Just curious what every one sets their drive settings at under "disks"?

[AZgl1800]

I only use "Disks" to look at a drive, to Eject a USB drive by "powering it OFF"

If I need to do something to a drive, I use Gparted.

[djph]

Can Gparted help me with HDD power saving modes to make it last longer or is it just to partition the drive? I'm looking at ways to help my HDD last a bit longer and stay cooler.

more fans. always more fans.

That being said, what is the drive (spinning rust or SSD), and how hot is it?

[dave1953]

As one slowly getting to grips with Linux, I find it very convenient to use Disks (gnome-disk-utility) to turn off the auto mount at startup option (blue switch at the top) then use the app to manually mount each individual drive under the volume name and in the /mnt directory. So my three internal disks are mounted as /mnt/6tb, /mnt/PCSSD and /mnt/3tb-1. I also enable write-caching as applicable. The result is that every time the computer boots up the drives are automatically mounted in the identifiable place I want them to be and with the designations I prefer. Lazy I know, but easier for an inexperienced user. I will have to learn how to achieve this the "proper" way before much longer. I leave the system/root disk & efi/boot(nvme01) to the distribution to deal with.

[djph]

As one slowly getting to grips with Linux, I find it very convenient to use Disks (gnome-disk-utility) to turn off the auto mount at startup option (blue switch at the top) then use the app to manually mount [...] I will have to learn how to achieve this the "proper" way before much longer.

Create entries in the file /etc/fstab (the filesystem table)

It's more of a "tedious" process than "difficult", but should honestly only take a few moments per drive/partition.

1. Create a backup of /etc/fstab -- sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.original
2. Get the UUID information for the extra partitions you want to mount -- sudo blkid. It'll print out something like this:

   Code: Select all

   /dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="776E-FD5E" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="29cb89d6-58b1-477f-b57a-ed76ad0e6b85"
   /dev/nvme0n1p2: UUID="dfa222f9-9a52-4545-9b82-8b05e1d941a5" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a389cea8-7a51-498a-a76a-835cc92346f1"
   /dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="7b180f86-d422-4870-bfd5-64e482098f37" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="9b45e930-c3cf-445f-80c1-86bfa71cea6b"
   /dev/sda1: LABEL_FATBOOT="boot" LABEL="boot" UUID="DC3E-E470" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="22291d21-01"
   /dev/sda2: LABEL="rootfs" UUID="a7adb26a-8b87-4729-99c8-9f5ac069d51e" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="22291d21-02"
   /dev/sdb1: LABEL_FATBOOT="Sandisk" LABEL="Sandisk" UUID="CE58-D4D6" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="ef8380d5-01"
   

3. Using your favorite text editor, add the entries to fstab. e.g. sudo nano /etc/fstab or xed admin:///etc/fstab
4. Entries follow the general format PART MOUNTPOINT FSTYPE OPTIONS DUMP PASS where:
   • "PART" is the partition identifier. UUID is the best, although you can also use /dev/sdX# format as well.
   • "MOUNTPOINT" is where the partition is going to be mounted. This must exist on the filesystem (e.g. /mnt/6t)
   • "FSTYPE" is the filesystem type -- ext4 / ntfs / exfat and so on.
   • "OPTIONS" are the mount options. For Linux-native filesystems, "defaults" is a usually all you need. For non-native filesystems ([ex]FAT, NTFS, etc.) you'll minimally need to provide uid and gid options, as they don't use linux-style permissions. NOTE -- when setting multiple options, it is a comma-separated list and MUST NOT have spaces between the options.
   • "DUMP" is for legacy support of ext2/3. Leave it zero.
   • "PASS" indicates which "pass" it'll use for boot-time FSCK (if needed). 0 = off (use for non-linux filesystems). 1=enabled, first pass (use only for the system disk). 2=enabled, second pass (use for all linux filesystems not on the main system disk).
5. Using my lsblk output for /dev/sdb1, I would have an fstab entry of either
   • /dev/sdb1 /mnt/6t ntfs defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
   • UUID=CE58-D4D6 /mnt/6t ntfs defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
6. Once all entries are created, save the file and close the editor (in nano, CTRL+X)
7. Assuming the extra partitions are currently mounted, unmount them all with sudo umount /mount/point[c] or [c]sudo umount /dev/sdX# (e.g. sudo umount /mnt/6t or sudo umount /dev/sdb1. If they're not currently mounted, just skip this step.
8. Test the fstab setup with sudo mount -a. If no errors are returned, you should be good to go when rebooting (test this too)
9. If either the mount -a or reboot test fail, then either restore the backup /etc/fstab and start over; or comment out the new lines. Check them for typos / omissions / missing mount points / etc.

