[arch-general] how to mount external hdd

[Denis Alessandro Altoe Falqueto]

On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Denis Alessandro Altoe Falqueto
<denisfalqueto at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 11:05 AM,  <hollunder at gmx.at> wrote:
>> On Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:33:01 +0100
>> <hollunder at gmx.at> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:31:13 -0300
>>> Denis Alessandro Altoe Falqueto <denisfalqueto at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Sergey Manucharian
>>> > <sergeym at rmico.com> wrote:
>>> > > On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:03:08 +0100
>>> > > <hollunder at gmx.at> wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > > ..........
>>> > >
>>> > >> An external drive can be rather reliably identified and always
>>> > >> mounted at the same place using udev.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> This is somewhat problematic on arch linux tough.
>>> > >> For some reason the devices seem not to be created before
>>> > >> mount runs although udev runs before it.
>>> > >> This means that external drives do not get mounted along with all
>>> > >> the other drives specified in fstab.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> I personally wonder what the problem is since this method has
>>> > >> worked on other distributions.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> My workaround is simply another 'mount -a' in rc.local, at this
>>> > >> point in boottime the devices are created.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Still this doesn't work reliably with one of my drives but this
>>> > >> is a separate problem (slowness).
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Philipp
>>> > >>
>>> > >
>>> > > Folks, you are discussing how to deal with "noob questions" etc.,
>>> > > but nobody paid attention to the more "deep" meaning of the
>>> > > initial question arisen by Philipp.
>>> > >
>>> > > I confirm the problem. So, how to mount an external HDD during the
>>> > > system start-up?
>>> > >
>>> > > Cheers,
>>> > > Sergey
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > If it is always connected, I would put a line on /etc/fstab so it is
>>> > mounted as any other ordinary partition.
>>> >
>>> > If it is not always connected, I would make a script and put it in
>>> > /etc/rc.d. The script would be responsible to look if the disk is
>>> > attached and mount it. It would be good to use some udev rules to
>>> > make a fixed symlink for the disk, so the script has a fixed target
>>> > to find.
>>> >
>>>
>>> I already do a combination of udev and fstab which doesn't work.
>>>
>>> Old rules that worked on my previous system:
>>> BUS=="usb", KERNEL=="sd?1", SYSFS{idProduct}=="(somenumber)",
>>> SYMLINK+="usbdisk200"
>>>
>>> BUS=="usb", KERNEL=="sd?1", SYSFS{serial}=="(somenumber)",
>>> SYMLINK+="usbdisk400"
>>>
>>> New rules with newer udev syntax:
>>> BUS=="usb", ATTRS{serial}=="(somenumber)", KERNEL=="sd?1",
>>> NAME="%k", SYMLINK+="usbdisk400", GROUP="storage"
>>>
>>> BUS=="usb", ATTRS{idProduct}=="(somenumber)", KERNEL=="sd?1",
>>> NAME="%k", SYMLINK+="usbdisk200", GROUP="storage"
>>>
>>> fstab:
>>> /dev/usbdisk400 /media/disk400  ext3
>>> rw,nodev,noexec,auto,noatime,async,users        0       0
>>>
>>> /dev/usbdisk200 /media/disk200  ext3
>>> rw,nodev,noexec,auto,noatime,async,users        0       0
>>>
>>>
>>> What happens is that when 'mount -a' is run at boottime it says
>>> that /dev/usbdisk400 and /dev/usbdisk200 doesn't exist, consequently
>>> they don't get mounted.
>>> When rc.local with another 'mount -a' is executed it works (except
>>> that the /dev/usbdisk400 is too slow sometimes).
>>>
>>> I'm looking forward to your ideas about what's happening.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>       Philipp
>>
>>
>> I tried some more. This time I specified one of the usb harddrives by
>> UUID. I can mount is, so it works, but at boottime this method doesn't
>> work either.
>>
>> I get:
>> special device UUID=number not found
>>
>> same as I got:
>> special device /dev/usbdisk400 not found
>>
>> So to me this looks like udev is not the problem this time.
>> So what is it, are usb devices not initialised yet when 'mount -a' is
>> run?
>> I added the usb_storage module to the modules array in rc.conf but this
>> didn't change a thing. If I read rc.sysinit correctly the modules are
>> loaded before 'mount -a'.
>>
>> Help is appreciated.
>>
>> Philipp
>>
>
> Well, I don't have an external hd, just pendrives, so to me they work
> fine because I insert/remove often and when the system is already
> running. But one aproach I would take is to make a script and put it
> in /etc/rc.d, so you can put it in your DAEMONS array in rc.conf. This
> way, i think the system will be up and running fine when the script is
> run and it may mount your drive correctly. You can
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------
> Denis A. Altoe Falqueto
> -------------------------------------------
> George Burns  - "I would go out with women my age, but there are no
> women my age."
>

Sorry, sent before I ended the message... >_<

I was saying that you could check to see if your device is plugged
before mounting. I was trying to find a reliable way to do that, but I
don't have the time right now. I will try to replay with something
usefull as soo as I can.

Hope that helps.

-- 
-------------------------------------------
Denis A. Altoe Falqueto
-------------------------------------------
Emo Philips  - "I was the kid next door's imaginary friend."