How to change UUID to a human-readable name?

[Moonraker]

As in the title, how to change a UUID to a human-readable name?

For example, the disk has a label of "1TBSPSSD", and when Mint auto-mounts it, it appears on the desktop as "1TBSPSSD" (which is fine).

However, when using an application to browse, the drive appears in the list of drives as something like "c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f".

That's a mount point shown under /mnt/, but also under /mnt/ is an entry that's listed as "1TBSPSSD".

In the Disks utility, I changed the "Identify" field to "LABEL=1TBSPSSD" (which was one of the selections in the dropdown list).

So, my question is, how do I change the mount point or UUID so applications see it as "1TBSPSSD"?

[Moonstone Man]

... how do I change the mount point or UUID so applications see it as "1TBSPSSD"?

If the drive is always mounted, you can create an fstab entry for it and mount it to a suitably named mount point.

If the drive is not always mounted then you're in luck because the UUID, which applies to partitions, can be anything you like. It's normally a long hex string to make it pretty much unique on the planet. To change it you will need to identify how the drive and its partition has been designated by the kernel. Possibly /dev/sda1 or /dev/sdb1. In the example below, I use /dev/sdb1, you will need to change it for your drive:

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sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sdb1
sudo tune2fs /dev/sdb1 -U 1TBSPSSD

The first command makes sure there are no errors on the drive. The second command changes the UUID to 1TBSPSSD.

You can use lsblk -f to correctly identify the drive.

[Moonraker]

Thank you, I'll give this a go tonight.

I set the drive to automatically mount, I'm not sure if that changes things or not, but I'll have a look at fstab and see if I can figure it out.

... how do I change the mount point or UUID so applications see it as "1TBSPSSD"?

If the drive is always mounted, you can create an fstab entry for it and mount it to a suitably named mount point.

If the drive is not always mounted then you're in luck because the UUID, which applies to partitions, can be anything you like. It's normally a long hex string to make it pretty much unique on the planet. To change it you will need to identify how the drive and its partition has been designated by the kernel. Possibly /dev/sda1 or /dev/sdb1. In the example below, I use /dev/sdb1, you will need to change it for your drive:

Code: Select all

sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sdb1
sudo tune2fs /dev/sdb1 -U 1TBSPSSD

The first command makes sure there are no errors on the drive. The second command changes the UUID to 1TBSPSSD.

You can use lsblk -f to correctly identify the drive.

[Moonstone Man]

I'll have a look at fstab and see if I can figure it out.

We can figure that out for you. Just post the output of lsblk -f and cat /etc/fstab. Just make sure your console is wide enough to display all the text then copy/paste it back here, then wrap it in code tags.

[code]output.here[/code]

You'll see the code tags icon </> when you reply. 5th icon from the left.

[ricardogroetaers]

For example, the disk has a label of "1TBSPSSD", and when Mint auto-mounts it, it appears on the desktop as "1TBSPSSD" (which is fine).
However, when using an application to browse, the drive appears in the list of drives as something like "c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f".

"1TBSPSSD" -> this looks like the model of the disc produced by the respective manufacturer. Is that so?

"c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f" -> this is the UUID (Universal Unique Identifier) ​​of the volume (file system or formatted partition) on the disk media (probably of type ext2, 3 or 4).

Do not confuse one thing (disk, physical drive) with the other (volume, file system, formatted partition).

There are, according to your text (which I did not transcribe here), 2 folders in "/mnt/" that can be used as a mount point for the aforementioned volume. Are they:
/mnt/1TBSPSSD/
/mnt/c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f/
Whether these folders are in fact used as a mount point is unknown.

If you gave the volume a name (label), even if, coincidentally, the label is the same as the disk model, the volume will be mounted automatically in:
/media/yourusername/1TBSPSSD/
The folder "/mnt/ 1TBSPSSD/", although it exists will not be used, unless you determine in fstab that it is so.
The program "Disks" writes in fstab.

If you have not labeled the volume, the instruction to mount the volume on a label that does not exist is absurd.
The system will use the volume UUID and the volume will be mounted automatically on:
/media/yourusername/c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f/.
The folder "/mnt/c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f/", although it exists will not be used, unless you determine in fstab that it is so.

Please check with the program "Disks" or with "Gparted" if the volume has a label and, if so, what the label is. If not, assign a label (if you want to invoke the assembly, automatic or at your command in fstab, by the label).

An important point is:
Is the drive (disk) fixed (permanently connected to the computer) or removable (inserted by the user)?
It is not recommended to invoke fstab to mount removable media.

