[Solved] Auto-start of Second Harddisk incomplete after LM20 fresh install

[Laugh2]

Hi,

Background
I installed LM20-64 MATE onto a SSD. After updating, etc. the second (data) HDD was connected. On starting the computer the second HDD is seen by Caja (Mate's File Manager) but programs cannot access the second HDD.

If, however, I select the drive using Caja then the second HDD becomes available to all programs.

After searching a bit I found the following post, which while relevant assumes that the second HDD is automatically recognised without the restriction I've met. So it doesn't seem to offer a solution, which I can identify at least: viewtopic.php?t=185399

Question
How can I get the second HDD to be used by programs automatically on startup, without needing to select it first in Caja?

System
Gigabyte mobo, 16GB, i5-7400

[AndyMH]

How can I get the second HDD to be used by programs automatically on startup, without needing to select it first in Caja?

You can do this by editing your fstab file so that the partition(s) on the HDD are automatically mounted. What caja is doing for you when you click on them is mounting them for you.

You haven't said how many partitions on the HDD or what filesystems?

This is what the line in fstab is for the HDD I've got in the ultrabay of my laptop, it is an ext4 partition (options are slightly different for an ntfs partition):

Code: Select all

#mount point for HDD in ultrabay
UUID=fb689910-e942-46e1-b03d-e7032e0e36bb	/media/Ultrabay	ext4	defaults,nofail	0	2

You get the the UUID by entering blkid in a terminal, you can mount it wherever you like, I've got it mounting at /media/Ultrabay, depending on what you use it for you might want to mount it in, say, /home/you/mydata, the choice is yours.

fstab lives in /etc and has to be edited as root (navigate to /etc in caja and right click - open as root, you can then double click on fstab to edit it). Make a copy first - screw up fstab and your system might not boot (so have your mint install usb to hand in case you need to boot it and revert to the original).

[Laugh2]

Hi AndyMH,

Thank you for your reply. With Virus-hectic and Christmas I'm a bit late replying. While looking for the UUID, number of partitions, suitable Mount Points, etc. I noticed in LM20's utility DISKS, which also provides all the necessary info, that behind the gears icon there was an option "Edit Mount Options" which had the "User Session Defaults" button selected and the info required shaded grey. Unselecting "User Session Defaults" button changed the field entries from grey to black, one of which was "Mount at system startup" (which sounded promising).

After re-booting the desired auto-start of the second harddisk was successful. (The file fsab had not been altered so the change must be recorded in this case elsewhere.) Thank you for pointing me in the right direction - I'd not have got there without your help.

PS There was only 1 partition formatted as ext4.

[AndyMH]

Not a fan of disks, it makes messy entries in fstab and it has other crimes as well.

[Laugh2]

A month or two ago I ended up editing my fstab file as you suggested on 9/10/2020 because the problem raised its head again. Since then everything seems to be working again so in future I'll be using your method. Thxs.