fstab error in 20.3? SOLVED

[playon51]

I have a fresh installation of 20.3 and the system is booting up a bit slow compared to 19.3 Tricia, which I had been running on this same laptop for almost two years. Machine is a Lenovo T480:

System: Kernel: 5.4.0-96-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7
wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

Machine: Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20L6S29D00 v: ThinkPad T480 serial: <filter>
Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter>
Mobo: LENOVO model: 20L6S29D00 v: SDK0J40697 WIN serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO
v: N24ET49W (1.24 ) date: 04/19/2019 w

While trying to solve the slow boot problem I did something as root and now I see an error when I run fstab (highlighted below). I may have inadvertently deleted the swap file? Computer still boots, but still slow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ThinkPad-T480:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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>
# / was on /dev/sda2 during installation

UUID=1a5b07c6-3a45-4e42-8395-b717dac5ba36 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=2631-EB15 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0
/dev/disk/by-uuid/cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493 /mnt/cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=Timeshift 0 0
/dev/disk/by-uuid/044A9912146FBCA4 /mnt/044A9912146FBCA4 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=DATA 0 0

[t42]

I see an error when I run fstab (highlighted below)
...
UUID=1a5b07c6-3a45-4e42-8395-b717dac5ba36 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1

It is not an error but the root file system mount option

[Larry78723]

Please post the result of the following command:

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blkid

[playon51]

ThinkPad-T480:~$ blkid

/dev/sda1: UUID="2631-EB15" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="8970df94-10e1-4d39-8a30-bc7ab7c38d56"
/dev/sda2: UUID="1a5b07c6-3a45-4e42-8395-b717dac5ba36" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="2f35bb5a-7731-44bd-a057-e1a21ea209cb"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="DATA" UUID="044A9912146FBCA4" TYPE="ntfs" PTTYPE="dos" PARTLABEL="DATA" PARTUUID="367bfe8a-09f5-4867-baf2-f148a98bcbb8"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="TimeShift" UUID="cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493" TYPE="ext4" PARTLABEL="TimeShift" PARTUUID="03a865c3-37ff-4745-afad-6a38e11e1f72"
/dev/sdb1: TYPE="vfat"

[acerimusdux]

That fstab looks fine.

If you want to examine boot issues, try:

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systemd-analyze
systemd-analyze critical-chain

and maybe see if there are any meaningful boot errors:

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journalctl -kb -p3

[AndyMH]

While trying to solve the slow boot problem I did something as root and now I see an error when I run fstab

What is the error?

I can see that you have used disks to automount two other partitions on sda, it creates messy entries (one reason I avoid using it).

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/dev/disk/by-uuid/cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493 /mnt/cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=Timeshift 0 0

This looks like an ext4 partition that you are using for timeshift. Mount point is not user friendly and a lot of unnecessary options. Suggest you create a folder /mnt/timeshift (or whatever you want and wherever you want in the filesystem, e.g. /media/backup). You will need to do this as root. Change your fstab line to

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UUID=cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493   /mnt/timeshift   ext4   defaults    0    2

If you want read/write access to that partition you will need to (in a terminal with the partition mounted):

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sudo chown $USER:$USER /mnt/timeshift

to change ownership to you.

NOTE - if this partition is used only for timeshift you should not need to do the above, timeshift will automatically mount the partition at /run/timeshift/backup when you take a snapshot. It ignores the existing mount point and insists on using its own. It also does not umount the partition from /run/timeshift/backup when it is finished, it leaves it mounted.

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/dev/disk/by-uuid/044A9912146FBCA4 /mnt/044A9912146FBCA4 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=DATA 0 0

This is an ntfs partition, again the mountpoint is not user friendly. Same comments as above, create a folder where you want to mount it, e.g. /mnt/data and change the fstab entry to:

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UUID=044A9912146FBCA4 /mnt/data   ntfs   defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000    0    2

ntfs does not support linux file permissions so uid=1000,gid=1000 is faking it (assigning user and group ownership to you).

[Flemur]

AN ntfs partition could use some other settings, too.

Line in /etc/fstab file, broken into 3 lines so easy to see:

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LABEL=BU_NTFS  /mnt/BU_NTFS  ntfs 
defaults,noauto,noatime,windows_names,user,rw,utf8,
umask=007,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 1

Using a LABEL helps you keep tracks of partitions and it'll auto-mount to something like /media/LABEL
noauto=don't automatically mount this backup partition at boot; mount it when I say to.
noatime=don't record the access time of each file, that causes more wear; it still records the modification time.

windows_names=don't use characters in filenames which windows can't deal with; you probably need this if you're going to have Windows access this partition.

[playon51]

Hi, thanks much, I have done as you suggested and now have r+w permissions on the two partitions.

BUT -- the partitions now do not show up in the file manager (nemo), even though they are mounted. I have a temporary workaround adding them to "favorites" but it's not a great solution.

While trying to solve the slow boot problem I did something as root and now I see an error when I run fstab

What is the error?

I can see that you have used disks to automount two other partitions on sda, it creates messy entries (one reason I avoid using it).

Code: Select all

/dev/disk/by-uuid/cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493 /mnt/cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=Timeshift 0 0

This looks like an ext4 partition that you are using for timeshift. Mount point is not user friendly and a lot of unnecessary options. Suggest you create a folder /mnt/timeshift (or whatever you want and wherever you want in the filesystem, e.g. /media/backup). You will need to do this as root. Change your fstab line to

Code: Select all

UUID=cc61bb9b-a489-4510-a0a6-c46915ab1493   /mnt/timeshift   ext4   defaults    0    2

If you want read/write access to that partition you will need to (in a terminal with the partition mounted):

Code: Select all

sudo chown $USER:$USER /mnt/timeshift

to change ownership to you.

NOTE - if this partition is used only for timeshift you should not need to do the above, timeshift will automatically mount the partition at /run/timeshift/backup when you take a snapshot. It ignores the existing mount point and insists on using its own. It also does not umount the partition from /run/timeshift/backup when it is finished, it leaves it mounted.

Code: Select all

/dev/disk/by-uuid/044A9912146FBCA4 /mnt/044A9912146FBCA4 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=DATA 0 0

This is an ntfs partition, again the mountpoint is not user friendly. Same comments as above, create a folder where you want to mount it, e.g. /mnt/data and change the fstab entry to:

Code: Select all

UUID=044A9912146FBCA4 /mnt/data   ntfs   defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000    0    2

ntfs does not support linux file permissions so uid=1000,gid=1000 is faking it (assigning user and group ownership to you).

[AndyMH]

BUT -- the partitions now do not show up in the file manager (nemo), even though they are mounted.

Because you are mounting them in /mnt. If you move the mount point into /media I think they will show up in nemo's device pane. I would suggest avoiding /media/you as it might cause conflicts with udisks - just in case. So instead of /mnt/data use /media/data. As before, the folder needs to exist and be owned by you for read/write access.

LABEL or UUID in fstab? Both are equally valid. I prefer the UUID simply because it is more difficult to change. It is relatively simple to change the label, do that = error when fstab is read. There is one good use case for labels. If you have a number of backup drives that you rotate through the system, i.e. unplug/remove backup drive, take off-site, replace with next backup drive, then using LABEL makes sense - use the same label on all your backup drives.

[playon51]

That worked, thanks to all on this thread.