[Moonraker]

"1TBSPSSD" -> this looks like the model of the disc produced by the respective manufacturer. Is that so?

No, this is the name (label) I gave it. It's a 1Tb Silicon Power SSD, hence the name. It's not a removable drive, it's permanently mounted.

The other 1Tb drive is the boot drive, named "1TBSSD" because it's a 1Tb SSD (creative, I know, lol)
I named the "1TBSPSSD" drive that way just to help me distinguish it from the 1Tb boot drive.

There are, according to your text (which I did not transcribe here), 2 folders in "/mnt/" that can be used as a mount point for the aforementioned volume. Are they:
/mnt/1TBSPSSD/
/mnt/c1738260-a155-2ed4-3bd5e3d04f/
Whether these folders are in fact used as a mount point is unknown.

I've posted some pictures below that I hope will help. The "2TBData" is no longer in the PC (it was replaced by the "1TBSPSSD" drive). I'm not sure how to remove the "2TBData" entry- can I just delete it, or edit fstab, or...? The 2TBData drive doesn't appear in the Disks utility (and it shouldn't, since it's gone now).

This shows the entries under '/mnt'
.

The Disks utility showing the 1TBSPSSD" drive.
.

Same as preceding image, but a different screen in the Disks util.

To answer some of your questions,

1) The "1TBSPSSD" drive is mounted permanently (set to mount on startup).
2) I used the Disks utility to set it to auto-mount.
3) I used the Disks utility to set the label to "1TBSPSSD".
4) The "2TBData" drive no longer exists- I removed it and replaced it with the "1TBSPSSD" drive.

My goal is to clean all this up and end up with just 3 entries in /mnt or fstab:
1TBSSD (my boot drive)
1TBSPSSD (extra storage)
NASBackup (my network-connected storage drive)

I'm sure someone who knew what they were doing could correct all this in a couple of minutes, but I'm still learning Linux diskology and I *really* don't want to bork my system just because I thought I knew what I was doing. Not that I've ever done that before...

[vanadium]

It will be better to *label" the volume instead. If your partition has a volume label, that will be used instead of the UUID as the mount point when you connect the drive.

[Moonraker]

It will be better to *label" the volume instead. If your partition has a volume label, that will be used instead of the UUID as the mount point when you connect the drive.

Isn't that what the 2nd image above shows?

The "Identify as" field has "LABEL=1TBSPSSD" in it, or did I misunderstand?

The label is 1TBSPSSD and there's a mount point named 1TBSPSSD as well. When the drive auto-mounts at boot, it appears on the desktop as "1TBSPSSD", but some apps (like Filezilla, notably) don't see it. All it sees is the UUID. Celluloid also doesn't see 1TBSPSSD either.

[mikeflan]

but some apps (like Filezilla, notably) don't see it.

I'm not sure that is a problem. My FZ does not work well with any drive other than my OS boot drive.

If you feel like it post the terminal output to these commands:
lsblk -f
cat /etc/fstab

[Moonraker]

If you feel like it post the terminal output to these commands:
lsblk -f
cat /etc/fstab

Here's the output:

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lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL  UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                                      
├─sda1 vfat          0322-0C42                             503.2M     2% /boot/efi
└─sda2 ext4          0609e79f-808e-4b09-bddc-b909034a1ac2    844G     3% /
sdb                                                                      
└─sdb1 ext4   1TBSSD c1737260-a156-451e-8ed4-3bd5e0e3d07f  644.7G    26% /mnt/1TBSSD
sr0                 

...and:

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 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=0609e79f-808e-4b09-bddc-b909034a1ac2 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=0322-0C42  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
/swapfile                                 none            swap    sw              0       0
//nas326.local/backup /mnt/NASBackup cifs guest,uid=1000,nounix,noauto,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.idle-timeout=30 0 0

LABEL=2TBData /mnt/2TBData auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
LABEL=1TBSPSSD /mnt/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
LABEL=1TBSSD /mnt/1TBSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 0

[ricardogroetaers]

Blimey! What a confusion!
Consider that I don't know the English language.
The translation is done by Google Translate.
I will try to explain the problem in the best possible way, the solution is up to you since I don't have your computer in hand.

