Can't see second hard drive

[WilliamS]

I installed mdk 9.1 with the second drive unplugged, then made the linux drive hda and wrote the boot code into /etc/lilo.config

It works well, can boot into windows98, but I'd like to see into it.

Its not listed in /etc/fstab.

 

How can I get mdk to see it, and then put an icon on the desktop to open it?

 

 

Beware, very newby :?

[VeeDubb]

Easy way:

1. Open up the Mandrake control center

2. Click mount points

3. click "hard drives"

4. click the tab for you second drive, (porbably hdb) and use the tools there to select the mount point.

5. click done, and be sure you don't tell it to format anything, unless you want to.

 

 

Right way: (easier if you know what he heck you're doing)

 

1. from terminal, cd to /etc/

2. vi fstab

3. make all the apprepriate changes to your fstab acourding to what block device your harddrive is and what options you want.

4. press 'esc' key

5 enter :wq and press enter

[VeeDubb]

Oh, and once you get it where recognized, you have two oprions for how to get a link on your desktop.

 

easyway: browse to /mnt/ and drag the mount point folder for your hard drive (probably /mnt/hdb1) to you desktop and inthe menu that pops up, select "link here"

 

 

Right way. right click on the desktop, select "new" then harddisk. in the last tab, select the appropriate device and set your permissions. Depending on how youhave your permissions set, you may need to be root to set the permissions the way you want them. If you want, though it's a bad idea to log in as root ever, you 'can' log into X as root at boot up and browse to /home/'you'/Desktop and create it the same way as root, then for sure you can set the permissions however you want them. of course, logging in as root can be dangerous if your not carefull, and many people will tell you to NEVER do it. I'll tell you not to do it unless you are prepared for the consequences of doing the wrong thing and fubar-ing your system.

[WilliamS]

4. click the tab for you second drive, (porbably hdb) and use the tools there to select the mount point.

 

 

Erm, I have little understanding of what a mount point is, and dare not experiment with that page.

Could you explain what to do at greater length?

[pmpatrick]

Partitions in linux are accessed through mount points. A mount point is a directory, nothing more, nothing less. When you click on the mount point directory in konqueror you will see all the files and directories in the partition displayed there. You probably have a mount point for windows but you just didn't know it. Mandrake install sets all this up automatically for you. In konqueror, navigate to /mnt and see what directories are listed there. You'll probably see ones named floppy and cdrom. These are the mount points for your floppy drive and cdrom. These devices are also accessed through mount points just like partitions. If you want to see the contents of a mounted cdrom or floppy, clicking on /mnt/floppy or /mnt/cdrom will display the contents.

 

Now I'll bet you that you also have a directory in /mnt called win_c or windows or something like that.. If you click on that directory you should see the contents of your windows partition. Try it and see. If it's there and it works, post back and I'll show you how to make a desktop icon for easy access. If it's not there, it's very easy to set up and we can walk you through it step by step.

[Cannonfodder]

I bet he doesn't because he disconnected his drive during install time.

 

Another way to look at a mount point is like this. In windows, you can define 2 partitions. They will show up as C: and D: right?

 

In linux, you have a file system. The file system starts with the / root partition (main linux partition). Typing

 

cd /

 

takes you to the top of the file system.

 

If you define a second partition, you can mount it anywhere you want. The information on this is listed in the /etc/fstab file. So if I make a folder called

 

/mnt/secondpartition

 

and type into /etc/fstab the info on the partition and where to mount it, it will mount it there. So I can type

 

cd /mnt/secondpartition

 

and view my files.

 

My point is that in linux, you have one big tree, and you can define where a partition joins that tree by mounting it at some point in the tree.

 

Let's say I didn't mount it. If I went to

 

cd /mnt/secondpartition

 

I would have no files listed. It would just be another folder.

 

The best way to work with the fstab file is to learn to manage it manually with a text editor. Here is my fstab file..

 

# Linux partitions

/dev/hdc7 / reiserfs notail 1 1

/dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0

/dev/hdc8 /usr reiserfs notail 1 2

/dev/hdc9 /home reiserfs notail 1 2

/dev/hdc10 /share reiserfs notail 1 2



# CD/DVD

none /mnt/cdrom supermount dev=/dev/hdb,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0

none /mnt/cdrom2 supermount dev=/dev/scd0,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0

none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850 0 0



# HDA FAT32 partitions

/dev/hda5  /mnt/software vfat user,uid=501,gid=501,exec,umask=0,codepage=850,iocharset=iso8859-1 0 0 

/dev/hda6  /mnt/media ntfs defaults,umask=0 0 0





# HDC FAT32 partitions

/dev/hdc5  /mnt/wintemp vfat user,uid=501,gid=501,exec,umask=0,codepage=850,iocharset=iso8859-1 0 0 

/dev/hdc6 /mnt/winrip vfat user,uid=501,gid=501,exec,umask=0,codepage=850,iocharset=iso8859-1 0 0 

/dev/hdc11 /mnt/win2k vfat user,uid=501,gid=501,exec,umask=0,codepage=850,iocharset=iso8859-1 0 0 



# Some dev

none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0

none /proc proc defaults 0 0

 

Notice that the lines beginning with a # are comments. Also, any line that has vfat in it, is a windows FAT32 partition.

