[arch-general] /etc/fstab :no ext. hdd

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Preston C.

29 Mar 2009 29 Mar '09

10:56 p.m.

I hope that this is not to much of a noob question, but since I started using Arch I haven't been able to access my external hard drive through KDE. I posted on the forums about the problem but it seems that the other people who had the problem, had the problem in a different way. My problem is I can access my cdrom drive through the desktop but cannot access my external hdd. When I try to I get an error message concerning HAL Permission Policy. So I read back through The Beginners Guide and two things came to mind- user 'groups' and /etc/fstab. In /etc/fstab these are the devices that show: /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/cdrom1 /media/cdrom1 auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/dvd /media/dvd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 No external hdd? Also, why are there two cdrom devices when I only have 1 cd drive and 1 dvd drive? I was wondering if the external hdd doesn't exist in /etc/fstab because I did not add it as a 'group' (which I think I did) or for some other reason? Supposedly I could use HAL, in some way- although I would rather have the external hdd in /etc/fstab. How do I get the external hdd to exist in /etc/fstab , which I think it should? Thanks, Preston

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Greg

29 Mar 29 Mar

11:30 p.m.

Hi, On arch, such things as adding external drives to fstab are left up to the user :) Just add a line for it. /dev/sdb1 /media/externalhd ext3 user 0 0 Of course, change for the actual device name, filesystem, and desired mount point. You may also need to change the mount options, but that line works for my for my external he on my server. As for the multiple cdrom entries, the second cdrom is actually your DVD drive. (or vice-versa) I believe my laptop with an all in one drive has two entries in fstab aswell. On Mar 29, 2009, at 4:56 PM, "Preston C." wrote:

...

I hope that this is not to much of a noob question, but since I started using Arch I haven't been able to access my external hard drive through KDE. I posted on the forums about the problem but it seems that the other people who had the problem, had the problem in a different way. My problem is I can access my cdrom drive through the desktop but cannot access my external hdd. When I try to I get an error message concerning HAL Permission Policy. So I read back through The Beginners Guide and two things came to mind- user 'groups' and /etc/fstab.

In /etc/fstab these are the devices that show:

/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/cdrom1 /media/cdrom1 auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/dvd /media/dvd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0

No external hdd? Also, why are there two cdrom devices when I only have 1 cd drive and 1 dvd drive?

I was wondering if the external hdd doesn't exist in /etc/fstab because I did not add it as a 'group' (which I think I did) or for some other reason? Supposedly I could use HAL, in some way- although I would rather have the external hdd in /etc/fstab. How do I get the external hdd to exist in /etc/fstab , which I think it should?

Thanks, Preston

Preston C.

11:41 p.m.

...

Hi,

On arch, such things as adding external drives to fstab are left up to the user :)

Just add a line for it.

/dev/sdb1 /media/externalhd ext3 user 0 0

Of course, change for the actual device name, filesystem, and desired mount point. You may also need to change the mount options, but that line works for my for my external he on my server.

As for the multiple cdrom entries, the second cdrom is actually your DVD drive. (or vice-versa) I believe my laptop with an all in one drive has two entries in fstab aswell.

Thank you Greg, that clears things up a lot. Will look into it more, then get back if I have any questions.

Greg

11:47 p.m.

No problem :) You also have the HAL method, which can be handy if you remove/attach the drive often. But if the drive is attached all or most of the time, good ol' fstab is the easiest and most reliable. ;) On Mar 29, 2009, at 5:41 PM, "Preston C." wrote:

...

...
Hi,

On arch, such things as adding external drives to fstab are left up to the user :)

Just add a line for it.

/dev/sdb1 /media/externalhd ext3 user 0 0

Of course, change for the actual device name, filesystem, and desired mount point. You may also need to change the mount options, but that line works for my for my external he on my server.

As for the multiple cdrom entries, the second cdrom is actually your DVD drive. (or vice-versa) I believe my laptop with an all in one drive has two entries in fstab aswell.

Thank you Greg, that clears things up a lot. Will look into it more, then get back if I have any questions.

Preston C.

30 Mar 30 Mar

12:07 a.m.

...

No problem :)

You also have the HAL method, which can be handy if you remove/attach the drive often. But if the drive is attached all or most of the time, good ol' fstab is the easiest and most reliable. ;)

The drive hasn't been unplugged since I got it. Do I need to install ntfs-3g, before adding the line into fstab? Can you tell me which one, if any, of these lines would work: /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,auto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,auto,unhide 0 0 Will any of those lines work? I do not really understand whether to put auto or ntfs- for type, and about the options, as you can probably tell, :-). I read up on it, just not sure. Thanks.

