Xfce/ partitions/shorctuts [solved]

[altair4]

From blkid:

/dev/sda3: LABEL="Disc2" UUID="fee0d30e-f030-48e3-a110-9f32f081fa17" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="Disc3" UUID="e4439613-5382-4f0e-8851-36fb3f26e0a2" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"

Your fstab:

cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --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 defaults 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/sda3 /media/Disc2 ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2
/dev/sda3 /media/Disc3 ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2

Change the last line to this:

/dev/sda4 /media/Disc3 ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2

[daveinuk]

Thanks again altair4, I edited the fstab again but also had to edit the line for what was Disc2 to Disc as the folder in media had changed name, I deleted one duplicate folder so i now have Disc, Disc2 and Disc3 in 'media'.

When i open up disc utility, Disc is mounted, if i try to unmount i get an error with this -

Error unmounting: umount exited with exit code 1: helper failed with:
umount: it seems /dev/sda3 is mounted multiple times

Disc3 is not mounted, if i try to mount it i get an error again and this -

Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 1: helper failed with:
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda3 is already mounted on /media/Disc3
mount failed

My fstab reads as this -

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --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 defaults 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/sda3 /media/Disc ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2
/dev/sda4 /media/Disc3 ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2

Any ideas?

[altair4]

Post the output of the following command please:

Code: Select all

mount

[daveinuk]

This is the output, bear in mind that i relabeled the partitions trying to get rid of the extra folders that had been created,
so /dev/sda3 is labeled Disc and /dev/sda4 is labeled Disc2 - the folder in media named Disc 3 i can't remove.

dave@dave-t42 ~ $ mount
/dev/sda2 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/sda3 on /media/Disc2 type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=0)
/dev/sda3 on /media/Disc3 type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=0)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
cgroup on /dev/cgroup/cpu type cgroup (rw,cpu)
dave@dave-t42 ~ $

[altair4]

I'm going to assume your fstab hasn't changed from this:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --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 defaults 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/sda3 /media/Disc ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2
/dev/sda4 /media/Disc3 ext3 defaults,noatime 0 2

In a terminal:

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sudo umount /media/Disc

Then press enter

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sudo umount /media/Disc3

Then press enter

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sudo mkdir /media/Disc

Then press enter

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sudo mkdir /media/Disc3

Then press enter

If after the mkdir command it comes back with it's already there or words to that affect just ignore it.

Then run one last command:

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sudo mount -a

Then press enter.

Now go into Thunar and see if you can access /media/Disc3

[daveinuk]

terminal output:

bash: /usr/bin/mint-fortune: No such file or directory
dave@dave-t42 ~ $ sudo umount /media/Disc
[sudo] password for dave:
umount: /media/Disc: not mounted
dave@dave-t42 ~ $ sudo umount /media/Disc3
dave@dave-t42 ~ $ sudo mkdir /media/Disc
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media/Disc': File exists
dave@dave-t42 ~ $ sudo mkdir /media/Disc3
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media/Disc3': File exists
dave@dave-t42 ~ $ sudo mount -a
dave@dave-t42 ~ $

When you say to to go into thunar and try to access Disc3, is that different to just going into my file system on the desktop and accessing the folder from there? curious as i've not used thunar before, but either way, all three folders are still there, when i check the disc properties Disc is 52G and so is Disc3 but Disc3 is the one now showing 24G free space, this is the drive with the music etc on - that started off as Disc - if this is getting messy then I have all the stuff backed up still on an external and it would be 15 mins tops to replace it if it may be easier to format the drives and repartition them?

Just a thought . . . .

[altair4]

When you say to to go into thunar and try to access Disc3, is that different to just going into my file system on the desktop and accessing the folder from there?

When you open "Filesystem" on your desktop you are opening Thunar.

So everything that is in /dev/sda3 is now showing up under /media/Disc
And everything in /dev/sda4 is now showing up under /media/Disc3

Is this correct?

THis is exactly what you told it to do in your fstab lines.

[daveinuk]

Disc shows 54G under properties but there doesn't 'appear' to be anything in the folder, which would make sense, Disc3 shows 24G free space, which I assume means that the files i copied in there are taking up space, but when i go into the folder i don't see anything in there, even if opened as root.