Look at this figure:


- The file system (volume), not to be confused with the drive (disk), is identified by its label (LABEL=1TBSSD).
- The mount point designated by you is:
/mnt/1TBSSD
Compare with the output of the command (lsblk -f):

Code: Select all

lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL  UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
sdb                                                                      
└─sdb1 ext4   1TBSSD c1737260-a156-451e-8ed4-3bd5e0e3d07f  644.7G    26% /mnt/1TBSSD

- But, you have determined that it appears in the user interface as "1TBSPSSD" (Display Name).
What generated the entry in fstab:
x-gvfs-name = 1TBSPSSD
- This way the volume can appear on the Desktop with that name (1TBSPSSD) or the File Manager will show a shortcut with that name for it.
But the target (of the shortcut or icon) will be the folder "/mnt/1TBSSD" since it is in this folder that the volume (file system) was mounted according to instructions in fstab. And it is in this folder that its contents are seen.
- Programs, for example Filezilla (ftp client), Celluloid (multimedia player) and file managers (different from the original and integrated into your desktop) will not recognize the nickname (1TBSPSSD) you gave to a shortcut to a location (/mnt/1TBSSD) where the volume is mounted and therefore accessible.

(continued in the next post)

[ricardogroetaers]

"1TBSPSSD" -> this looks like the model of the disc produced by the respective manufacturer. Is that so?

No, this is the name (label) I gave it. It's a 1Tb Silicon Power SSD, hence the name. It's not a removable drive, it's permanently mounted.

Sorry, you are confusing concepts.
You did not give this label (1TBSPSSD) to the volume in question.
The label for this volume is "1TBSSD".
Observe the figure for the Disks program and the command output (lsblk -f).

1TBSPSSD is the name you assigned it to appear in the user interface. This has nothing to do with the label. The volume might not even have a label but it would appear in the user interface with that name (or whatever you choose).
Do not confuse things, please see my previous post.

Attention, also do not confuse:
-Disk -> physical drive
-Media -> medium (magnetic, optical, flash) existing in the unit, in which data is recorded
-Partition -> defined and limited media region. It can occupy all the space available on the media or part of it.
-Volume or file system -> usually refers to a formatted partition. A partition that has not been formatted does not have a file system (volume). There may be a file system (volume) directly on the media, without a partition (let's stop here).

Note: What is mounted, what is navigated is a file system (volume).
Mounting a disk drive, mounting a partition is a force of expression, a popular language (in several countries), it has no meaning in the exact sense.

[ricardogroetaers]

4) The "2TBData" drive no longer exists- I removed it and replaced it with the "1TBSPSSD" drive.

My goal is to clean all this up and end up with just 3 entries in /mnt or fstab:
5) 1TBSSD (my boot drive)
6) 1TBSPSSD (extra storage)
7) NASBackup (my network-connected storage drive)

5) Impossible, that I know of.
This is the root partition (mounted on "/"), changing its display name in the user interface or any other change may result in a malfunction of the system. I wouldn't risk it.

7) It is already done.

6) As for the display name on the user interface, this is already done. The problem is that this display name is different from the volume label and the name of the mount point (which creates confusion).

You can change the label for this volume from 1TBSSD to 1TBSPSSD (or simply delete the label) using the Disks program.
- Umount the volume
-Click on the 2 gears under the volume chart -> Edit file system.
-Change the label

It is recommended, to stay coherent, also change the mount point to:
/mnt/1TBSPSSD
Pay attention to upper and lower case letters.
In my humble opinion, considering the Linux Mint standard, I would designate the mount point:
/media/yourusername/1TBSPSSD

In this way you must delete these lines in fstab:

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LABEL=2TBData /mnt/2TBData auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
LABEL=1TBSPSSD /mnt/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0

And replace this line:

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LABEL=1TBSSD /mnt/1TBSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 0

For this:

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LABEL=1TBSPSSD /mnt/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 2

Or in my humble opinion, for this:

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UUID=c1737260-a156-451e-8ed4-3bd5e0e3d07f /media/yourusername/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 2

Note:
I don't know your username. Replace your username above with the correct one (login name, with lowercase letters).

I kept the parameters in the <options> column that you used because I assume they are working well.
Unfortunately I lost the simplified parameters that I used because my HD, where I kept them, burned and I don't remember them from memory.

[AndyMH]

No, this is the name (label) I gave it. It's a 1Tb Silicon Power SSD, hence the name. It's not a removable drive, it's permanently mounted.

Personally I would simply add it to fstab mounting it wherever I wanted in whatever folder I wanted. While I think it is a good idea to label all partitions - just makes it easier to see what is what, I'm not a fan of using the label in fstab. It is too easy to change or duplicate and cause problems. I just stick with the UUID as allocated.

