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Mounting: Make Filesystems Accessible

Mounting attaches filesystems to the directory tree. Without mounting, you can't access the filesystem.

Here's the thing: Mounting is how you access storage. Learn it. Use it.

Basic Mounting​

mount: Attach Filesystem​

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/data
sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt/data

The format: mount device mountpoint

My take: Mounting is simple. Device to mount point. That's it.

umount: Detach Filesystem​

sudo umount /mnt/data            # By mount point
sudo umount /dev/sda1            # By device

My take: Unmounting detaches. Do it before removing devices.

Mount Options​

# Read-only
sudo mount -o ro /dev/sda1 /mnt/data

# Read-write
sudo mount -o rw /dev/sda1 /mnt/data

# No access time (performance)
sudo mount -o noatime /dev/sda1 /mnt/data

My take: Options control how filesystem is mounted. Use them when needed.

Automatic Mounting​

/etc/fstab: Filesystem Table​

# Edit fstab
sudo vim /etc/fstab

# Format: device mountpoint filesystem options dump pass
/dev/sda1 /mnt/data ext4 defaults 0 2

My take: /etc/fstab mounts filesystems at boot. Use it for permanent mounts.

Mount All​

sudo mount -a                     # Mount all in fstab

My take: mount -a mounts everything in fstab. Useful after editing.

Common Patterns​

Mount USB Drive​

# Find device
lsblk

# Mount
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

# Use it
cd /mnt/usb

# Unmount when done
sudo umount /mnt/usb

Permanent Mount​

# Add to /etc/fstab
UUID=xxx /mnt/data ext4 defaults 0 2

# Test
sudo mount -a

My take: Use UUIDs in fstab. More reliable than device names.

Common Mistakes (I've Made These)​

  1. Mounting to non-empty directory: Mount point should be empty. Or use files that won't conflict.

  2. Not unmounting: Unmount before removing devices. Prevents data loss.

  3. Wrong device: Double-check device name. Mounting wrong device is bad.

  4. Mount point doesn't exist: Create mount point first. mkdir -p /mnt/data

  5. Forgetting fstab syntax: fstab syntax is strict. One mistake breaks boot.

Real-World Examples​

Mount New Disk​

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data

# Mount
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data

# Add to fstab for permanent
echo "/dev/sdb1 /mnt/data ext4 defaults 0 2" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Check Mounts​

mount                             # All mounts
df -h                             # Mounted filesystems

What's Next?​

Now that you can mount filesystems, you can access storage. Or learn about LVM for flexible storage management.

Personal note: When I started, I'd forget to unmount. Then I'd get errors. Now I always unmount. It's a habit. Mount. Use. Unmount. Simple.