Linux Basic Administration Concepts

Manually mounting filesystems

In Linux, you can manipulate filesystem mounts in runtime. This is useful for mounting removeable storage such as CDROM and floppy. Note that you must unmount a filesystem before ejecting the removable media, or data loss will occur.

The current status of mounts is kept in /etc/mtab and /proc/mounts, and can be seen by running mount with no parameters. The format of these files is similar to /etc/fstab.

To mount a filesystem in /etc/fstab type (as root): mount mountpoint. To unmount, type umount mountpoint. For example to access the CD-ROM:

[root@localhost alon]# mount  /mnt/cdrom  # Mount the CD-ROM and lock the drive
[root@localhost alon]# ls /mnt/cdrom # List files on CD-ROM
Mandrake/
[root@localhost alon]# umount /mnt/cdrom # Unmount CD-ROM (drive unlocked)
[root@localhost alon]# eject /mnt/cdrom # Open CD-ROM tray
Valid HTML 4.01!Alon Altman