Hi,

I feel a little stupid to ask this but I am lost (I recently changed from Windows to Mepis).

I run R for statistical analysis and I need to tell the program where the data file is.
In windows that goes like:
c:/documents and settings/Erik/file.txt

In Mepis, the file is on one of the external discs so I expected to use:
file:/mnt/sdb1/Erik/file.txt

but it doesn't work.

Clearly, the file is on a USB disc now carrying the name sdb1.

Can someone please help me on how to reference the file correctly ?

Thanks much in advance,
Greetings,

Erik.

Files in any Unix-like (such as Linux) OS are referenced by a path that has the same form, no matter what device on which the file exists. Assuming your USB disk (/dev/sdb1) is mounted on /mnt/sdb1, which seems to be the case, your path to the file will be /mnt/sdb1/Erik/file.txt. The only time to use a "file:" reference will be in a URL. If you wanted your browser to access that file, the URL would be file:///mnt/sdb1/Erik/file.txt.

That drive letter stuff (A:, C:, etc) is restricted to Windowz and Micro$oft.

Larry

Hi,

thanks a lot, that works.
I knew it was simple, but I couldn't figure it out.

One remaining issue though: on windows the same HD always gets the same letter. I have the idea that the assignment on linux changes (e.g. after using a USB stick).

Is there a way to 'fix' the name to the hd ?

again, thanks,

Erik.

If I am not mistaken, your USB device is being automounted. If so, you essentially have a fixed name for it. It seems that the mount point is /mnt/<last part of device name>. Alternatively, you could change the mounting logic to be anything you want. For example, in my distro, a Windows partition will usually be mounted on /mnt/C, etc. I changed /etc/fstab to mount that partition on /dosc.

I suggest a little reading on devices and file systems under Linux. Fstab is covered in http://learn.clemsonlinux.org/wiki/Fstab. In a quick session at Google, I didn't find a good web site discussion of devices and device names, but I think you would be able to.

Larry

Additionally, udev can be used to lock /dev files to specific devices by type, manufacturer, serial number, etc.