So not

Code: Select all

LABEL=1TBSPSSD /mnt/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 2

but this

Code: Select all

UUID=c1737260-a156-451e-8ed4-3bd5e0e3d07f /media/yourusername/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 2

whether you need all those options? I suspect this is the mess that disks creates (why I don't use it). I just keep it simple and I always specify the filesystem instead of letting linux try and work it out, e.g. ext4 instead of auto.

Note - if you haven't already sorted it, mounting in /mnt (or anywhere else outside /media/you and /home/you), it will mount as read-only.

A simple entry for a partition on my backup hdd:

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

And an example fstab entry for a cifs mount of my NAS:

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#diskstation mounting under cifs
//diskstation.local/home/	/media/synology	cifs	credentials=/etc/samba/credentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,nofail	0	0

[Moonraker]

Errrrr....

Thank you to everyone who's responded.

I've read through all of this and even though I've learned a lot, I feel like I know less than when I started, lol.

How about this...what if I physically remove the new 1TB drive (1TBSPSSD), leaving just my boot drive (1TBSSD) in the PC, and regenerate fstab? Is that possible?

A this point the save dialog boxes in various apps show the 2TBData drive, which is no longer physically present. It doesn't appear in Files or Disks or anywhere else. It sounds like maybe I need to remove the 2TBData line in fstab but I'm hesitant to do it without knowing that it's not going to cause other issues.

Here's the current contents of fstab:

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# /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=0609e79f-808e-4b09-bddc-b909034a1ac2 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=0322-0C42  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
/swapfile                                 none            swap    sw              0       0
//nas326.local/backup /mnt/NASBackup cifs guest,uid=1000,nounix,noauto,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.idle-timeout=30 0 0

LABEL=2TBData /mnt/2TBData auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0  <<<<this is no longer *physically* present
LABEL=1TBSPSSD /mnt/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0 <<<<this physically present
LABEL=1TBSSD /mnt/1TBSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 0   <<<<this is the boot drive

So....given all that, can I edit fstab to set things back to some semblance of normality?

[vanadium]

This thread appears to be exploded for this simple problem. You cannot change the UUID to a human-readable name. You can change the label to a human readable name. If a label is defined, then the drive will be automounted on a folder with the name of the label, which you control, so there you have your human-readable name for the automounted drive. If the drive is mounted using fstab, then the name of the mount point determines how you see it in Nemo. If you mount under /media or under your home folder, such drive also will appear in the left pane of Nemo. Indeed, you also can use the 'x-gvfs-show' option to have the drive show up even when mounted elsewhere.

You can use Disks to set the label of a partition. Alternatively, use 'sudo e2label /dev/XXX "new label"' for ext4 formatted file systems, 'sudo fatlabel /dev/XXX "new label"' for FAT formatted partitions, and `ntfslabel /dev/XXX "new label"` for ntfs formatted volumes.

[Moonraker]

This thread appears to be exploded for this simple problem. You cannot change the UUID to a human-readable name. You can change the label to a human readable name. If a label is defined, then the drive will be automounted on a folder with the name of the label

Thank you, vanadium.

I read though all the posts several times, and like I said above, I learned a lot. Your post summed everything up neatly and it was kind of what I'd gleaned from all the posts above (but I'm still a bit fuzzy on some of the finer points).

So, based on what everyone had suggested I...

Unlabeled everything with Disks, manually commented out the "2TBData" entry in fstab, and manually added a label in fstab to the drive that is the actual "1TBSPSSD". I ended up with this, and it seems to work:

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# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=0609e79f-808e-4b09-bddc-b909034a1ac2 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=0322-0C42  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
/swapfile                                 none            swap    sw              0       0
//nas326.local/backup /mnt/NASBackup cifs guest,uid=1000,nounix,noauto,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.idle-timeout=30 0 0

LABEL=1TBSPSSD /mnt/1TBSPSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
LABEL=1TBSSD /mnt/1TBSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show, 0 0
##LABEL=1TBSSD /mnt/1TBSSD auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,x-gvfs-name=1TBSPSSD 0 0
##LABEL=2TBData /mnt/2TBData auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0

I stuck the last two lines that are commented-out at the end just because I'm fussy.

In any case, it all seems to work fine, boots fine, and so on. The 1TBSPSSD autoloads when the system boots and appears on the desktop as "1TBSPSSD".

Thank you to everyone who weighed in, I genuinely appreciate the help.