mounting external usb drives

[Bill Davidsen]

Gerhard Magnus wrote:
> The setup I had for my 2 external usb hard drives that worked in FC8
> seems to be restricting use of these drives to root in FC9.
> 
> I added the directories /mnt/usb_232GB and /mnt/usb_93B and altered the
> fstab to include these lines:
> 
> /dev/sdd1               /mnt/usb_232GB          auto    user,auto   0 0
> /dev/sde1               /mnt/usb_93GB           auto    user,auto   0 0
> 
> Both drives have been formatted as ext3. I can access both but can't
> write to them except as root. How can I make them write-accessible to
> all users?
> 
You have to set the permissions *after* the USB is mounted, then change 
the directory mode to 777, or for some tiny bit of sanity 1777:
   chmod 1777 /mnt/usb_93GB

Now, having given you that, I *strongly* suggest that you change fstab 
to use the UUID of the filesystem. That makes it work if you only plug 
in one, if you plug them in the wrong ports, if FC10 probes the USB bus 
ass-backwards from FC9, or other ways you can shoot yourself in the foot.

Redhat 8 (or maybe 9) would occasionally install on a system with two 
SCSI controllers and probe them in one order for install and the other 
for runtime boot, which changes all the device names. It took me two 
hours to find and fix that, in the "pre-UUID" days. Late on a Friday. 
With a 131 mile drive to get home. With something as easy to change as 
pluggable devices, I suggest you avoid this learning experience.

> Thanks for the help!  --Jerry
> 
> 


-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot