How to mount a partition with GUI

[ronshor]

I have two main partitions on my HD. the small one for system files and the big partition for private files

After Kubuntu installation I noticed that the big partition is mounted on /media

Is it OK to leave it like that and put all of my private files there (of course I need to change permission to /media first because right now it's on root ) or should I chnage the mount to home.

Regadless of the answer I'm gonna get I would also wanna know if there's a way to mount a partition/new HD from the GUI and what is gonna happen when I add another Hard drive (where the system is going to mount it ?)

[Buddlespit]

Personally, I prefer to have mount points for all of my drives and partitions. And I prefer to break my root drive up into smaller partitions (/boot, /, swap). I use a different (and larger) drive for /home.

But I've not ever heard of a partition being mounted in /media. Usually, it's in /dev (/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, ect). Could you post your /etc/fstab? Use the "code" tags to keep the formatting.

[oshunluvr]

/media is the default location for any device mounted by udev, which generally means the partition is not defined in fstab. Whether or not you leave it that way is up to you.

Buddlespit, you're a bit confused there. The /dev/sdXX files that are created are device definitions, not mount points. In other words, you can't click on /dev/sda1 with Dolphin and see the files - you still have to mount it.

ronshor: I suggest adding your partition to your fstab. Then you will have a consistent location and more control over mounting. My personal taste is to create a folder called /data and mount the extra partition there. Then either link or bind mount to subfolders and move your personal files to it. I keep my Documents, Downloads, etc., mounted this way then I can access them from multiple installs without actually relocating files.

[tek_heretik]

Kmenu/Settings/System Settings/Removable Devices...

[vinnywright]

System Settings/Removable Devices...

which mounts you in /media..........

VINNY

[tek_heretik]

which mounts you in /media..........

VINNY

I think the original poster was asking for the most immediate way to mount the 'drive'...open Dolpin, right click on the 'device' in the Places side pane, select 'mount'. If the 'device' has root permissions, type

kdesudo dolphin

in a terminal before doing the previously mentioned.

[vinnywright]

Regadless of the answer I'm gonna get I would also wanna know if there's a way to mount a partition/new HD from the GUI and what is gonna happen when I add another Hard drive (where the system is going to mount it ?)

yes he is asking for a GUI way to mount it ,,,,,,and where ,,,,,,,it will be in /media this way ,,,,,,,or more precisely something like

/media/vinny/4ba48176-bb1b-430b-ab10-4e35b48e64c8/

or he can add the partitions he would like always mounted and mounted to the same place by making a mount point and adding them to /etc/fstab.

VINNY

[Frank616]

Oshunluvr:

My personal taste is to create a folder called /data and mount the extra partition there. Then either link or bind mount to subfolders and move your personal files to it. I keep my Documents, Downloads, etc., mounted this way then I can access them from multiple installs without actually relocating files.

First time I've come across someone who uses the same system I do. Been doing this for years.

However, your idea of keeping Documents and Downloads on the second drive is a good idea, and something that I am not currently doing. Thanks for the tip! I should probably put my .mozilla and .thunderbird folders there too.

Frank.

[ronshor]

As someone who just started using linux I have to say that this all mounting thing is very confusing to me.

There are couple of things that I don't understand here

1. I understand now that /media is the default place for automatic mounting the system does evey time you plug something new (whether this is an internal device or external one ). But why not leave it like that ? Everything seems to work fine.
I don't need to mount anything manually, And things seems OK.

What is this fstab you all talk about ? and why is it so important that the partition is defined in it ?

What is a mounting point and what is it good for ?

2. I don't really understand System settings/ Removable Devices tool either.
Nothing is checked there, but everything is mounted automatiocally just fine. So what do I need this tool for ? As far as I understand it doesn't let to change mounting to a different location either.

3. The reason I asked for a GUI tool is because I thought of recommending Kubuntu to others and not everyone like the idea of using the terminal for simple tasks. If it turns out I need to change the mounting locating from /media just tell me how to do it even if it involves the terminal.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

[oshunluvr]

I wouldn't say you need to change they way things are now. It's more of a personal preference. What you're experiencing is some of the differences between Windows and Linux. In Windows, file systems are handled the way MS says and without your input. In Linux you have exposure to how things are handled and control over how they are handled. I often say with Linux, there are at least a handful of solutions for any problem. Since it's your system, you get to decide how to make it work.

Therefore: If you're comfortable with the partition mounted under /media and the access that gives you, by all means - leave it be. Since you're new to Linux and others that may be reading this thread are also, we've suggested other options. That way you can make an informed decision.

Basically, /media has been set as the place to mount something intended for temporary use. My preference is to keep it so, therefore I wouldn't mount a fixed device such as a hard drive there. Again: There is absolutely no reason for you to change it. It's all up to you.

The fstab we are referring to is a file (as all things in Linux) under /etc. /etc/fstab contains a list of mount commands needed for your system. You may - as the "owner" of your system - add others here as well, thus controlling how and where the mounting of other file systems occurs.

