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===USB Disks===
{{Incomplete}}


{{Warning box|NTFS partitions are not supported, please use either fat32/vfat or ext2/ext3}}

SME will automatically mount connected USB disk drives into the /media folder.
Auto-mounting will be performed based on the specific USB port used to connect your drives unless you use another method to specify mount points.

This means that if you insert USB drive 'A', it should auto-mount to /media/usbdisk.  If you now dismount this disk and mount drive 'B' in the same USB port, it, too, will auto-mount to /media/usbdisk.  Additionally, if you connect drive 'A' to another USB port, it may auto-mount to /media/usbdisk1.

The easiest way to avoid this behavior is to provide a label for each of your USB drives, and specify the desired mount point in /etc/fstab based on the drive label.
====Supported FileSystems====
=====ext2/ext3=====
<ol>
<li> recommended for USB drives intended for use only on SME
</li><li> works great under Linux
</li><li> supports hard links, symlinks
</li><li> can be read under Windows using ''explore2fs'' from http://www.chrysocome.net/explore2fs
</li><li> File & Disk size limits depend on the block size used when formatting the disk.  SME defaults to a 1K block size.<br>1K block size: 16GB max file size, 2TB max disk size<br>2K block size: 256GB max file size, 8 TB max disk size.<br>4K block size: 2TB max file size, 16 TB max disk size
<li> You can determine your current block size using (replace /dev/sdc1 with the correct value for your USB drive)<br>
 dumpe2fs -h /dev/sdc1
</li></ol>

=====fat32/vfat=====
<ol><li> pre-configured on most USB hard drives
</li><li> supported natively by Windows
</li><li> (2^32)-1 byte ( 4GB - 1 byte) maximum file size
</li><li> Windows 2000 ''format'' and Windows XP Setup's ''format'' will not create a fat32 volume larger than 32 GB
</li><li> Maximum disk size dependent on cluster size.  32KB Clusters would allow a disk of approximately 8TB</li></ol>

====Identifying your USB drive====
After connecting your USB drive, execute the command
 mount
and look for anything mounted in /media/???.

If your drive did not auto-mount, search /var/log/messages for the kernel commands related to your device using:
 egrep "(kernel|fstab|scsi).*(usb|USB)" /var/log/messages

You should have a line logged by fstab-sync giving the auto-mount folder created and the device name for your new device that looks like this:
 Sep 23 17:11:14 office fstab-sync[32193]: added mount point /media/usbdisk1 for /dev/sdd1

You should now be able to mount your USB drive using the values found in /var/log/messages.  In our example, that would mean:
 mount /media/usbdisk1
or
 mount /dev/sdd1

====Formatting your USB drive====
=====ext3=====
<ol></li><li>Copied with slight changes from [[Affa#Alternatively_setup_a_USB_drive]]
</li><li>Connect a USB hard disk to the USB Bus. Now you must determine what device the kernel has assigned to the drive. View the /var/log/message and search for ''Initializing USB Mass Storage driver''. A few lines below you'll find the name of the device. In this example it is ''sdc''. Replace ''/dev/sdc'' by ''your device'' in following instructions.
Use the fdisk program to create a linux partition
 fdisk /dev/sdc
You'll most likely find an existing vfat dos partition, which you have to delete first. In the following we assume, that you have created a single partition ''/dev/sdc1''.
</li><li>Now format the drive with an ext3 filesystem
 mkfs.ext3 -L MyLabel /dev/sdc1
</li><li>Make the mount point
 mkdir -p /mnt/affadevice
</li><li>Customize /etc/fstab as shown here: [[USBDisks#Customizing_fstab|Customizing fstab]]
</li><li>Mount the drive
 mount /mnt/affadevice
</li><li>Crosscheck your work using the df command
df</li></ol>

=====vfat=====
It's probably easier to format your vfat drive on your windows system.  You *must* have one, or you wouldn't be using this format... Be however aware of the 32GB limit when formatting from WIN2K or XP using MS native formatting tools.   For additional information, check: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm 

If that sounds unhelpful, you could try ('''warning, untested!'''):
 mkfs.vfat -n MyLabel /dev/sdd1

====labeling your USB drive====
=====ext3=====
 e2label /dev/sdd1 MyLabel
=====vfat=====
Linux uses 'mtools' to manage FAT, FAT32, and VFAT partitions.  'mtools' uses drive letters to access devices.  These drive letters must be defined in /etc/mtools.conf before any of the mtools will work.  You can create a definition for your USB drive using a command like this one (be sure to replace /dev/sdd1 with the device name identified above for your USB drive!):
 echo 'drive e: file="/dev/sdd1"' >> /etc/mtools.conf

Once you have created the drive letter in mtools.conf you can view or edit the disk label using the following commands.

Show the current label:
 mlabel -s e:

Clear the volume label:
 mlabel -c e:

Assign a new volume label:
 mlabel e:MyLabel

====Customizing fstab====
Add the following line to the /etc/fstab
 LABEL=MyLabel /mnt/affadevice ext3 defaults

* Replace 'ext3' with 'vfat' if your drive is formatted as fat32/vfat.
* Replace /mnt/affadevice with the folder in which you want your USB drive mounted (here and in all "mount" commands)

====Mount your disk automatically at boot-up====
Use the following commands to create a script that will run at each re-boot if you want to re-mount your USB disk automatically:
 cat <<EOF > /etc/e-smith/events/local/S95mount_USB
 #! /bin/sh
 mount LABEL=MyLabel
 EOF
 
 chmod +x /etc/e-smith/events/local/S95mount_USB

Once the script exists you can add additional mount commands by editing S95mount_USB using:
 pico -w /etc/e-smith/events/local/S95mount_USB

The 'local' event will run each time your server boots up.  If you connect or disconnect a drive and need to re-mount it you can re-run your auto-mount commands using:
 signal-event local

====More Information====
* There is a contrib for managing USB disks: http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=35466.0
* Here is a link to the Microsoft KB article on fat volume size limits: <br>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463<br>Summary: 32GB limit during XP Setup, 8 Terabyte otherwise
* Here is a link to an old MS technote about fat32 limits with 'format' under Win2K: <br>http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/prork/prdf_fls_pxjh.mspx?mfr=true<br>Summary: ''format'' under Windows 2000 has a 32GB limitation.
* Here is a link to some more info about fat32 along with a downloadable program for formatting large disks if you are having problems<br>http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm



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[[Category:Howto]]
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