How do I mount an external hard-drive via SSH?

[TMcKSmith]

I'm running Ubuntu Server w/ xubuntu xwindows at home.
I was fooling around via SSH and had to restart the system using:
sudo shutdown -r now
after the system reboot, my external hard drive is no longer available (I'm guessing because I'm no longer logged into xwindows - it usually mounts automatically). Is there a way I can do this remotely? Or a way I can set the external drive to mount automatically on restart? Thanks!

[Potatoj316]

Yes, to make it mount automatically you can add a line to your fstab. To mount it via ssh (assuming you are connected via ssh) do this

sudo mount /dev/usb /media/disk

you might have to use /dev/hdb1 and you might have to create /media/disk first

[TMcKSmith]

how do I "create" /media/disk

when I startx and login it mounts to /media/Venus/ automatically


but when remotely I type

root@xxxx:~# sudo mount /dev/usb /media/Venus
mount: mount point /media/Venus does not exist

[iDaniel]

Just a very simple:

mkdir /media/Venus/

Which will make the directory.

[TMcKSmith]

Just a very simple:

mkdir /media/Venus/

Which will make the directory.

root@bxxxxx:~# sudo mount /dev/usb /media/Venus
mount: special device /dev/usb does not exist

[SeanHodges]

If you are trying to mount the external drive the same way as when you normally log in through the graphical interface (e.g. it only mounts when plugged in) you can use:

gnome-mount -n

It won't look like it's done much, but this should detect your external drive and mount it to something like /media/usbdisk (check the /media directory afterwards).

The "-n" basically tells it not to try and pop up a graphical dialog if theres a problem, which is a good idea if you've SSH'd remotely.

I've had reports that this hasn't worked for some people, I'm not sure why but it's worked for me every time.

[TMcKSmith]

that gives me:

root@xxxxx:~# gnome-mount -n
X11 connection rejected because of wrong authentication.
Use --hal-udi, --device or --pseudonym to specify volume


I won't be home (where the server is) for a few days, and I'd really like to get this mounted so I can access certain files that are on the drive. Thanks for all the help thus far.

[PinkFloyd102489]

Run

fdisk -l

As in lowercase L. This will show you all of the available drives attached to the machine. Assuming you only have one HD and the external, the external would probably be /dev/sdb1. So here's how the command would work.

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/Venus

Assuming that the filesystem type is NTFS. If it's FAT32, swap out ntfs-3g for vfat.

To get it to start automatically, enter this into /etc/fstab.

/dev/sdb1 /media/Venus ntfs 0 1

Again swap out ntfs with vfat if the filesystem is FAT.

[TMcKSmith]

thanks. here's what's happening now:

root@xxxxx:~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000080

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1216 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1217 9483 66404677+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 9484 9726 1951897+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9484 9726 1951866 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7259143f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 91201 732572001 7 HPFS/NTFS



looks like you were right about /dev/sdb1 (thanks), but now when I go onto the next step:

root@xxxxx:~# sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/Venus
fuse: failed to access mountpoint /media/Venus: No such file or directory


any suggestions?

[TMcKSmith]

nevermind! figured it out through common sense - just had to

mkdir /media/Venus/

thanks for all your help - much appreciated.