Gregory T Helton

1:45 a.m.

I think this should work /dev/sdc1 /media/externalhd ntfs-3g users,uid=1000,gid=100,fmask=0113,dmask=0002 0 0 This will mount the drive at boot, allow users to mount/umount, user id 1000/grp id 100 will own everything on the drive, and files will have the permission 664, directories 775. This does require that you have ntfs-3g installed, and set to SUID root (chmod u+s /bin/ntfs-3g) More info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NTFS_Write_Support Good luck. :) On Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:07:16 -0700 "Preston C." wrote:

...

...
No problem :)

You also have the HAL method, which can be handy if you remove/attach the drive often. But if the drive is attached all or most of the time, good ol' fstab is the easiest and most reliable. ;)

The drive hasn't been unplugged since I got it. Do I need to install ntfs-3g, before adding the line into fstab?

Can you tell me which one, if any, of these lines would work: /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,auto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,auto,unhide 0 0

Will any of those lines work? I do not really understand whether to put auto or ntfs- for type, and about the options, as you can probably tell, :-). I read up on it, just not sure.

Thanks.

Preston C.

2:01 a.m.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Gregory T Helton wrote:

...

I think this should work

/dev/sdc1 /media/externalhd ntfs-3g users,uid=1000,gid=100,fmask=0113,dmask=0002 0 0

This will mount the drive at boot, allow users to mount/umount, user id 1000/grp id 100 will own everything on the drive, and files will have the permission 664, directories 775.

This does require that you have ntfs-3g installed, and set to SUID root (chmod u+s /bin/ntfs-3g)

More info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NTFS_Write_Support

Good luck. :)

Thanks, I did this before I got your email: changed fstab with /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs defaults 0 0 then ran "mkdir /media/externalhd" then ran "chmod 777 -R /media/externalhd" Just got finished, actually, It works but is your method the better method?

Gregory T Helton

2:27 a.m.

The last I knew, the built-in "ntfs" doesn't not have write support, or isn't very reliable. ntfs-3g is the preferred way to work with ntfs partitions/drives. The other options will ensure that you can read/write everything without being root. On Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:01:09 -0700 "Preston C." wrote:

...

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Gregory T Helton wrote:

...
I think this should work

/dev/sdc1 /media/externalhd ntfs-3g users,uid=1000,gid=100,fmask=0113,dmask=0002 0 0

This will mount the drive at boot, allow users to mount/umount, user id 1000/grp id 100 will own everything on the drive, and files will have the permission 664, directories 775.

This does require that you have ntfs-3g installed, and set to SUID root (chmod u+s /bin/ntfs-3g)

More info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NTFS_Write_Support

Good luck. :)

Thanks, I did this before I got your email: changed fstab with /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs defaults 0 0 then ran "mkdir /media/externalhd" then ran "chmod 777 -R /media/externalhd"

Just got finished, actually, It works but is your method the better method?

Preston C.

2:30 a.m.

Thanks Gregory. What do you think about what Alessandro said, there being a bug in KDE where you cannot access ntfs unless you use HAL?

Gregory T Helton

2:34 a.m.

The way I read it, the problem is mounting NTFS drives in KDE with HAL. By using the fstab method, the drive is being mounted on boot. As far as KDE knows, it's just another folder. --greg On Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:30:40 -0700 "Preston C." wrote:

...

Thanks Gregory. What do you think about what Alessandro said, there being a bug in KDE where you cannot access ntfs unless you use HAL?

Preston C.

2:37 a.m.

Thank you both. Tried adding rw, but with no success. Will redo everything trying your method Gregory, then if that does not work will try HAL.

Alessandro Doro

2:44 a.m.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 05:37:38PM -0700, Preston C. wrote:

...

Thank you both. Tried adding rw, but with no success. Will redo everything trying your method Gregory, then if that does not work will try HAL.

What is your fstab line? Please, post also the output of the command "id".

Preston C.

2:48 a.m.

...

What is your fstab line? Please, post also the output of the command "id".

/dev/sdc1 /media/externalhd ntfs defaults,rw 0 0 uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root),1(bin),2(daemon),3(sys),4(adm),6(disk),10(wheel),19(log)

Alessandro Doro

3:17 a.m.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 05:48:21PM -0700, Preston C. wrote:

...

...
What is your fstab line? Please, post also the output of the command "id".

/dev/sdc1 /media/externalhd ntfs defaults,rw 0 0

Didn't you read http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NTFS_Write_Support? You should give at least: users,uid=1000,gid=100 See the wiki or better "man ntfs-3g" for the meaning. And, quoting Gregory: "This does require that you have ntfs-3g installed, and set to SUID root (chmod u+s /bin/ntfs-3g)" If you don't want to change permissions to /bin/ntfs-3g, you have to mount as root.

