I searched and couldn't find a similar thread so, I thought I would ask.

I have a slight concern, well it's more of a problem really. Here are the details:

/dev/hdh <-- Has about 100 gigs of MP3's on it (RIAA NOTICE: my own collection and totally legal, thank you)

/dev/hdh <--- Is mounted as /music


The problem:
I created a new user called music and assigned it the home directory of /music. Now I can't see my music anymore.

I don't care about the music on the drive because I have backups but the real question I have is how NOT to do that again. I remember reading somewhere in some book cautioning about this exact thing but the name of the book eludes me.

Any ideas?

Slappy

check that you have permissions to access those drives (man chmod) and that they are mounted

I mounted the drive fine and I have permission to the drive. The drive still shows 0% used.

You must have done something to wipe the drive clean most likely.

Let me get this straight. You set a drive mount to be the exact same directory as your users home dir?????? Theres your mistake. And your answer. ALWAYS keep your user directories in the /home dir. You can make a script to have the user start out in the /music dir. Just do a chmod -R 777 /music as root, so your music user can have access to your music (and all other users), then when you log in as user music, just have a script move that user into the /music dir.

Trickykid: I did nothing else but what I stated in the first post.

Any good references for customizing user scripts? And, judging from the last response, the data is lost?

Slappy

Creating a users home directory doesn't have to be in the /home directory. I have plenty of users that have /var/www/htdocs and /data/ftp and so on that I've created and created users when data was already existent...

Your users home directory does not have to be in /home...

Something happened though to wipe the data on the partition though. How did you create the user, thru a GUI tool or by command line? There is a chance its gone but still wondering what could have caused that myself.

I created the users via the command line. I was setting up vsftpd (that's another story) and wanted a user that could only go to one directory and no other as well as not change any directories.

So, I created the user 'music' and assigned it the home directory of '/music'.

Well .... if I have a directory with content,
and then mount stuff on top of that, the original
content becomes "invisible" ... this seems
to be the other way round?

Can you post your fstab?

Also, I find it a bit odd that you used
a raw-device for the mp3's ...

Cheers,
Tink

P.S.:
That strongly depends on the country you live in ;)
In NZ you'd be a criminal.

try to 'umount /dev/hdh', then mount it under a different directory. It may only look erased because /music (the user) is plopped down on top of it. If it gives you an error that it's can't umount because the device is being used (or something similar), you might need to use your rescue disk (or knoppix, or something similar) to boot a minimal system, then adjust your fstab/user/mount stuff there. At the very least, the alternate boot will allow you to see if the data's still there (personally, I'd be ticked if I had to load 100 gig back onto a drive, especially using your "legal" cds )

-----------
I just had to add this for the RIAA CIA/FBI wannabe chumps. I don't steal artist's music, just the stuff you guys put out.
-----------

Disclamer for above. Actually, I don't "steal"/download anybody's music with napster or anything else. I buy most of the sheet/tab music at my local guitar store, my friends buy most of their music for bass, keyboards, drums, etc., and we play our favorite songs. At the same time, nobody at the RIAA is cracking down on any transcription sites. Because it's not an exact copy, it's legal, but someone bright should have argued that MP3's and oog files aren't exact copies. On the other hand, the RIAA's probably going to start suing transcription sites in an ever so SCO fashion.

Sorry folks, my bad.

How can you be a criminal for making mp3's from cd's you bought?

I will be visiting NZ in December, I WAS going to bring my IPOD but I guess you changed my mind.

What did you mean about the raw device comment?

Slappy

Well, I haven't heard of a case that someone with
an IPOD was charged, but under NZ laws you
wouldn't even be allowed to tape a CD you bought
for use in the car. I come from Germany and find
this law outrageously stupid :) ... In Germany the
GEMA gets fees from sales of "empty media" like
tapes and CD-R's and the devices used for
reproduction, and it's perfectly legal to make
private copies even as give-away for a mate.
/dev/hdh
You don't seem to have any partition defined, which
is rather unusual :) to say the least!

Cheers,
Tink

I find that absolutely facinating! Such differences in society.

I formatted the whole HD rather than making partions. Not good? Can you suggest a better way?

Slappy

I give up, formatting now.

scott_R -> Thanks for the advice. I tried what you suggested but no luck. Do you remeber when harmony-central was under attack from the music industry for posting user submitted music tableture? Crazy huh?

What I have accomplished such far:

1. Never let anyone know you have an MP3 collection while in NZ
2. Bad practice to use a raw device
3. Test before you make a change

Looks like I will be restoring from backups. Not a problem but in the future I think I will test the command first and then apply it on the the real system.

AND to clarify the large MP3 collection--> I can't stream music from work (firewalls) so I use ftp to grab it from home and listen to it at work.

(climbing on the soap box) It is not illegal to make an MP3 file from your music CD's. Some would want to you to think that, but it is not. (stepping off the soap box)

Amen,
Slappy