This is the first time i've ever needed to edit the fstab coming from mint 10 so it's all a learning curve at the moment. . . . . so hands up, i haven't got a clue what i'm telling it tbh !

[altair4]

If you run the following command:

Code: Select all

ls -al /media/Disc3

Do you see your files?

[daveinuk]

This is the output, think it means no . . . .?

dave@dave-t42 ~ $ ls -al /media/Disc3
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 28 22:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Apr 29 22:42 ..
dave@dave-t42 ~ $

[altair4]

Well, there seems to be only two possibilities:

[1] It's not mounted.
You can verify that by running mount again:

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mount

[2] Or it it mounted and it really is empty.

[daveinuk]

I get this from the terminal:

dave@dave-t42 ~ $ mount
/dev/sda2 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/sda3 on /media/Disc2 type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=0)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
cgroup on /dev/cgroup/cpu type cgroup (rw,cpu)
/dev/sda3 on /media/Disc type ext3 (rw,noatime)
/dev/sda4 on /media/Disc2 type ext3 (rw,noatime)
dave@dave-t42 ~ $

how would i tell from the output if it was mounted? in M10 it just came up on the desktop? it's no big deal if i've somehow wiped out what i copied over as it's backed up, be good to know how i managed it though so i can avoid doing it again!
Am i going to be better off just wiping these two partitions and starting over? I just wanted to put a shortcut to them on the desktop so they'd be mounted when the machine boots to save navigating to them and then having to log in as root to access them, if I'm keeping music, vids etc in them and the drives aren't mounted then if i open music up in say VLC will it just play or will I get some sort of access denied warning?

[altair4]

This is what I do not understand:

/dev/sda3 on /media/Disc2 type ext3 (rw,noatime,commit=0)
/dev/sda3 on /media/Disc type ext3 (rw,noatime)

Who is mounting /dev/sda3 to /media/Disc2?
It's not in fstab.
What's in /media/Disc2?
And what does "commit=0" mean? Never seen it before.

I'm going to have to do some pondering over this one.

[daveinuk]

Uhhhmmm beats me i have no idea lol . . . . .. .

You ponder, I'll go frag the enemy on alien arena for a bit and come back later lol

Thanks for trying and all your replies, all is not lost, I am learning, and all your help so far is very much appreciated

[oneeyed]

Who is mounting /dev/sda3 to /media/Disc2?
It's not in fstab.
What's in /media/Disc2?
And what does "commit=0" mean? Never seen it before.

Methinks dave already mounted sda3, probably via the disk utility, just before he followed your instructions. Meaning with mount -a the partition was mounted twice, and the first time with "commit=0" which is usually added by Disk Utility.
It would have been easier to do all this during the install tho. Since from what I figure in his setup sda2 and sda3 are basically for his data files. I'd have mounted sda1 as / and sda2 or sda3 as /home. Makes backup/rescue much easier.

[altair4]

@oneeyed, thanks for posting - I'm getting discombobulated by this problem

Methinks dave already mounted sda3, probably via the disk utility, just before he followed your instructions.

That makes sense but you can mount the same partition twice so it doesn't explain why /media/Disc3 is empty.

with "commit=0" which is usually added by Disk Utility

Did not know that, thanks. You can probably tell I don't use any of these GUI utilities.

I'd have mounted sda1 as /

That brings up another problem that I didn't want to get into yet but according to blkid :

/dev/sda1: UUID="5cf779fd-9c53-48ea-813f-e5e9c27c9a71" TYPE="swap"

Yet he has no swap defined in fstab.

It would have been easier to do all this during the install tho

I agree and it would eliminate all the support questions on this issue but it requires the user to do something out of the ordinary during the install and if your new it might appear daunting.

[wayne128]

and by the way distros with xfce4.8 have all these running out of the box.

that is, each partition has one icon on the desktop., want to mount? just click the icon.

zero setup needed, at least for those xfce4.8 I tried.

