, livecd or install, that sort of thing

mount

will list everything currently mounted, no sudo required

sudo fdisk -l

will list all partitions, mounted or not

Now I'm trying to get to a text file on a CDRW. I loaded it in my CD drive. It does NOT appear in the list of whatevers in Konqueror. I'm stunned. This is incredible. Why doesn't K. recognize this? This should happen automatically.

I don't understand, or I misunderstand this part. Are you trying to burn a file to a cd? or did you burn it to a cdrw and the disk isn't being recognized? Did you burn it in linux or windows? Did you use the cd burning software k3b?

This stuff is a no-brainer in linux. I find k3b a very useful powerful application, for example

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

"sudo mount -a

will remount everything that is in the /etc/fstab file, which is where all the drive setup info was set during the install. You need to use sudo to mount/unmount drives"

I wasn't sure where in the file system I needed to open a console, so I tried several locations, including /media. I'm trying to open /media/sda1 - that's where my Windows partition was available before I unmounted it. In each of my several attempts, I failed to be able to get into sd1 afterwards. It's not having any effect that I can see.

How did you 'unmount' your windows drive? I think we need a bit more info, like Kubuntu version, livecd or install, that sort of thing

I used umount /media/sda1

mount

will list everything currently mounted, no sudo required

...and it appeared to do just that. Too bad it wouldn't let me redirect the output to a text file, so I could show you the results.

mount > mountlist.txt
led to: bash: mountlist.txt: permission denied

I attach a screenshot of the mount command output I got -- "mount-output2.png". I see in it reference to the /media/sda1 file I was trying to mount, but I don't grasp what it's telling me.

I also attach a screenshot of the sudo fdisk output I got - "sudo-fdisk-output2.png". The result looks like the partitions I expected to see, but I can't get to the NTFS partition, where the WinXP filesystem lives.

SO...a while back (several hours) I booted WinXP and wrote off a file I wanted to a CDRW, so I could read it in Kubuntu. THAT's what's now n the CD drive, apparently invisible to Kubuntu. I just want to see that CD in the Linux filetree, and get to that file. I still cannot see how to do that. Can you assist?

[claydoh]

Re: 'mount' command available

sudo mount -a
will remount everything that is set up to be mounted, this assumes everything is set up in the file /etc/fstab (set up during the install)

you should probably copy the text of that file here so we can see if the ntfs partiton is listed/edited/missing, it is easily fixed/edited if you want it to be automounted and is not doing so.

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/sda1
will manually mount the drive in the desired place


As to the cdrw, I dunno. Have you tried fully refomatting it? or using a different one? Do any files show up? does the disk open a dialog box, like when you insert a blank disk (in Kubuntu)?
Try burning it slower, especially if the cdrw is well used. If the file is not showing, it pretty much is because the disk can't be read properly for whatever reason.

I gave up on cdrw's personally as i always had problems with them regardless of the OS, so these days I always look for a deal on super cheap cdr's, and have a cheap flash drive as well.

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

I'm confused. Did you read my previous post - the one with attachments. They were there so you could tell me what they mean.

sudo mount -a
will remount everything that is set up to be mounted, this assumes everything is set up in the file /etc/fstab (set up during the install)

See prev. post, please. I didn't see any effect from this.

you should probably copy the text of that file here so we can see if the ntfs partiton is listed/edited/missing, it is easily fixed/edited if you want it to be automounted and is not doing so.

Huh? What file? The only file I've been addressing is the one on the CDRW to which I cannot get access - so I obviously cannot copy its text 'here'. As for the ntfs partition - please look at those screenshots.

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/sda1
will manually mount the drive in the desired place

While your post was arriving, I used this command (which I found in another thread) to try to mount my CDRW drive and get to that CD. I entered sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom0. I now have cdrom0 sitting in /media, but I still cannot get the file on it to appear in a file list in Konqueror.

Why in blazes is this so convoluted. What does everyone else do who want to access a CD. It should be fall-over simple. I don't get it. I must be missing something.

As to the cdrw, I dunno. Have you tried fully refomatting it? or using a different one? Do any files show up? does the disk open a dialog box, like when you insert a blank disk (in Kubuntu)? Try burning it slower, especially if the cdrw is well used. If the file is not showing, it pretty much is because the disk can't be read properly for whatever reason.

I don't think that's the problem. I check the disk before I shut down Windows. It was there. I have had a few problems with CDRW, but they're rare for me. But this would all be beside the point if I could get sda1 to show my Windows partition!!!!!!!

I gave up on cdrw's personally as i always had problems with them regardless of the OS, so these days I always look for a deal on super cheap cdr's, and have a cheap flash drive as well.

Oh jeez. I just tried to open my CD drive to remove the CDRW and put in a CDR, and I got a system message about how I have to root to do this, etc. This is NOT user friendly. Who in the world expects anyone but geeks to use this system? I'm NOT going back to WinXP, but I'm incredulous that this is all so complex. There has to be another way. Is there?? It simply can't be true that I have to pummel the command line to move a pile of CDs in and out of the drive.

