How I implement commands "mount"?

chaoxifer · 11-01-2010, 06:54 AM

Hi all! I newbie in Linux System.

I'm sorry for my English writing.

I study about file systems using on Linux and I try to implement file system format:ext2

I'll implement virtual disk, And format as file system - that is implemented.

So here is a problem.

I want to know that How I mount this virtual drive that I implement ?

I'm not asking detail codes, but I want to know about fundamental principle of "mount" disk.

What is the fundamental principle of "mount" disk?

Thank you for reading.

stress_junkie · 11-01-2010, 07:00 AM

The man page for mount provides a lot of information. So much so that it can be difficult to find what you want in the large amount of information.

Basically the format for mount is

mount file-system-type device-to-mount mount-point

An example to mount /dev/sda5 on /mnt/sda5 would be

Code:

mount -t ext2 /dev/sda5 /mnt/sda5

Normally only root can mount partitions.
So that is the fundamental principle of mount.

chaoxifer · 11-01-2010, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stress_junkie

The man page for mount provides a lot of information. So much so that it can be difficult to find what you want in the large amount of information.

Basically the format for mount is

mount file-system-type device-to-mount mount-point

An example to mount /dev/sda5 on /mnt/sda5 would be

Code:

mount -t ext2 /dev/sda5 /mnt/sda5

Normally only root can mount partitions.
So that is the fundamental principle of mount.

Thanks for replying.

There is no need to implement "mount" and I just use "mount" command If I finished implement virtual disk formatted as ext2?

stress_junkie · 11-01-2010, 07:19 AM

If you want to manually mount a partition then you can use the mount command.

If you want the partition to automatically mount when the system starts then you put an entry for that partition in the /etc/fstab file.

What is this virtual disk? Is it a partition or is it a file on another partition? If you have questions about using the virtual disk then you will have to describe what that is and how you created it.

chaoxifer · 11-01-2010, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stress_junkie

If you want to manually mount a partition then you can use the mount command.

If you want the partition to automatically mount when the system starts then you put an entry for that partition in the /etc/fstab file.

What is this virtual disk? Is it a partition or is it a file on another partition? If you have questions about using the virtual disk then you will have to describe what that is and how you created it.

Like .vdi file on virtual box - I use "virtual disk" as a file on another partition. I don't know correct term about that... Sorry,,,

Anyway, Thank you for your reply. I need to more study..

stress_junkie · 11-01-2010, 07:43 AM

You can mount a file that contains a file system using the loop option in the mount command.

Code:

mount -t ext2 -o loop virtualdisk.bin /mnt/vdisk

Naturally the /mnt/vdisk directory has to exist.

You can also use the loop option in the /etc/fstab file so that the virtual disk is mounted automatically during system startup.

chaoxifer · 11-01-2010, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stress_junkie

You can mount a file that has a file system using the loop option in the mount command.

Code:

mount -t ext2 -o loop virtualdisk.bin /mnt/vdisk

Naturally the /mnt/vdisk directory has to exist.

You can also use the loop option in the /etc/fstab file so that the virtual disk is mounted automatically during system startup.

I really appreciate about your reply.

I'll try it

stress_junkie · 11-01-2010, 04:40 PM

All right. Here is how to create, format, and mount a container file as a virtual disk.

First create the container file. This one will be 4 GB

Code:

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=test.bin bs=4096 count=1M
1048576+0 records in
1048576+0 records out
4294967296 bytes (4.3 GB) copied, 94.352 s, 45.5 MB/s

Second, attach the container file onto a loop device. This has to be done as root so I use su to log on as root. Once it is attached to a loop device you can create a file system in it using mkfs.

Code:

$ su

# /sbin/losetup  /dev/loop0 test.bin

# mkfs -t ext3 /dev/loop0

Those steps only have to be performed once.

Now if you want to mount it do this. Note that you will only have to perform the losetup command if you have detached the container file such as when you restart the computer.

Code:

# /sbin/losetup  /dev/loop0 test.bin

# mount -t ext3 /dev/loop0 /mnt/vdisk

Also note that /mnt/vdisk had to already exist.

Now you can use the mount command with no parameters to list all of the mounted devices. Your virtual disk should show up in this list.

Code:

# mount
...
/dev/loop0 on /mnt/vdisk type ext3 (rw)

I hope this helps.