[Moem]

Goodness. I have never even seen that setting, let alone changed it. I guess I have not felt a pressing need.

[dave1953]

Interesting. Thanks for demonstrating the Linux way to edit the fstab file. Always willing to learn, so found this enlightening. Thanks again

[cliffcoggin]

Goodness. I have never even seen that setting, let alone changed it. I guess I have not felt a pressing need.

You and me both. Unless there is a good reason to change default settings they are best left alone.

[Moem]

Goodness. I have never even seen that setting, let alone changed it. I guess I have not felt a pressing need.

Well if you were going to "play" around with these settings what would you set them at? Or just leave well enough alone?

The latter. It's all working fine as it is, I don't change settings until I feel a need, or have a problem to solve. Mint's defaults are generally sensible.
Plus, I have no idea what these settings mean.

[Hoser Rob]

Goodness. I have never even seen that setting, let alone changed it. I guess I have not felt a pressing need.

Well if you were going to "play" around with these settings what would you set them at? Or just leave well enough alone?

The latter. It's all working fine as it is, I don't change settings until I feel a need, or have a problem to solve. Mint's defaults are generally sensible. ...

+1. I learned a while ago that the Linux kernel developers know a hell of a lot more than I (and the vast majprity of Linux blog writers) do. It's foolish to mess with their defaults unless you have an actual problem. You'll usually just make it worse.

[AZgl1800]

I have discovered that I can truly, and I mean truly muck up a good operating system by getting "too fancy" with it.

If I need access to my Backup Partition, I just use NEMO / File System / Media / ...... and root to see what is there.

the rest of the time, Timeshift and Aptik own that Partition....

[Nikolai5]

I have 3 drives in my PC. 1 for the OS and 2 storage drives, one SSD and one spinny thing.

I used the Disk utility to set the partitions on the storage drives to auto mount at startup. Now I can have applications interact with these drives and I can use them without issue. For example, I have Steam installing and running games from one of these automounted drives.

Setting this up was a matter of clicking a couple of buttons in Disks, which for me is fantastic.

[mikeflan]

I was just wondering out of curiosity what every one sets their drive settings at under "disks" in the menu?

Where is this in Disks? Under the gear (Additional partition options)?? Maybe this is just for LM 20.X ?

[djph]

Does daves simple way not achieve the same goal as yours just wondering cause i have NO idea.

Yeah, his "simple way" is entirely manual. Sticking the partitions into /etc/fstab is (once completed) fully automatic on every reboot.

Can Gparted help me with HDD power saving modes to make it last longer or is it just to partition the drive? I'm looking at ways to help my HDD last a bit longer and stay cooler.

more fans. always more fans.

That being said, what is the drive (spinning rust or SSD), and how hot is it?

Lol spinning rust, yes mines HDD. And it usually ranges between 42C and 47C gets hotter in the summer and when im watching videos or doing something disk heavy. But im a very light user usually.

That's not very hot. If it was in the 80s or 90s, you'd have something to worry about ...

[mikeflan]

Ah, I see. For me the hamburger is in the upper right.
All 3 tabs are turned off on my LM 19.3, and I guess will remain off for now.

[dave1953]

My method is also automatic on every reboot. The instructions are written to the fstab by the utility in exactly the same manner as if I had edited the fstab myself in a text editor and inserted the commands longhand. All my method does is instructs the utility to write my preferences to the fstab which then executes those rather than the default 'automatic' implementation. It is also very quick, very simple and very effective.

[pbear]

The problem with using Disks to edit fstab (imho) is that the default parameters often are sub-optimal or even wrong. So, to use Disks correctly, one has to learn the options and which are suitable for which situations. Once you've done that, manually editing the fstab file is trivial. In other words, for me at least, Disks only helps with the easiest part of the process.

That said, xenopeek feels the Disks method is sufficiently valuable that he stickied a tutorial on it.

There are many paths through the forest.