Some vocabulary to help understand: A partition is a portion of a storage device. A partition contains a file system. A file system must be mounted to be accessed. A mount point is a location (folder) that a file system is mounted to.

The default installation of Kubuntu will put only the partitions required for the system in your /etc/fstab. Likely yours contains only root ( / ) and swap partitions. Maybe /home if you set it up that way during install. Kubuntu (all Linux distros) will not automatically decide for you what to do with any other file systems your may have available. It is up to you to create this access.

Does anyone know if KPartition Manager will handle GUI mount creation and save to fstab? I've never tried it - I just default to editing /etc/fstab manually.

You will need to determine the location and type of your filesystem, create a place to mount it, then edit /etc/fstab and add your mount to it. First, decide where to mount the file system (I use /data). Create it. Add it to /etc/fstab. Save.

To determine the file system type and location, open a terminal and type:

sudo blkid -o list -c /dev/null

This will list all your file systems and their information. Find the one you need and note the device (or UUID) and the filesystem type (likely EXT4 or NTFS if it's from Windows).

Since you have to be root to do all this, the easiest way is to open Dolphin as root. In the terminal, type kdesudo Dolphin and enter. This will open a password request and then Dolphin will open. Be careful! Dolphin now has all the power of root and you can mess things up if you go about deleting or other dangerous things! First, add your mount location by adding a folder to whichever location you desire. The "standard" is under /mnt but you're not obligated to do so. Then navigate to /etc and edit fstab. add a line for this new mount like this:

/dev/sda3 /mnt/data ext4 defaults 0 0

there are dozens of options that I won't go into here. For your reading pleasure: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab

[kubicle]

Basically, /media has been set as the place to mount something intended for temporary use.
...snip...
The "standard" is under /mnt but you're not obligated to do so.

According to FHS (filesystem hierarchy standard), /media is for removable media and /mnt for temporary mounts (but any user can of course mount their internal drives as they please...I still wouldn't call /mnt "standard" for internal drives.)

/dev/sda3 /mnt/data ext4 defaults 0 0

Using UUIDs from blkid (or LABEL if there is one) instead of dev name is usually preferable if one moves/adds drives from time to time...dev name might be better if one is in the habit of recreating filesystems. Also, if one wants to include the drive in the boot filesystem checks, the last number should be 2 instead of 0. (for root file system it should be 1)

[Frank616]

ronshor:

The reason I asked for a GUI tool is because I thought of recommending Kubuntu to others and not everyone like the idea of using the terminal for simple tasks.

Understood. This is something that strikes fear into the hearts of many that wish to try Linux.

In the 'bad old days', that was the way you had to do most things in Linux. Linux is a type of Unix, an operating system designed to run mainframe computers originally. Don't know if you remember the days of MS-DOS, but it was similar, but much less capable. Times change. Modern releases of Linux (Kubuntu being but one of many) are working to get around this. These days, it is rare to ever NEED to access the command line.

oshunluvr gave you a very good answer. Linux us about choice, and perhaps even more, about control. Windows has taken most of the control of the machine away from the user. For many this is fine, as all they want to do is surf the Internet. All I can add is: don't fear the command line. It is just one more tool in the toolbox.

Frank.

[tek_heretik]

Or...through the KDE GUI Device Notifier in the 'system tray' (all that neat stuff by the clock in the task bar), clicking the small black and white symbol, to the right of the device in the list I believe, toggles it between mounted/unmounted.

[ronshor]

Many thanks to everybody for your vital information !

I understand now that I can keep things the way they are and there's no need to change anything and mess with the terminal right now when I'm still a newbie.

But what I would still want to know is, what are the disadvantages of using /media as the folder for my internal partition/hard drives ? if there are any ...

So far I was able to find one problem (which I took care of )
I have a Firefox Add on that lets me save images automatically to a folder that's on /media. So I restarted my PC and then opened Firefox and tried to save images to that foder. Firefox did not save the image because the partition is not mounted when the PC starts. IT turns out, the partition is mounted only when you click on the icon of the partition on the side panel of Dolphin file manager.
I really don't understand why the system doesn't do it automatically just like in windows.

I opend System Settings/Removable Device and checked the partition for automount on login and automount on attach and right now everything is fine.
The only things that seems weird though is the fact that the System partition is not checked ...but l of course is mounted on login (as far as I understand...)

If anybody knows of any other disadvantages with this situation (/media) please tell me

[tek_heretik]

Read post number #4 in this thread for where to go to toggle partitions/devices between auto mount at boot or not.

As for the reasoning behind not automounting, that was just an extra security precaution built in, that was/is part of the problem with WinDOHS, it 'welcomed' everything with open arms and the user paid/pays for it.

I totally understand what you are saying and have been in your shoes, that 1TB drive you see in my sig below is auto-mounted at boot, because I know it's clean, I am the only one that stores stuff there, and for me it's a pain to manually mount it everytime I want to write something to it, which is fairly often considering I never leave anything important on my RAID 0.