SERVER : Adding a new hard disk.
Tuesday, 9. January 2007, 09:31:55
Next step, after I've installed the server is to add a new hard disk, in my case a 20Gb HDD.
I've partitioned the HDD into 2 partitions, one 8Gb and the other ~11Gb both Ext3. You might want to partition it as Fat32 since that's compatible both with Linux and Windows. I thought I'm going to access the hard disk only trough the server or trough SAMBA and as such it shouldn't make a difference in what kind of partition it has. Of course, I might be wrong and I might have to change that at a later date
Anyways, in order to access the new hard disks partitions, after I've rebooted the server (
I hope you dd shut down the computer before installing the HDD and didn't try to install it while the server was still running 
) i had to add the partitions to the FSTAB file, this file tells Linux what can be mounted, where and how.
So, first of all, make 2 folders where you'll mount the 2 new partitions. I made /mnt/c and /mnt/d.
This is how i've done it :
The first 2 commands (sudo mkdir) will create the folders (I ran it as root so I'm shore the 2 folders will be created).
The following 2 commands (sudo chown) will change ownership of the folders to my_use_name (that should be the user you use most often, probably the one you created when you installed the server).
The last 2 commands (sudo chmod) will change the access mode for the folder, so anybody can read/write to that folder. If more than one user use the server and you don't want to give them access to this folders then you should use 700.
Now we need to find out just under what device name did Linux install our partitions, for that you should execute
As you can see, the 20.0 Gb hdd has been installed as /dev/hdd and the 2 partitions are /dev/hdd1 and /dev/hdd5
So now lets add them to the /etc/fstab file, for that you need to execute :
You should add the following 2 lines :
As the comment says at the beginning of the file (# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>) first you have to tell what device (or partition) you want to add, where should it be mounted, the type of the partition and some other options
If the partitions are FAT32 and not EXT3 then you should add something similar to this : (VFAT is the code for FAT32)
If everything was OK, you can now mount all the devices (including the ones you've just added) with
Of course you don't have to do this each time you reboot the server since from now on the mount will auto-mount your partitions.
If you get any errors, then you have to see again if the text from /etc/fstab is correct, and also look if the partition type is correct (look at the table returned by fdisk -l)
I've partitioned the HDD into 2 partitions, one 8Gb and the other ~11Gb both Ext3. You might want to partition it as Fat32 since that's compatible both with Linux and Windows. I thought I'm going to access the hard disk only trough the server or trough SAMBA and as such it shouldn't make a difference in what kind of partition it has. Of course, I might be wrong and I might have to change that at a later date
Anyways, in order to access the new hard disks partitions, after I've rebooted the server (
I hope you dd shut down the computer before installing the HDD and didn't try to install it while the server was still running ) i had to add the partitions to the FSTAB file, this file tells Linux what can be mounted, where and how.So, first of all, make 2 folders where you'll mount the 2 new partitions. I made /mnt/c and /mnt/d.
This is how i've done it :
sudo mkdir /mnt/c sudo mkdir /mnt/d sudo chown my_user_name /mnt/c sudo chown my_user_name /mnt/d sudo chmod 777 /mnt/c sudo chmod 777 /mnt/d
The first 2 commands (sudo mkdir) will create the folders (I ran it as root so I'm shore the 2 folders will be created).
The following 2 commands (sudo chown) will change ownership of the folders to my_use_name (that should be the user you use most often, probably the one you created when you installed the server).
The last 2 commands (sudo chmod) will change the access mode for the folder, so anybody can read/write to that folder. If more than one user use the server and you don't want to give them access to this folders then you should use 700.
Now we need to find out just under what device name did Linux install our partitions, for that you should execute
fdisk -l, you should see something like this :
Disk /dev/hda: 6448 MB, 6448619520 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 784 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 * 1 747 6000246 83 Linux /dev/hda2 748 784 297202+ 5 Extended /dev/hda5 748 784 297171 82 Linux swap / Solaris Disk /dev/hdd: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2434 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hdd1 * 1 1020 8193118+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/hdd2 1021 2433 11349922+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hdd5 1021 2433 11349891 7 HPFS/NTFS
As you can see, the 20.0 Gb hdd has been installed as /dev/hdd and the 2 partitions are /dev/hdd1 and /dev/hdd5
So now lets add them to the /etc/fstab file, for that you need to execute :
sudo editor /etc/fstab.
You should add the following 2 lines :
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/c ext3 defaults 0 0 /dev/hdd5 /mnt/d ext3 defaults 0 0
As the comment says at the beginning of the file (# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>) first you have to tell what device (or partition) you want to add, where should it be mounted, the type of the partition and some other options
If the partitions are FAT32 and not EXT3 then you should add something similar to this : (VFAT is the code for FAT32)
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/c vfat defaults 0 0
If everything was OK, you can now mount all the devices (including the ones you've just added) with
sudo mount -a
Of course you don't have to do this each time you reboot the server since from now on the mount will auto-mount your partitions.If you get any errors, then you have to see again if the text from /etc/fstab is correct, and also look if the partition type is correct (look at the table returned by fdisk -l)
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