[daveinuk]

Back again . . . . no i haven't done anything else I'm at work

Ok so i bought some asprin for altairs headache i gave him, seemed fair to me lol . . . .

I'll be back home in just over an hour so i'll come back and check for replies . . . just roughly read both your replies and they do make sense to me, coming from mint10 a lot of this was done for me, don't mind at all learning new things and linux has taught me plenty so far and i do like this xfce, even my old clapped out t42 runs faster with it and i like the way it's laid out, nice and simple/clean.

so what's my best course of action here considering i have backup of my files? can install this xfce4.8 from within this version/update it? and then what? reformat the two partitions?

What i did in the way of setting it up was as I'd done in mint and going off the instructions to install that recommended (may get the order wrong here) :
a swap area first
then /
and then i think i've spilt the rest into 2 drives

coming from windozy before this i'm still trying to get my head round the way the 'drives' appear as mount points and files etc - basically i thought i'd set up so if i had any problems and needed to reinstall then effectively i'd be formatting 'C' (in win) only which is the same as / ???
I did try ubuntu at one point for a while, went back to mint, and just formatted and installed on / i think it was - and that worked, either way it was the first large partition.

I'd have mounted sda1 as / and sda2 or sda3 as /home. Makes backup/rescue much easier.

is home inside / on a standard install? is this the equivalent to 'my documents' being inside 'C' in windows?

[oneeyed]

If you don't mind reinstalling then you can always try, it might be easier.

I like separating my system in partitions, but I understand it's kind of old school. I already did that under dos and even win for years, but it can be a hassle for managing for a typical desktop user.

Anyway, when in the install you are at the partition step... If you don't mind losing everyhting on your disk (sda), which seems to be the case, use gparted (click on the edit partitions if I remember right to open it). then remove all your partitions on your disk.
Once all your disk is marked as being unallocated, create a primary partition. 200 MiB is enough, this one will be for /boot. You can name it if you want (label). I usually choose ext2 for boot, it's a very small partition so you don't need journaling.
Now create an extended partition with the all the rest of the disk (no need to choose a size it should be automatic). Then in this extended partition, create a logical disk. I like to put swap there. The size depends on your physical memory. Usually 2*RAM, so for example if you have 1GB RAM your swap should be 2 GB. Choose swap-fs as filesystem for this partition.
Next create another logical disk for root ( / ), size can vary but at least 10 GB. I'm fine with 15 GB, but if you install a lot of additional applications, games or whatever, more might be needed. Up to you. Choose ext4 for your filesystem.
The rest of your disk can be allocated for you personal data (My documents in windows, /home in Linux basically). So create another logical disk with all the rest. ext4 as filesystem.

Once all this is done you can quit gparted to go back to the install. In there for each partition in your disk, right click and choose Edit. There you can mount ( no need to bother with it once the install is done) all of them.
So as a reminder : sda1 mount as /boot, sda5 mount as swap, sda6 mount as /, sda7 mount as /home. No need to format except for sda6 (/) or the install will issue a warning. All done go to the next step in the install.
When you are asked where to install the booloader choose sda. Everything should be ok now.

With this setup your data is separated from your system files, If something goes wrong and you need to reinstall or recover your system you won't lose everything. The boot is separated too, I find it more convenient in case of rescue too. You can search more about partitions and filesystem in linux on google or in the mint forums. Another interesting advantage of partitioning is to avoid fragmentation which slows down your system, ext3/ext4 on linux fragments much less than windows fat and ntfs but it does happen. That's why you can add separate partitions for files that are created/removed often (mainly /tmp and /var). Still it is optional and might be too much of a hassle for a typical user.

[wayne128]

so what's my best course of action here considering i have backup of my files? can install this xfce4.8 from within this version/update it? and then what? reformat the two partitions?

Try download and install xubuntu 11.04, it has xfce4.8, ff4,
xfce4.8 is really like mini-gnome.
it is very easy to use and
you get familiarity on new file manager Thunar integrated with network icon, with all the partition mounted on left panel, much like your gnome's file manager nautilus.

if you want shortcut on your desktop, left click menu, find your application, drag out to desktop, that is it.

if you want it at panel, drag it to panel, that is it.