Top of the morning all,

I have two hard drives, one with xp and debian etch, and the other I would like to use as storage for both operating systems. The second drive, hdb, had been formatted as fat32 so I can see it with windows, but not with debian.

Here is the /etc/fstab output:

GNU nano 1.2.4 File: /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /mnt vfat rw,users 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 ntfs noauto,users,rw 0 0

I would like to have the ability to see and browse the xp drive and get the storage drive mounted and working.

Idea as to what I am missing?

Much thanks,
Eric.

The entry

/dev/hdb1 /mnt vfat rw,users 0 0

is attempting to mount the second drive at /mnt, where hda1 is mounted under. It should read something more like

/dev/hdb1 /mnt/storage vfat rw,users 0 0
(don't forget to create the directory /mnt/storage or whatever you want it called.)

When you try to mount it, what is the error?

Try to create a subdir under /mnt, instead of mounting directly under /mnt.
The line shall look like this:
/dev/hdb1 /mnt/hdb1 vfat rw,users 0 0

Before editing fstab, try to mount the partition with the console, as root. When you succeed, add the command to fstab, with the proper parameters.
Good luck!

Thanks for helping out, this is where I am at:

The fstab has been amended as follows:

GNU nano 1.2.4 File: /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /mnt/storage vfat rw,users 0 0
/dev/hda1 /windows ntfs rw,users 0 0


I can see the /mnt/storage, which I am assuming is my 80-gig storage drive; although I have as to yet to verify that. Additionally, I can navigate the windows directory, though only as root, the questions is: How do I change access so anyone can use them?

Again, much thanks!
Eric

If you want all users to be given "full access" to the drives, add umask=000 to your fat32 drive, and umask=222 to your ntfs drive. (These go in the options area, right after 'users'). The 222 is probably redundant, but I've always done it that way and it worked fine.

This is the new fstab output:

GNU nano 1.2.4 File: /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /mnt/storage vfat rw,users,unmask=000 0 0
/dev/hda1 /windows ntfs rw,users,unmask=222 0 0

When accessing /windows the following error message is prompted:

You do not have enough permissions to read file:/windows

As for the storge drive, it just states: Acess denied.

Thoughts?

The option is umask, not unmask.