Hello,

as part of a backup system, I use 2 very simple scripts to mount and unmount a harddrive;


To mount;
#!/bin/sh
#/sbin/backup-mount
echo " /dev/sda5 mounted at /mnt/backup" >>/var/log/messages
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/backup >>/var/log/messages
echo " /dev/sda5 mounted at /mnt/backup"

To unmount;

#!/bin/sh
#/sbin/backup-unmount
sync
echo "/mnt/backup now offline" >>/var/log/messages
umount /dev/sda5 >>/var/log/messages
echo "/mnt/backup now offline"


The problem is that when devices get (often) inserted in a haphazard manner, the drive isn't sda5 anymore, but sometimes sdb5, sdc5, sdd5 etc, and then the script doesn't work anymore.

How can I alter the script so that it picks up sd*5?

This is a problem that udev was developed to solve.
See here: http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html
There are several example rules that you can modify to suit your needs.
udev needs to be restarted before your new rule will take effect.
Welcome to LQ!

Thankyou for the udev tip, I am looking into it.

But I have a question: what advantage would using udev bring me, opposed to (e.g.) putting the UUID of the drive in /etc/fstab?

May I suggest you try it?

I read that people who have this kind of problem with booting use a disk identifier so that the GRUB will find it without the sda5 setting. I think that is the you mentioned. Does mount work with UUID? They would put the UUID in the file /etc/fstab and then also in the GRUB menu, so that it would boot up without the sda5 setting.

Yes, one can specify the UUID of a device in /etc/fstab. This is the solution I am planning on using, as of yet.

Shell scripts can handle input in the form of $1 (for the first parameter passed), etc.

Change the script so that it will take the drive letter from the command-line parameter (if no such parameter is passed, then apply a default value like 'a').

This way you will not have to change the script in the future, but you can still act flexible on a changed drive configuration.

The problem has expanded: several different harddrives (with differing UUIDS etc, of course) will be used, and each of these needs to be mounted to /dev/sda5 when it's connected. How can this be done?

Why not use you original script like a subroutine and pass it the $1 from another(master) script. Then have a different master script for each drive(backup1, backup2, etc). I can see no good reason that you should be limited to /dev/sda5.

Please reread my post #2:
Don't try and mount each disk at /dev/sdXY This is "The wrong way to do it", and may cause you many problems in the future.

Make a udev rule by following the link I gave you, to mount them, based on each disk's UUID if that is what you'd like, at /media/CurrentBackupDevice

Then your problem is solved.

There is no point in us offering solutions if you are not prepared to try them.