...

uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root),1(bin),2(daemon),3(sys),4(adm),6(disk),10(wheel),19(log) I meant the user id, not root; btw your uid and gid shoud match those in fstab.

Hope this helps. PS: "chmod 777 -R /media/externalhd" is worthless. Leave drwxr-xr-x.

Preston C.

3:26 a.m.

Thank you all for your help. Gregory, your method seems to be working- very good! I just finished getting it setup and bam it worked. I can play music from my external hdd, etc. Thank you Linux Gurus, ;-). Fingers crossed, hopefully it will stay this way. Thanks, Preston

Preston C.

3:29 a.m.

...

btw your uid and gid shoud match those in fstab. Is this something I need to be concerned about?

Greg

3:42 a.m.

If it is working now, I wouldn't worry about it. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 29, 2009, at 9:29 PM, "Preston C." wrote:

...

...
btw your uid and gid shoud match those in fstab. Is this something I need to be concerned about?

Alessandro Doro

2:10 a.m.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 03:07:16PM -0700, Preston C. wrote:

...

...
No problem :)

You also have the HAL method, which can be handy if you remove/attach the drive often. But if the drive is attached all or most of the time, good ol' fstab is the easiest and most reliable. ;)

The drive hasn't been unplugged since I got it. Do I need to install ntfs-3g, before adding the line into fstab?

Can you tell me which one, if any, of these lines would work: /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,auto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/sdc1 /media/exterhalhd ntfs ro,user,auto,unhide 0 0

Will any of those lines work? I do not really understand whether to put auto or ntfs- for type, and about the options, as you can probably tell, :-). I read up on it, just not sure.

Thanks.

You can't be sure about the device number of your external hard drive. I suggest you to use a line like this in fstab UUID /media/exterhalhd ntfs-3g options.... To find your volume UUID: ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/ For the options and further info see Gregory T Helton post. ================ "An error occured while accessing 'Free Agent Drive', the system responded: org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.PermissionDeniedByPolicy: hal-storage-mount-removable-extra-options no <-- (action,result)" This is a known hal/kde bug; inside kde you can't mount ntfs partitions! See for example: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157378 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=378041 http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=297389 (google: "hal-storage-mount-fixed-extra-options"; TODO: rethink) My approach is not fstab based; I mount my devices with gnome-mount. As root: gnome-mount -p device-label or gnome-mount -d /device/path bye

Preston C.

2:18 a.m.

Thanks Alessandro. You feel that I should use the HAL way since it is KDE? UPDATE: I just found out that while I can access the /sdc1 I can't read or write with it.

Alessandro Doro

2:30 a.m.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 05:18:01PM -0700, Preston C. wrote:

...

UPDATE: I just found out that while I can access the /sdc1 I can't read or write with it. Add "rw" to your fstab options: rw,users,...

Alessandro Doro

2:18 a.m.

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 02:10:30AM +0200, Alessandro Doro wrote:

...

My approach is not fstab based; I mount my devices with gnome-mount. As root: gnome-mount -p device-label or gnome-mount -d /device/path

You can also try pmount but I don't know if it works with ntfs drives. Pmount mounts only removable drives without the need to be root.

Preston C.

2:20 a.m.

Will have to look into all of this some more. Thanks for the help.

Jordy van Wolferen

4:55 a.m.

On Sunday 29 March 2009 22:56:57 Preston C. wrote:

...

I hope that this is not to much of a noob question, but since I started using Arch I haven't been able to access my external hard drive through KDE. I posted on the forums about the problem but it seems that the other people who had the problem, had the problem in a different way. My problem is I can access my cdrom drive through the desktop but cannot access my external hdd. When I try to I get an error message concerning HAL Permission Policy. So I read back through The Beginners Guide and two things came to mind- user 'groups' and /etc/fstab.

In /etc/fstab these are the devices that show:

/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/cdrom1 /media/cdrom1 auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 /dev/dvd /media/dvd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0

No external hdd? Also, why are there two cdrom devices when I only have 1 cd drive and 1 dvd drive?

I was wondering if the external hdd doesn't exist in /etc/fstab because I did not add it as a 'group' (which I think I did) or for some other reason? Supposedly I could use HAL, in some way- although I would rather have the external hdd in /etc/fstab. How do I get the external hdd to exist in /etc/fstab , which I think it should?

Thanks, Preston

For you HAL problems: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL#Hal_0.5.11-7_trick

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Alessandro Doro
Greg
Gregory T Helton
Jordy van Wolferen
Preston C.