Hello,

New to linux and have 3 hard drives: 1 is win2000, the other debian and the other gentoo. I'm trying to mount gentoo from debian. Here is what fdisk shows:

root@aquaboot:~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 5099 40957686 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hde: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 1 27 216846 83 Linux
/dev/hde2 28 392 2931862+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hde3 393 878 3903795 83 Linux
/dev/hde4 879 9729 71095657+ 5 Extended
/dev/hde5 879 4282 27342598+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde6 4283 7686 27342598+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde7 7687 8902 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde8 8903 9729 6642846 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hdg: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdg1 * 1 27 216846 83 Linux
/dev/hdg2 28 392 2931862+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdg3 393 878 3903795 83 Linux
/dev/hdg4 879 4865 32025577+ 5 Extended
/dev/hdg5 879 2094 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdg6 2095 3310 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdg7 3311 4161 6835626 83 Linux
/dev/hdg8 4162 4865 5654848+ 83 Linux

debian is hde and gentoo is hdg. I mount hdg3 using:

mount -t ext3 /dev/hdg3 /mnt/debian/

and get no complaints. I go to /home on the mounted file system and there is nothing there; empth directory. When mounting, is there a recursive option that I need to enlist? I didn't see it in the fdisk man page.

Thanks,

ab

It appears that hdg has numerous partitions for Linux--I assume used for various directories.
When you mount hdg3--if it is the / partition---then it will have subdirectories for all the others. But if ---eg---/home is actually designated to be a different partition, then the /home mountpoint in / will show up as empty.

I personally do not make a bunch of partitions for every Linux install--too confusing.

One way to access your gentoo from debian is to make sure your mount points are defined in /etc/fstab. As an example, if your Gentoo home partion is hdg8 then the entry would look something like "/dev/hdg8 /gentoo-home ext3 defaults 1 2" without the quotes. Gentoo home is just an example name as you can call it whatever you like. Once all desired partitions are listed, create the folders named in the mount points, in this case /gentoo-home, then run "mount -t ext3 /dev/hdg3 /gentoo-home". This all needs to be done as su.
Hope this helps.

I could kick myself! I guess even though different partitions are created during install (ex. home and usr on their own partitions), they all install under /. I was thinking too laterally. Anyway, I mounted hdg5 (the partition I designated as home) and now have access to all user accounts and desktops. Thanks again.

-ab

Thanks Mutation for the heads up on fstab. This seems like the way to go. Now I know how to mount manually and automatically.

Cheers,

ab

Okay, grab pencil and paper and start writing: "Thou shalt think before acting" Make that 100 times, on my desk first thing tomorrow!

D*mn, I really start resembling a schoolmaster

Whachu talkin' bout Willis?