 

/dev/hdc11 /mnt/win2k vfat user,uid=501,gid=501,exec,umask=0,codepage=850,iocharset=iso8859-1 0 0

 

all the entries are the same, they have

 

device name (/dev/hdc11)

mount point (/mnt/win2k)

file system type (vfat = fat32)

additional parameters

 

So, if you edit your /etc/fstab file, you can add an entry for your windows partition. If it is FAT32, it is vfat. If it is NTFS, it will be read only.

 

Do some googling and searching on this board for the correct entry..

 

To get the device type, you can run diskdrake (su to root first) and locate your windows partition.

[pmpatrick]

Oops Cannonfodder is right. if the windows drive wasn't connected during the install there will be no mount point for it in /mnt. Just make one by opening a console and running:

 

$ su

<enter password>

# mkdir /mnt/windows

 

The "su" command is used to give you root privileges(super user) which is necessary to write to /mnt. The "mkdir" is used to create a directory called windows in /mnt. That will serve as your mount point.

You need to know the linux name for your windows partition in order to mount it though. Just look in Mandrake Control Center>Mount points> Diskdrake like cannonfodder said. Each hard drive has a tab where its partitions are graphically displayed. Your windows drive is probably hdb and the partition name is probably hdb1 but check it out first and post back if you're not sure where to go next.

 

Once you have the partition name, you can manually mount it to test everything out and without editing fstab. Assuming it is a FAT32 partiton and the partition name is hdb1 you would run the following command as root to do so:

 

# mount -t vfat /dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows

 

If successful, clicking on /mnt/windows in konqueror will reveal the contents of your windows partition. If you get this far, the next thing to do is edit /etc/fstab per cannonfodder's suggestion so that the windows partition is automatically mounted everytime you boot.

[Daveleh]

I installed mdk 9.1 with the second drive unplugged, then made the linux drive hda and wrote the boot code into /etc/lilo.config

It works well, can boot into windows98, but I'd like to see into it.

Its not listed in /etc/fstab.

 

How can I get mdk to see it, and then put an icon on the desktop to  open it?

 

 

Beware, very newby  :?

 

I had a similar problem when I installed 9.1. :(

 

I have two HDs, hda is a 40 Gb drive and was split into the following partitions: Windows, /, /boot, /usr and /home and hdb is a 13Gb drive and was mounted whole as /data which contained all the RPMs and tar files that I had downloaded and installed whilst using 9.0.

 

Before I installed 9.1 I wanted to backup information so instead of copying the files to Cd, as was my oriignal plan, I copied the contents of /usr /opt and /home into a folder on /data called backup.

 

When I installed 9.1 I wanted to get rid of the Windows partition so I selected the 'use entire drive' option but was suprised when I was only offered hda. I went along with this anyway and recreated the partitions above, however when I finally booted into 9.1 hdb was nowhere to be found, not even in MCC under mount points.

 

So I tried the install again, this time choosing the 'use existing partitions' option and this time both hda and hdb were identified. I chose hda and selected all the partitions for reformatting and then carried on with the install. Now once it had finished I could see both drives as normal, unfortunately when I went to copy back the files from /data/backup not only could I not find /data/backup but I couldn.t find any data on the drive at all. As far as I could tell the entire drive was empty.

 

At this point I could have reinstalled 9.0 from a mondo backup I had made prior to installing 9.1 but I decided to just start reinstalling software as I needed it instead.

 

Anyone else come across anything like this?

[WilliamS]

Here is where I've got to so far:

Created a mountpoint, and when I click on /mnt/windows I see a file named tmp, which has the keyhole. Useless.

But as superuser, it shows the contents of hdb. Yay

Here is what I see in /etc/fstab

 

/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1

none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0

/dev/hda6 /home ext3 defaults 1 2

none /mnt/cdrom supermount dev=/dev/hdc,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

none /mnt/cdrom2 supermount dev=/dev/scd0,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

/dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows vfat defaults 0 0

none /proc proc defaults 0 0

/dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0

 

 

Tried putting icon on desktop, but it only shows "tmp" when clicked, so no good.

