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Thread: fstab irrelevant?

  1. #1
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    fstab irrelevant?

    I just bought a new disk and installed it (internally) in my desktop computer, presently running ubuntu 10.04. I partitioned it, made a filesystem, and mounted it on a temporary mount point (/media/newdrive). Then did an df to double check, everything looked good. Next step was to edit fstab.

    The new disk is /dev/sda1. The root partition is presently on /dev/sdb1 - based on the output of df. But in fstab, which hasn't been modified for over a year, the root filesystem is on /dev/sda1. I rebooted, and nothing changed. So is fstab irrelevant?

    The plan is to install the latest ubuntu on the new disk, and then copy over personal stuff from the old disk. I could probably go ahead and just do this, but I'm wondering about fstab. I know I should be using UUIDs, if I do that and throw out the old fstab, will everything magically work?

    Thanks for any insight.

    Alex

  2. #2
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Quote Originally Posted by grizdog View Post

    The new disk is /dev/sda1. The root partition is presently on /dev/sdb1 - based on the output of df. But in fstab, which hasn't been modified for over a year, the root filesystem is on /dev/sda1.
    This makes no sense to me at all. Check the device labels with fdisk-

    Code:
    sudo fdisk -l
    AFAIK the alphabetical order of devices (sda,sdb,sdc) never gets reversed like that.
    And as far as your intentions, why bother running both drives at the same time anyway? Remove the old drive, put the new one in, install Ubuntu, then transfer your stuff.

  3. #3
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Quote Originally Posted by cortman View Post
    This makes no sense to me at all. Check the device labels with fdisk-

    Code:
    sudo fdisk -l
    AFAIK the alphabetical order of devices (sda,sdb,sdc) never gets reversed like that.
    And as far as your intentions, why bother running both drives at the same time anyway? Remove the old drive, put the new one in, install Ubuntu, then transfer your stuff.
    No, fstab is certainly not irrelevant; just try booting without one and you'll see why.

    I think you'll find that the sda, sdb etc, nomenclature can change in certain circumstances and that is one reason why fstab now uses UUIDs by default instead of the /dev/sda1 etc etc.

    I also have no doubt that the fstab file that the OP refers to uses UUID, but mentions /dev/sdx in a commented out line above, as is the current way of doing things in Ubuntu.

    If the old disk is an IDE and the new one is sata, I think that can account for the apparent reversal of priority, or the order they are attached to the cable in the machine or jumper settings of IDE disks may also be the reason.
    Last edited by ajgreeny; September 6th, 2012 at 03:43 PM.

  4. #4
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Can you post your fstab file please.
    Code:
    cat /etc/fstab
    Cheesemill

  5. #5
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Here is the output from fdisk -l:
    Code:
    sudo fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x00002b1e
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
    
    Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x000bfb54
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1   *           1       29656   238209024   83  Linux
    /dev/sdb2           29656       30402     5987329    5  Extended
    /dev/sdb5           29656       30402     5987328   82  Linux swap / Solaris
    
    Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x61ce8b27
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdc1               1       60801   488384001   83  Linux
    And here is the content of fstab:
    Code:
    cat /etc/fstab
    # /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
    /dev/sda1       /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
    /dev/sda5       none            swap    sw              0       0
    /dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
    /dev/sdb1       /media/disk     ext3    rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks   0      2
    The drive that is mounted at /media/disk is an external drive I use for backups.

  6. #6
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Update: When I put in an Ubuntu install disk, the only drive it finds is the old one, the one with the old Ubuntu already installed. It does not find the new internal disk, or the external USB disk.

    Thanks for any help. THis looks very strange to me.

  7. #7
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Can you boot into the installed version and post the output of
    Code:
    mount -l
    It's not making sense that your fstab lists sda1 for / but fdisk shows your installation appearing to be on sdb1.

  8. #8
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either. Here is the output from mount -l:

    Code:
    sudo mount -l
    /dev/sdb1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
    proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
    none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
    none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
    none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
    none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
    none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
    none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
    none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
    none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
    none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
    none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
    binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
    gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/alex/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=alex)
    /dev/sdc1 on /media/9f6c6351-7533-4559-9099-6d148e1dc504 type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
    /dev/sda1 on /media/newdrive type ext4 (rw)

  9. #9
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Are they both SATA disks?

  10. #10
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    Re: fstab irrelevant?

    Yes, but the new one is plugged in to an IDE port on the motherboard, with one of those little adapter doohickies.
    Quote Originally Posted by cryptotheslow View Post
    Are they both SATA disks?

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