Mounting problem VFAT FS
 

Hey Gang,

I'm having a problem mounting a partition. It's a fat32 partition, 50GB. I have a dualboot setup with XP SP2 and Suse 10.0. I'm trying to setup a partition that can be used by both OSes (they both have their own storage as well). I was going to use Windows, but it doesn't format using fat32 anymore. I went into SUSE and created the 50GB partition and then I went to format it and the status bar came up and then it came up with a -3030 error and would not do it. I tried fiddling around with it and put a mount point of /dev/hda6/mnt/c (I have a book that said a folder of /mnt/c needs to be created before a drive can be mounted) and I hit 'apply' and a status bar came with 0% and then went away. Now it shows up in My Computer and when I drag the mouse over it, it says "unmounted," so I go into Konsole as root and attempt to mount it. IT then says that mtab says it's already mounted. I tried tinkering around with it some more, but to no avail. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Brandon

I think most of your problem is the partition is not formatted yet. You should be able to format it in windoze, see 'help format' from a command prompt in windoze. The command FORMAT volume /FS:file-system should allow you to specify FAT32. At a command prompt in windoze type 'format D:/ FS:FAT32'. The drove letter will be different depending on your partitioning in windoze.

Once formatted, you should be able to mount the partition in linux. Here is what my /etc/fstab entries look like.

You are correct, you do need to make mount points before you can mount the partition. You will have to change the /dev/hdaX to match your system, and mount point to match the one you create.

Is it just me or does it seem like it's a little useless to have the partitioner in Linux for a Windows file system? Maybe it's there for show?

Let me explain this back to you just to make sure that I get it so I can do it when I get home. I understand the Windows part. I forgot that I can use DOS to format it with a FAT32FS. I got pretty fond of the GUI. Linux will whip me into shape though with Shell. So, after format I'll go back into Linux (which should recognize the partition already?) It would be HDA7, that is the next in line. Now, I would start a new Shell as root, do the mount command: mount /dev/hda7/mnt/c? Or would it be mount /dev/hda6/mnt/c because hda6 is the drive where the root is for Linux? That's the part that I'm confused about, I don't know where to mount it. Also, where do I create the mount point? Within HDA6? I think that's where it is, bt I'm really not sure.

After that is all said it done. Is there a way to automatically mount it every single time Linux boots? Sorry if I'm asking such stupid questions. I've had only for a week and I'm really out of my element with Shell.

Thanks a trillion,

Brandon

Let me see if I can straighten a few things out for you.

No it is not useless. Linux can partition, just as Dos can, windoze, OS/2 and the list goes on. Partitioning is setting up the limits in a table where the file system will exist on a drive. Every OS has to be able to do that. Formatting is another thing. Formatting sets up the file system to be used. Windoze supports NTFS, Fat32, fat16 and fat12. Linux has a much longer list. Ext2, Ext3, Reiser, fat32, fat16 fat12, and many more I have not mentioned. Support for NTFS is limited, remember this is a system owned and operated by Mr. Bill.

Fat support is there because this is a way to share for those who wish to. It is a simple system, that is well known.

Most likely it will be mountable and you shuold be able to read and write to it. Most distros have support for vfat in the kernel. If yours does, then you should be able to mount it, read and write to it.

Let me see if I can help you with mount. First of all you need a mount point in the existing file system. You create one with the 'mkdir' command. Linux is not windoze. There is one file system that can be on several disks, and many partitions on several disks. It starts at 'root' designated by '/. Most systems will have a /mnt directory. The leading / indicates mnt is one level from /, the root. So if you do a CD to /mnt, you are in mnt. This is a common place to add more partitions, whether they are on the same disk or another disk. To create the mount point, do a CD to mnt, and then do a mkdir command and call the folder that ever you like. (mkdir whateveryoulike) It would be represented as /mnt/whateveryoulike/ . This is the place where you wish to mount the new partition, in your case hda7. You can mount it one time using the mount command. If you booted after the mount, the fie /dev/hda7 would not be automatically mounted after the boot. You set that up in /etc/fstab.

The command is the partition, followed by the mount point, followed by options. You have to specify file system type. See man mount for more details. So, a command such as 'mount /dev/hda7 /mnt/whateveryoulike vfat' (without the quotes) should work.

To mount every time you boot, as root, edit the /etc/fstab file and add lines like I posted. The kernel reads the /etc/fstab file during booting, and tries to mount the file systems listed in fstab.

The end result if it is successful, is /dev/hda7 will be visible if you navigate to /mnt/whateveryoulike/directoriesonhda7/morestuff/ etc...

I greatly appreciate the detailed response. I also would like you to know that I was just trying to convey a sense of humor, but it didn't work out. Sorry about that.

I'll take the information and go home with and we'll see if it's a success.

Thanks again,

Brandon