fstab files from other installations

**Tortoise** · 05-28-2003, 05:25 PM

I have an fstab file from a Mandrake installation that works well, and always had trouble with my Knoppix one. I like Knoppix better than Mandrake, but is it a problem to keep my Madrake fstab, or will that shag things?
Thanks

**rickenbacherus** · 05-28-2003, 08:29 PM

Depends- are your partitions and mount points the same? Just keep this in mind: When you change something like /etc/fstab before you do anything back it up- you can always restore it that way if you hose something up.

**Tortoise** · 05-28-2003, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by rickenbacherus

Depends- are your partitions and mount points the same? Just keep this in mind: When you change something like /etc/fstab before you do anything back it up- you can always restore it that way if you hose something up.

The partitions are the same, but the mount points were never right under Knoppix, which is why I want to use the MAndrake FSTAB file. Is that all there is to it though, or is there another file that describes the drives?

**rickenbacherus** · 05-28-2003, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by Tortoise

The partitions are the same, but the mount points were never right under Knoppix, which is why I want to use the MAndrake FSTAB file. Is that all there is to it though, or is there another file that describes the drives?

You can mount any of your drives to any mount point you like, example:

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/stupid

As long as you have a mount point named 'stupid' it will mount there. Let's say your fstab looks like this:

# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,auto 0 0

The first part '/dev/hda1' for example is the block device or filesystem you want to mount. The second part- '/' is the mount point that fstab will mount /dev/hda1 to.

Another example: '/dev/cdrom' is the block device- '/cdrom' is the mount point but if '/cdrom' doesn't exist then it can't be mounted there right?

Do this:

Code:

cd /mnt
ls

The screen output lists your mount points. You can make mount points if you need to like this:

Code:

# mkdir /mnt/cdrom

Now do this:

Code:

cd /mnt
ls

You should see your new mount point listed. If you need some help getting /etc/fstab to work post it. Also post your mount points. Just copying over your fstab from another distro likely won't work- you'll still have to make some adjustments but it's not that hard once you get the idea of mount points.

**fearlessrogue** · 05-29-2003, 02:15 AM

My fstab looks like:
# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda2 /music ext3 defaults 2 1
/dev/hda4 /home/rob/stuff ext3 defaults 2 1
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0

**rickenbacherus** · 05-29-2003, 03:16 AM

Do this:

Code:

cd /mnt
ls

Post the output.

**Tortoise** · 05-29-2003, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by rickenbacherus

Do this:

Code:

cd /mnt
ls

Post the output.

knoppix@Milo:~$ cd /mnt
knoppix@Milo:mnt$ ls
hda1 hda2 hda3 hda6 sda

**rickenbacherus** · 05-29-2003, 10:05 PM

Tortoise-
Now we know that you have the mount points:
hda1 hda2 hda3 hda6 sda

Your fstab needs to use these mount points. If you need different mount points then make them like so:

cd /mnt
mkdir cdrom

I just used cdrom as an example but surely you'll want a mount point named cdrom right? You can make any mount point you want.

After creating /mnt/cdrom do this:

ls

You should now have these mount points:
hda1 hda2 hda3 hda6 sda cdrom

Post your fstab if you need more help.

**Tortoise** · 05-29-2003, 10:13 PM

Ok, so I understand how to create mountpoints now, but as far as I can see they are just directories which point to a physical drive or something like one.
How do I know what my real drives are called ie, I can create mountpoint for my two cdrws, but unless they point to the real things, they won't work - is there a command to tellme what linux is calling my different drives so that I can hook them up?
I am having the same trouble with my usb floppy, which I also cannot find!
Thanks for the help,

**rickenbacherus** · 05-29-2003, 10:49 PM

Originally Posted by Tortoise

How do I know what my real drives are called ie,

dmesg | less

I can create mountpoint for my two cdrws, but unless they point to the real things, they won't work - is there a command to tellme what linux is calling my different drives so that I can hook them up?

If you have cdr or cdrw drives then you'll need to use SCSI emulation. Since you booted the Knoppix cd and installed I'm sure it is already set up that way. Do this:

cat /proc/scsi/scsi

Now you should see your cdrw drives. Actually you'll see everything on the SCSI BUS.

0,0,0 - CDRW
0,1,0 - DVD

(Those are just examples- your mileage may vary) You can call your drives anything you like which makes things alot easier. Here's how:

ln -s /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrw

Translated literally ln link -s symbolicly/dev/scd0 the actual name of your cdrw /dev/cdrw the name of your new symbolic link.

Now for the test to see what /dev/cdrw really points to do this:
ls -al /dev/cdrw

It should now indicate that /dev/dvdrw is actually nothing more than a symbolic link to the actual device of /dev/scd0

I am having the same trouble with my usb floppy, which I also cannot find!
Thanks for the help,

OK USB floppy should be 1,0,0 on the SCSI bus. Do this:

cat /proc/scsi/scsi

-OR-

cdrecord -scanbus

to be certain.

Then do this:

ln -s /dev/sda1 /dev/floppy

Again then:

ls -al /dev/floppy

Should tell you that /dev/floppy is really just a symbolic link (a representation if you will) of /dev/sda1

Make sense?