(SOLVED) How do I mount a slave hard drive?

[linuxist]

Thanks Bald Brick. I'll format as suggested then up-date you.
When the 20gb slave is up 'n' running I'll transfer docs etc onto it from the master. That will then leave just the operating system on the 10gb master. I can then decide at a later date to reinstall the operating system on larger drive if necessary. I don't seem to have a problem so far with just one 10gb drive so I tend to agree with your comment. My requirements are minimal.

[djohnston]

I would not make the 20GB hard drive the system drive. I wouldn't make it just a data drive either. I'd make it (or most of it) the home partition.

Your call. But, if you go that route, I'd put the swap partition on sdb to free up room on sda. 

[Bald Brick]

I would not make the 20GB hard drive the system drive. I wouldn't make it just a data drive either. I'd make it (or most of it) the home partition.

Your call. But, if you go that route, I'd put the swap partition on sdb to free up room on sda. 

That makes sense.

[linuxist]

So, I'm proceeding with caution! Before I do anything . . .
sda info:
8.3gb ext4
956mb swap

sdb info:
After clicking on ext4 I get the screen 'Create New Partition' (No problem)
The size of ext4 can be increased from 6397mb to 19092mb max (No problem)
Then it asks for the mount point . . . . (help!)
Please advise about the mount point, thanks
If I follow your advice what size swap would you recommend to put on sdb?
Can I then increase sda to max size for ext4 without losing any data?
Hope this makes sense.

[Bald Brick]

So, I'm proceeding with caution! Before I do anything . . .
sda info:
8.3gb ext4
956mb swap

If you want to be able to let your system go into sleep mode swap may be a bit low.

sdb info:
After clicking on ext4 I get the screen 'Create New Partition' (No problem)
The size of ext4 can be increased from 6397mb to 19092mb max (No problem)
Then it asks for the mount point . . . . (help!)
Please advise about the mount point, thanks

I'd make it /home. Just18, djohnston and Abraxas would make it "/". That's not wrong either. It depends on how you use your computer. Not even making it /home/<yourname>/Data is wrong.

Making it /mnt/data or /mnt/documents is ever so slightly wrong, and (considering standards) making it /Data is decidedly wrong -- but will work. Don't make the mountpoint /media/data or anything similar. That's not what the /media folder is intended for.

If I follow your advice what size swap would you recommend to put on sdb?

That depends on how much RAM you have, and on whether you are in the habit of putting your computer to sleep without shutting down. How much RAM do you have?

Can I then increase sda to max size for ext4 without losing any data?

Yes. But make a backup first anyway. You can usually rely on computer programs, but you should never trust them.

Hope this makes sense.

Everything you've written has made perfect sense.

[linuxist]

I have 1gb of RAM. I've just researched the formula to determine what the swap size should be. It's double the size of the RAM plus 1mb. So, because I intend to add extra RAM in the future (max would be 2gb) I'll create Swap Partition size 4gb+1mb on the slave drive.
Just for interest. . .  is it ok to have a swap partition on the primary drive and slave at the same time?
I'll follow your suggestion and mount the second drive /home/slave/data
Meanwhile. . . it's 1am in the morning... thanks & goodnight
Look forward to another post from you.

[Just17]

is it ok to have a swap partition on the primary drive and slave at the same time?

Yes .....  but .......  if the swap space is to be used for suspending the OS then it must be contiguous, so a split swap would be of little use in that case.
So  4 x 1GB swap partitions are usable by the OS, but not for suspending.

[djohnston]

One other thing, linuxist. You did not yet answer Bald Brick's question:

That depends on how much RAM you have, and on whether you are in the habit of putting your computer to sleep without shutting down.

That's a very important question in determining how much swap space will be actually needed. And, to Bald Brick and linuxist, Just18 has a valid point about the two separate swap partitions. Make a new one on sdb, large enough for the purpose, then switch to that one when the time comes. That will free up space where the (now unused) swap partition is on sda.

[linuxist]

Thanks djohnston. I have 1gb RAM (see post #20). Apologies for omission... No, I don't use sleep mode - I always shutdown.
Also, I fully intended to create only one swap partition of (just over) 4gb on sdb (not 4 separate swap partitions of 1gb). Perhaps there was a misunderstanding on that point. (See post #20 & #21)
Your comment: "Make a new one on sdb, large enough for the purpose, then switch to that one when the time comes. That will free up space where the (now unused) swap partition is on sda".
This too, was exactly my idea and the reason for asking about having swap partitions on both sda & sdb at the same time.
Many thanks

[linuxist]

Here's the progress I've made since my last post. . .
Slave drive is successfully mounted and formatted. Mounted as /home/<my user name>/Data
It is visible in the left hand pane in PCManFM.
It has the option to mount & unmount – so everything looks goood! Thanks.

However . . .
My task is to transfer word docs, pdf's, spreadsheets etc from the 'Downloads' folder on the primary drive to a named folder on the slave drive. (Eventually leaving just the operating system on the primary drive).
The error message: 'Permission denied' appears if I try to copy & paste, cut & paste, drag 'n' drop these actions.
(Of course I can perform these actions from folder to folder – i.e. 'Downloads' to 'Documents' in /home/<my user name>)

What do I need to do to transfer these files from the primary drive to the slave drive?
Maybe I should start a new Subject Message on the Forum to answer this question?
Your help & advice will be much appreciated. Thanks.

[djohnston]

Open a terminal.

su
chown -R (my user name):(my user name) /home/(my user name)/Data
chmod 755 /home/(my user name)/Data
exit

Substitute your actual user name for (my user name). Post all of the terminal output from doing the above steps.

[linuxist]

Thanks very much djohnston. I followed your instructions.
As a newbie I'm not familiar with command line entries so it took me a few attempts to get it right.
I can now successfully transfer all contents of my 'Download' Folder on the primary drive to my folder on slave drive. Brilliant. Your help is much appreciated.

Also, I'm very grateful to Bald Brick for his initial help & Just18 & Abraxas too. You really are heroes!


Just something else. . .

I would like to use floppy drive to transfer the occasional word doc to another computer.

The floppy drive is not visible in the left hand pane like the slave drive is.
Here is the info from 'Floppy Drive' in 'local disk' in 'Control Centre'
Mount point: /media/floppy
Device: fd0
Name: H1440
Type: auto
Options: umask=0,user,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[djohnston]

I would like to use floppy drive to transfer the occasional word doc to another computer.

Please start another help topic. Copy and paste what you've already posted about the floppy.

[linuxist]

OK & thanks again. Have I correctly marked this as 'SOLVED'?