fstab: what did I do wrong?

[oldgranola]

Trying to get an external RAID box to auto mount. I added a line to fastab for it but then was no longer able to boot at all. Obviously I got something wrong. Had to use my recovery/live usb to boot and then edit the fastab file back to original. Here's what I wrote:

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# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=8eea86f8-3f45-4a10-9bad-1361e2045b3d /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
/swapfile                                 none            swap    sw              0       0
UUID=cd56cea7-6cb1-41a1-9c2d-72ba1a0f2811 /mnt  ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       0

The last line was my addition.
Here's current output of blkid

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sudo blkid
[sudo] password for fun:           
/dev/sda1: UUID="12A2-E190" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="3716e8bd-7176-4c67-a62c-e1af19bc2333"
/dev/sda2: UUID="0251423c-6938-4ec5-8237-3bb7714837ab" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="4bb430c2-81c3-4c4e-ad20-bb5033cb299f"
/dev/sda3: UUID="e7ae45bc-3d3b-4ce0-a375-674ecb5059b7" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="1851f0c3-a566-480a-85e7-c119cee2ae94"
/dev/sda5: UUID="8eea86f8-3f45-4a10-9bad-1361e2045b3d" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="f8822ae1-6337-4b31-bdc1-9150f3646d0a"
/dev/sda4: PARTUUID="a446844b-cfd2-442d-9432-0caa8f188664"
/dev/sdf: LABEL="Fun RAID" UUID="cd56cea7-6cb1-41a1-9c2d-72ba1a0f2811" TYPE="ext4"

/dev/sdf is the external. LM19.1 is on sda5 Monjaro is on sda2, grub2 on sda4
What did I get wrong? Also, would wan't to have the external drive skipped if there's trouble with it. The primary drive syntax has different spacing. Does that matter?

[philotux]

what happens if you run:

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sudo mount /dev/sdf /mnt

?

[philotux]

Never mind! I guess I am in the wrong
Sorry about that!

[trytip]

use Disks to get a better understanding of automount

[AndyMH]

/mnt is an existing linux folder, you should not try to mount using it, but mount in it. /mnt is normally used for fixed drives and /media for removable drives.

Instead of:

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UUID=cd56cea7-6cb1-41a1-9c2d-72ba1a0f2811 /mnt  ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       0

try

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UUID=cd56cea7-6cb1-41a1-9c2d-72ba1a0f2811 /mnt/somethingelse  ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       0

replace somethingelse with whatever you want.

[philotux]

I added a line to fastab for it but then was no longer able to boot at all. Obviously I got something wrong. Had to use my recovery/live usb to boot and then edit the fastab file back to original.

Whenever you edit your /etc/fstab adding a line for a partition to be mounted at boot, you could try mounting it before you reboot to make sure that all is okay and the partition does get mounted correctly. You could do that by running sudo mount /dev/sdxy replacing x and y with the corresponding letter and number of the partition. If it errors out then you will know and you will find a way to correct it. No un-bootable system and no need to recourse to a live usb.

[smurphos]

No un-bootable system and no need to recourse to a live usb.

And always use the nofail parameter for an external drive so it doesn't error and prevent boot if you try and boot with the drive disconnected.

e.g

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UUID=7f5c52d4-a3ee-44b1-bbbe-230bdb1e6d13	/mnt/backup_drive	ext4	defaults,nofail  	0	0
UUID=62e134d6-6d08-4119-8b02-f3ba9edd7c96       /mnt/timeshift		ext4	defaults,nofail		0	0	

[hcentaur13]

A mountpoint is a 1:1 order. It can only represent exactly 1 partition whereas it is the logical address of the physical location.

Remember you needs a mountpoint to mount a partition on the path it should assigned to. Yes, even / is a simple mountpoint. It is the root directory of the whole logical filesystem.

[oldgranola]

You are all so helpful. Learning here, thanks