(Solved) # 2 internal HD problem on KDE 13.37 64-bit install

[globetrotterdk]

I have installed a Salix OS KDE 13.37 64-bit on my home built desktop machine the other day and am experiencing a problem with the #2 internal HD not showing up in the Dolphin side panel. I was prompted for a mount point by the installer for the #2 drive, and I have checked the /etc/fstab which seems to be OK. The drive appears to mount at the mount point /fat32 which I created during the install, however the permissions appear to be root and I can only gain access to the drive via the root folder. I assume I need to do something like chmod +x /fat32 or chown username /fat32? I don't see how this will get Dolphin to recognize the mount point /fat32 as an HD though...

[djemos]

put in /etc/fstab something like this. change it according to your partitions.

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/dev/sda2        /mnt/win7        ntfs-3g     umask=000        1   0

umask=000 give write permissions to everyone.

Also if you did not mount fat or ntfs partitions through /etc/fstab, dolphin will mount fat and ntfs partitions automatic, when click on them in dolphin.

[globetrotterdk]

put in /etc/fstab something like this. change it according to your partitions.

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/dev/sda2        /mnt/win7        ntfs-3g     umask=000        1   0

umask=000 give write permissions to everyone.

Also if you did not mount fat or ntfs partitions through /etc/fstab, dolphin will mount fat and ntfs partitions automatic, when click on them in dolphin.

Thanks for the reply. OK, here is my fstab line:

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/dev/sdb1	/fat32	vfat	   auto,umask=000	1	0

The file permissions haven't changed, they still require root access. Weird.

[mimosa]

Try commenting out the line in fstab (# at begining) and see if the filemanager will do it, as Djemos suggests. Then if you want to put the line in fstab back, first see how Dolphin did it by

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mount

This may reveal some Rumsfeldian "unknown", such as that that is the wrong drive/partition/filesystem/whatever ... you never know.

I can't see what's wrong with that line as it stands, though maybe

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umask=022

would be sufficient.

Another tack would be to throw everything at it, e.g. auto,user,rw,noexec or whatever you think you need; however I still have a hunch there's no need for "auto".

[globetrotterdk]

Cool. Dolphin mounted the HD:

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$ mount
/dev/root on / type ext4 (rw,noatime,commit=0)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
/dev/sda6 on /home type ext4 (rw,user_xattr,commit=0)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sdb1 on /media/disk type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,uid=1000,utf8,shortname=mixed,flush)

The permissions are User: user and Group: root. Is that normal? I would expect User: user and Group: users.

[djemos]

To mount a vfat partition with read-write permissions for user you have to put this line in /etc/fstab

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/dev/sdb1         /fat32        auto        noauto,users,rw,umask=00  0  0 

To mount a ntfs partition with read-write permissions put this line in /etc/fstab

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/dev/sdb1         /fat32        ntfs-3g     umask=000        1   0 

Partitions in both cases will be mounted with user:group -> root:root
If you comment the lines in /etc/fstab putting a # in front of each of them then dolphin will mount partitions in /media/something
In that case User:Group will be user:users in KDE-4.7.x or KDE-4.8.0
In KDE-4.5.5 in salix-13.37 User:Group will be user:root
So it is normal since you use salix-13.37 and KDE-4.5.5

[mimosa]

Right so fat is different from ntfs. One thing I've enver understood is the difference betwen user and users ...

This looks quite comprehensive, but still doesn't make me feel sure how to make my own at home:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fstab

[globetrotterdk]

Partitions in both cases will be mounted with user:group -> root:root
If you comment the lines in /etc/fstab putting a # in front of each of them then dolphin will mount partitions in /media/something
In that case User:Group will be user:users in KDE-4.7.x or KDE-4.8.0
In KDE-4.5.5 in salix-13.37 User:Group will be user:root
So it is normal since you use salix-13.37 and KDE-4.5.5

Thanks for the comprehensive reply

[globetrotterdk]

Right so fat is different from ntfs. One thing I've enver understood is the difference betwen user and users ...

This looks quite comprehensive, but still doesn't make me feel sure how to make my own at home:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fstab

Thanks for the link. I have looked at that as well as this rather dated explanation. The arcane science of the fstab is probably one of the contributing factors to Linux being considered difficult to use.

[mimosa]

The arcane science of the fstab is probably one of the contributing factors to Linux being considered difficult to use.

Well, I know what you mean but on the other hand, it was probably messing with fstab that first gave me a degree of confidence fiddling with config files - that and GRUB / Lilo. The ability to do so is one of the *advantages* of Linux because it gives you more control, and as these things go, fstab is actually quite straightforward. Just follow a recipe for what you need if unsure, and if it doesn't work, try another.

The complexity really lies in mounting itself, because of the power of Unix permissions. Unix was designed for multi-user systems where fine-grained control over access is essential. This is inherently somewhat complex. Even for the desktop home user, one of the benefits is very secure systems where viruses and so on aren't a significant risk; and not normally working with root privileges protects you against your own blunders.

However especially these days, you don't generally need to bother with fstab. KDE apps have their own sophisticated approach to mounting, and on the other hand, Salix in general now has Gmountman, which is robust and simple. OK, neither of those will mount an extraneous partition during boot, but that doesn't matter if you can access it straighforwardly from the file manager. Not on my system you can't though ...