[SOLVED] How to add and remove an external FAT32 usb drive to RHEL server

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 11:29 AM

I need to get a backup copy of a huge directory on one of our RHEL servers. Rather than hook the external USB drive up to my PC and manually copy it all across the network, can I just plug it in to one of my USB ports on the server and rsync it?

I know how to do the rsync, I just don't know how to get the USB drive to show up when I do a df -h and how to properly remove it before unplugging it from the server. this is a live server, so I can't go playing around and possibly mess something up. Can anyone help?

malekmustaq · 01-08-2010, 11:42 AM

Quote:

can I just plug it in to one of my USB ports on the server and rsync it?

Yes, rsync works either over the network or between local folders. Now this server, is it running a linux or not? To rsync local you have need to --

1. Plug the USB disk, the system must be able to detect it;
2. Mount the disk; check Options must allow an 'rw' permission to write the back up to it, there must be enough space too;
3. Rsync.... (be sure about your Source and Destination disks)

Hope it helps.

Mr-Bisquit · 01-08-2010, 11:42 AM

You shouldn't have to do that.
Why not edit it into /etc/fstab?

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 12:50 PM

Couple things. One, I only have access to the CLI, no gui on the server.

It's a FAT32 USB drive, 1TB, so it should recognize it I think. The server I want to plug it into is RHEL5.

I'm still at a loss on how to do this.

abefroman · 01-08-2010, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjo98

Couple things. One, I only have access to the CLI, no gui on the server.

It's a FAT32 USB drive, 1TB, so it should recognize it I think. The server I want to plug it into is RHEL5.

I'm still at a loss on how to do this.

You can specify fat32 when you mount it.

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 02:21 PM

My problem is I don't know how to mount or unmount it properly in RHEL's command line. I can do it on my XP PC, but Linux I'm clueless.

abefroman · 01-08-2010, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjo98

My problem is I don't know how to mount or unmount it properly in RHEL's command line. I can do it on my XP PC, but Linux I'm clueless.

Try this:

Code:

mount -tvfat /dev/sd?? /directory

replace ?? with the letter and partition of your usb drive. Try fdisk -l if your not sure.

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 03:14 PM

OK, so I plug the USB drive into my server, then do a fdisk -l to find out what dev it is. then I do mount -tvfat /dev/sd?? /directory

the folder structure was created on my XP PC, so would the directory path be the same as if i went through a windows command prompt or something similar?

Then how do i unmount?

abefroman · 01-08-2010, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjo98

OK, so I plug the USB drive into my server, then do a fdisk -l to find out what dev it is. then I do mount -tvfat /dev/sd?? /directory

the folder structure was created on my XP PC, so would the directory path be the same as if i went through a windows command prompt or something similar?

Then how do i unmount?

Yep! ex:

Code:

mount -tvfat /dev/sda1 /usbdrive

Then to unmount its

Code:

umount /dev/sd??

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 04:01 PM

Thanks, I'll give it a shot, I'll let you know how it went.

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 04:28 PM

Mount: mount point /usbdrive does not exist

What do I do now?

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 04:31 PM

Also, under fdisk for the usb drive, it lists sdd1 and sdd5, assuming I want the fat32 and not ext'd (lba)

abefroman · 01-08-2010, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjo98

Mount: mount point /usbdrive does not exist

What do I do now?

Code:

mkdir /usbdrive

then mount it again.

abefroman · 01-08-2010, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjo98

Also, under fdisk for the usb drive, it lists sdd1 and sdd5, assuming I want the fat32 and not ext'd (lba)

try sdd1 first, if that doesn't have your files, use sdd5

anon091 · 01-08-2010, 04:48 PM

does it matter if i do the mkdir as mkdir /usbdrive or mkdir /dev/usbdrive or mkdir /home/username/usbdrive? is one better or one a huge problem?