I use this code to mount a SATA drive on my Ubuntu 6.10 Server. And each time I reboot, I have to add it again. Can I simply add this line to my FSTAB file? Do I need to add any other piece of code for it to work in FSTAB ?

examine your fstab file and youll see the other entries there.. you have to specify afew more options, the only real important one is the filesystemcheck 'man mount' or 'man fstab' for more options.

Normally I would refer you to the man page that describes the fstab file but I just checked and that particular page really stinks.

First, use the existing records in the fstab file as an example for your new line.

The first field is the name of the block device.

The second field is the mount point.

The third field is the type of file system on the block device.

The fourth field is mount options separated by a comma.

The fifth field has something to do with the dump function. Whatever.

The sixth field tells the boot sequence if a file system should be checked with fsck during system boot. Actually the man page says that it can be used for creating the sequence that file systems are checked with fsck during system boot time. All of the fstab files that I've seen have either a 1 or a 0 there.

Addendum: I see that nadroj beat me by one minute. Curse you nadroj and your proficiency in typing.

almost, you will want to add some other bits aswell.

an example

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,users,ro 0 0

which breaks down to this,

"the device to mount" "where to mount" "filesystem type" "options" "fs_freq" "fs_passno"

this example mounts the device cdrom (which is actually a symlink to /dev/hdc on my system) to the place /mnt/cdrom, it checks automatically what filesystem it is using (normally iso9660 for cd's) and has the options of noauto (doesn't get mounted at boot time), users (any user can mount or umount), ro (read-only).Then the fist 0 means it won't get dumped, this is to do with some backup systems. And the second 0 is to do with the order that fsck checks the system.

The best thing you can do is read the man page for fstab.This can be found on your system or in case you did not install the man pages it can also be found on the web. One place that i use alot is http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/



Looks like you both beat me

I read the man fstab page and I didn't know what the " 0 0 " crap meant, so that makes it a little clearer, thanks.

The only 2 things showing in my fstab are the 2 partitions on my main HDD since this install is only 1 week old.

So how would this work?

mount /dev/sdxx /drives/<drive1name> smbfs auto,jason,rw 0 0

Its a shared network drive on another Ubuntu box on my network, shared with Samba (since I also have 4 other windows boxes), it should get mounted at bootup, read-write, and the 0 0 garbage. Look ok?

If you use a 2 instead of the final 0, then fsck will be run about every 30 or so boots. If you don't, and if you don't check it manually from time to time, it's possible for the filesystem to get corrupted so bad that your data is irretrievable.

mount /dev/sdxx /drives/<drive1name> smbfs auto,jason,rw 0 2

Makes sense, this should do it then, right?

Sorry, but no. You do not use the word "mount" in fstab:
Added:
Hmmm, I haven't paid attention to the filetype until just now. It's probably not appropriate to try to run fsck on an smbfs disk. Sorry about that. Only use 2 on the final number if the physical disk is actually bolted into your machine or plugged in via USB etc.

73

Ok, cool. Yes, this is a samba network drive, not a secondary local drive. Thanks for the help.

QRT