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Mounting disk on startup

To mount a disk on startup in Linux, you need to modify the /etc/fstab file, which manages automatic mounting of file systems at boot time.

Steps to Mount a Disk on Startup:

  1. Find the Disk's UUID:

    • First, you need to find the UUID of the partition you want to mount. You can use the blkid command:

      sudo blkid

    • This will list all the partitions and their UUIDs. Look for the partition you want to mount, e.g., /dev/sda1, and note down its UUID.

  2. Create a Mount Point:

    • You need a directory where the disk will be mounted. You can create a mount point, for example, /mnt/mydisk:

      sudo mkdir /mnt/mydisk

  3. Edit the /etc/fstab File:

    • Open the /etc/fstab file in a text editor:

      sudo nano /etc/fstab

    • Add an entry at the end of the file with the following format:

      UUID=<your-disk-uuid> <mount-point> <filesystem-type> <options> <dump> <pass>

      For example, to mount /dev/sda1 as an ext4 filesystem to /mnt/mydisk, add:

      UUID=your-disk-uuid /mnt/mydisk ext4 defaults 0 2

      • Replace your-disk-uuid with the actual UUID you found in step 1.

      • Replace /mnt/mydisk with the mount point you created in step 2.

      • The ext4 should be the correct filesystem type (you can check this with blkid).

      • defaults are the typical options (you can change them if needed).

      • 0 means no backup for the partition.

      • 2 indicates the order in which filesystems are checked by fsck at boot (root filesystem is usually 1, and others are 2).

  4. Test the Mount:

    • After saving the /etc/fstab file, you can test the mount without rebooting:

      sudo mount -a

    • This command mounts all filesystems listed in /etc/fstab, including the one you just added. If there is no error, the disk should mount successfully.

  5. Reboot and Verify:

    • Reboot your system:

      sudo reboot

    • After rebooting, check if the disk is mounted correctly:

      df -h

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