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

UPDATE -

I'm baffled by this, but I can now access my Windows partition on sda1!

I saw it in the file tree of the Apatana Studio IDE, and then saw that I could access its contents. My conclusion: Konqueror was not update the file tree after I'd remounted the partition, leading to my impression that my attempts to gain access were not working. I verified this by closing all Konqueror instances and reopening one. I can see into sda1 now. Wow.

I can now access that file I was wanting.

However, I still cannot access the CD drive to look at the CD or to even just replace it with another.

OK - more progress. I issued a umount cdrom0 command and was able to remove and replace the CD. I them issued a mount cdrom0 command (with a CDR of mine in the drive) and bingo, I can see it just fine, in the file tree.

This is all just a little bewildering, but I do seem to have control now. I just need more understanding. I know that usually some will arrive tomorrow (!).

Sorry if I presented an excessively difficult problem for anyone. I did my best. I just didn't occur to me that Konqueror might not be refreshing. I did look for a refresh function, earlier, and didn't find one. I then moved focus to different parts of the tree, and back to the area of interest, to try to force a refresh, and that didn't work. THAT was what led me to think that my command line efforts simply were not working.

[Snowhog]

Re: 'mount' command available

You will do yourself a lot of good, and therefore have less frustration, if you:
1) accept that Linux is not Windoze
2) accept that what you came to expect as 'routine' in Windoze will probably not be in Linux
3) accept that Linux is not Windoze
4) accept that Linux is not Windoze (see a pattern here?)

Probably the biggest impediment to someone coming over to Linux from Windoze, is having a project that you must get done now, and your expectations of what you expect aren't what you experience. It isn't (normally) the Linux OS as much as it is the human interface that is causing the frustration.

Time will make you more familiar with Linux.

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

I think you nailed it. In all fairness, I really do like things in Kubuntu, in general. A LOT of things. It's great, in fact. I'm staying, without question.

Yeah, having some pressure to get some work out is not helpful to me right now. I usually do get upset when things which 'should' be simple - like slapping in a CD and just seeing it's files come up onscreen - aren't. THAT was todays amazing swamp. Not nearly as bad as yesterdays java VM dragon. And...it got solved today.

One striking thing I noticed about K. - it's a lot harder to bog it down than was WinXP. Everything seems to just run faster, and the system doesn't seem to stumble. I hope I'm being objective, but in any case it's a nice sense.

Now, about that damned unix manual and its inscrutable pages...I'm not happy I ran into THAT today. The first few paragraphs were really helpful, then it became incomprehensible.

Enough for this day.

[kubicle]

Re: 'mount' command available

I usually do get upset when things which 'should' be simple - like slapping in a CD and just seeing it's files come up onscreen - aren't.

Hmm, that's strange, there should be a popup window asking what you wish to do when you put a cd in (or a memory stick or a camera etc.)...you should be offered choices depending on the media (like open in a new window etc.). There should be no need for manual mounting.

[Snowhog]

Re: 'mount' command available

tomcloyd -

Post your fstab file for a review. Open a console and type:

cat /etc/fstab

Copy and paste.

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

I usually do get upset when things which 'should' be simple - like slapping in a CD and just seeing it's files come up onscreen - aren't.

Hmm, that's strange, there should be a popup window asking what you wish to do when you put a cd in (or a memory stick or a camera etc.)...you should be offered choices depending on the media (like open in a new window etc.). There should be no need for manual mounting.

Well, that's fascinating, for two reasons -
1 - that sort of behavior is exactly what I'm looking for (but not seeing), and
2 - it sure took a while for someone to tell me this.

Believe me please when I say that I'm VERY happy with Kubuntu. Joyeous. Grateful. This is simply a wonderful thing, and it HAS me. I am also still learning how to ask decent questions, and my learning isn't finished yet. Finally, let me say that I'm very grateful for the kind folks in these forums who are so willing to tolerate and push along newbies like me. What you cannot know until I tell you now is that I'm actively 'selling' the quality, etc., of Kubuntu to all who will listen. In supporting me, you are supporting my private public relations effort for Kubuntu. So...I thank you - all.

[tomcloyd]

Re: 'mount' command available

tomcloyd -

Post your fstab file for a review. Open a console and type:

cat /etc/fstab

Copy and paste.

OK - here it is -

=====
tom@TomCloydMSMA:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda3
UUID=4e7d6dc8-7123-4ee4-86bc-2bf3072b3dd6 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /dev/sda1
UUID=861C20741C206203 /media/sda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
# /dev/sda2
UUID=33a6cf95-470d-46a7-b35d-ef32dbd01f4a none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
tom@TomCloydMSMA:~$
=====

Now I'm going to go try to find some documentation to tell what exactly this is, so I can keep up!

Thanks for you help.