Automount Internal Disk w/ ext4 Filesystem (on boot)

**SlimBiggins** · August 12th, 2010

I have two internal hard disks in my computer, one 20gb for Linux, and an 80gb for storage.

I am trying to automatically mount the 80gb on startup so that certain applications may access them without me going through the normal mount procedure.

I read a thread on a similar inquiry, except it was for a NTFS. From what I understand, the answer lies in editing the /etc/fstab file correctly and creating a mount point somewhere in the /media/ folder.

My question is what do I need to add to the /etc/fstab file for automounting an ext4 filesystem? Also, is an ext4 filesytem any better or worse than a NTFS for storage use?

I could go the trial and error way, but would feel much safer with the forums. Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you,
SlimBiggins

**MooPi** · August 12th, 2010

First step is to make a backup copy of your /etc/fstab file. Second open a terminal

Code:

sudo blkid

The results should look similar to this:

Code:

/dev/sda1: UUID="b3ce4e2a-f862-4f38-9402-00301e1f52a1" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda2: LABEL="WindowsXP" UUID="7EBC9389BC933A9B" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda3: LABEL="BigBin" UUID="819005e9-fd37-4f2a-91ef-162b7fe9e400" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="9b447b24-4a29-425c-87c5-4068e5ea50e4" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Sabrent" UUID="08d3b402-2262-461a-be06-43e2ef52b560" TYPE="ext4"

Now use the info for your second hard drive to edit /etc/fstab. As an example I'll choose my drive /dev/sdb1 Sabrent.

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=b3ce4e2a-f862-4f38-9402-00301e1f52a1 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=9b447b24-4a29-425c-87c5-4068e5ea50e4 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
# BigBin /dev/sda3
UUID=819005e9-fd37-4f2a-91ef-162b7fe9e400 /media/BigBin   ext3     user,auto   0     0
# WindowsXP /dev/sda2
UUID=7EBC9389BC933A9B                     /media/WindowsXP    ntfs    user,auto   0    0
# Sabrent /dev/sdb1
UUID=08d3b402-2262-461a-be06-43e2ef52b560 /media/Sabrent ext4 defaults 0 0

Create a folder in media and make sure you are owner and have permissions. As an example I own /media/Sabrent

Code:

sudo chown MooPi -R /media/Sabrent

If you need the drive to be accessible to a Windows install then choose ntfs, otherwise ext4 should be your choice.

**SlimBiggins** · August 14th, 2010

Thank you, MooPi. Works just fine. =)

**SlimBiggins** · August 20th, 2010

i did have one other question. its not really important, but it never hurts to ask. is there any way i can go about having the disk icon not appear on the desktop. it just seems useless to have. i'm sure i can figure a way to do so, but any info would be greatly appreciated.

thank you,
slim biggins

**amauk** · August 20th, 2010

Originally Posted by SlimBiggins

i did have one other question. its not really important, but it never hurts to ask. is there any way i can go about having the disk icon not appear on the desktop. it just seems useless to have. i'm sure i can figure a way to do so, but any info would be greatly appreciated.

thank you,
slim biggins

Anything mounted in /media will have an icon on the desktop

If you don't want an icon
mount the partition somewhere other than /media
(Eg. mount it to a folder in your home directory)