 

I'm guessing that this might be something to do with Permissions, or Ownership; in Properties for windows I see Permissions has User checked for all three "Show Entries" "Write Entries" and "Enter", while only "Show Entries" is checked for Group and Others.

Ownership is User:root , Group:root.

 

So my question now is: Is it possible to put a windows icon on the desktop that needs only be clicked to show the contents of windows?

[pmpatrick]

Good work . Your almost there. Edit your windows line like so:

 

/dev/hb1 /mnt/windows vfat iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

 

That will reset the permissions for access to the windows partition so ordinary users will have read/write access. Reboot and the new entry will take effect.

[Cannonfodder]

When I installed 9.1 I wanted to get rid of the Windows partition so I selected the 'use entire drive' option but was suprised when I was only offered hda. I went along with this anyway and recreated the partitions above' date=' however when I finally booted into 9.1 hdb was nowhere to be found, not even in MCC under mount points.

[/quote

 

Daveleh, you should of selected custom partitioning. This would have allowed you to "clear" the entire drive if you wanted to or setup/select where each linux partition woudl go. Otherwise, you are asking a piece of software to read your mind and figure out your issue..

 

So I tried the install again, this time choosing the 'use existing partitions' option and this time both hda and hdb were identified. I chose hda and selected all the partitions for reformatting and then carried on with the install. Now once it had finished I could see both drives as normal, unfortunately when I went to copy back the files from /data/backup not only could I not find /data/backup but I couldn.t find any data on the drive at all. As far as I could tell the entire drive was empty.

 

First confirm that your /data partition still exists. Open a console, su to root, and type diskdrake and look at your second drive.

 

Next, attempt to manually mount your /data partition

 

mount -t auto /dev/hdb /mnt/data

 

I'm not sure of the file system which is why I said -t auto. if it is a fat32, then use -t vfat or ext2 or ext3 based on what it is.

 

Remember that if a mount is not successful, then the folder is still there but is simply left empty. If the mount works, then the partition is attached to the folder and will show the files/folders on the partition from that point on.

 

Eventually, you will need to edit your /etc/fstab file and check the entry for the /data partition. Is it correct and the correct mount point and file system type?

[Daveleh]

 

I think I explained myself wrong :wink:

 

Everything is fine now, both HDs are visble in the file tree and hdb is mounted and works.

 

The problem was that when I tried to install 9.1 the first time using the 'use entire disk' option, in exactly the same way that I'd installed 9.0 a couple of times, hdb was completely invisible to the system. I even tried mount /mnt/hdb in a shell and recieved an error saying /mnt/hdb didn't exist.

 

Then the second time when I tried using the 'use existing partitions' option, again as I have done with 9.0 before, hdb was identified and mounted but there was nothing on it. Even MCC reported it as a 13Gb ext3 partition mounted as /data but as I say nothing was visible either in Konqueror or going into a shell, cd'ing to /data and typing ls.

 

It was just strange that's all. :?

 

But never mind it's all working now that's the main thing.

 

Also one other thing, not related to this thread, I have Mplayer installed along with the usual libdvdread, libdvdcss etc and can watch dvd's ok but whenever I try to install an Ogle rpm, any Ogle rpm, I get the error message that Ogle needs libdvdcss and the install aborts. As I say, libdvdcss is installed cos mplayer can see it and also it's reported if I type locate libdvd in a shell. Another strange one :?

 

Thanks for replying

[Daveleh]

 

I think I explained myself wrong :wink:

 

Everything is fine now, both HDs are visble in the file tree and hdb is mounted and works.

 

The problem was that when I tried to install 9.1 the first time using the 'use entire disk' option, in exactly the same way that I'd installed 9.0 a couple of times, hdb was completely invisible to the system. I even tried mount /mnt/hdb in a shell and recieved an error saying /mnt/hdb didn't exist.

 

Then the second time when I tried using the 'use existing partitions' option, again as I have done with 9.0 before, hdb was identified and mounted but there was nothing on it. Even MCC reported it as a 13Gb ext3 partition mounted as /data but as I say nothing was visible either in Konqueror or going into a shell, cd'ing to /data and typing ls.

 

It was just strange that's all. :?

 

But never mind it's all working now that's the main thing.

 

Also one other thing, not related to this thread, I have Mplayer installed along with the usual libdvdread, libdvdcss etc and can watch dvd's ok but whenever I try to install an Ogle rpm, any Ogle rpm, I get the error message that Ogle needs libdvdcss and the install aborts. As I say, libdvdcss is installed cos mplayer can see it and also it's reported if I type locate libdvd in a shell. Another strange one :?

 

Thanks for replying

[WilliamS]

It works!

 

Thanks to all.

Another step on the learning curve, next is to try to get sound from this machine. (I have sb llive and also onboard sound )

[tyme]

disable the onboard sound in your BIOS.