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Thread: mounting hell

  1. #1

    Question mounting hell

    Ok... long story short im new to linux and having problems mounting the cdrom drive

    dev/hda2 /ext3 defaults 0 1
    proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
    /dev/fdo/floppy auto user,noauto 00
    /dev/cdrom/cdrom auto ro,user,noauto 00

    Thats the result of doing a
    Code:
    cat fstab
    I was told this doesnt have any mountpoints? (no real understanding of what this means )

    Now when I do a
    Code:
    mount /dev/cdrom
    it says special device does not exist


    So I tried to create the dir /mnt/cdrom and then do it, it said the device was allready mounted or in use. When I deleted the (still empty) dir and tried to mount it again I got the 'special device does not exist'


    Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
    Did someone piss in the gene pool?

  2. #2
    AO Curmudgeon rcgreen's Avatar
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    2,716
    First, make sure that the file /dev/cdrom exists.

    Code:
    rcgreen@blue:~$ ls -l /dev/cdrom
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 8 2005-10-24 11:35 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/hdc
    On my system, it is a symbolic link pointing to the actual device file /dev/hdc.
    Sometimes, your install process won't set up this link for you.
    Do man ln to get the command for creating the link.

    Code:
    rcgreen@blue:~$ cat /etc/fstab
    /dev/hda3        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
    /dev/hda2        /                ext3        defaults         1   1
    /dev/hda1        /boot            ext3        defaults         1   2
    /dev/cdrom       /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,user,ro   0   0
    /dev/dvd         /mnt/dvd         auto        noauto,user      0   0
    /dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,user      0   0
    devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
    proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0
    The left entry /dev/cdrom is the device.
    The next entry /mnt/cdrom is the mount point.
    I came in to the world with nothing. I still have most of it.

  3. #3
    Thats the best answer ive got from all of four forums Ive tried.

    Thanks alot and ill be swapping over to linux partition now...
    Did someone piss in the gene pool?

  4. #4
    Right a step in the right direction I think...

    I did a
    Code:
    ln -s /mnt/cdrom  /dev/cdrom
    (I wasnt sure if this was right)

    /mnt/cdrom was still empty so i tried to mount it again

    Code:
    mount /dev/cdrom
    This time it said '/dev/cdrom/ is not a block device'

    I did a
    Code:
    cat fstab
    and the cdrom part now shows
    '/dev/cdrom /cdrom auto ro etc...

    so there is now a mount point but I dont think its quite right? Oh well looks like a step in the right direction.
    Did someone piss in the gene pool?

  5. #5
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    what distro are you using man? Most don't make you mount it by itself anymore.

    Reply with the distro you're using as a much easier way usually exists depending on what you're using.

  6. #6
    its phlak
    www.phlak.org if that helps at all
    Did someone piss in the gene pool?

  7. #7
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    OK, mounting always seems strange to new people, but take the advice already given, and try this too:

    man mount

    Read the man page for it as that's going to really help you. On most boxes I have here, if it's not mounted already, I usually just type:

    mount /dev/cdrom

    Sometimes it's /dev/hdc though too.

  8. #8
    Well ive followed the advice and posted the results from them, simple mount /dev/cdrom gives the error message 'special device does not exist' ill try hdc although im sure I have before...
    Did someone piss in the gene pool?

  9. #9
    hhmm...

    /dev/hdc allready exits. Im not sure what this means

    any more ideas about 'is not a block device' ?
    Did someone piss in the gene pool?

  10. #10
    AO Curmudgeon rcgreen's Avatar
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    A block device is a drive. To mount a drive, you mount the block device file
    that represents that drive. The device files are all located in the /dev directory.
    Obviously, you only need to concern yourself with the ones that correspond
    to equipment you have installed.

    • /dev/hda is the primary master ide drive
    • /dev/hdb is the primary slave
    • /dev/hdc is the secondary master
    • /dev/hdd is the secondary slave


    If your cdrom drive is like mine, master on the second ide channel, it would be
    /dev/hdc. As a convenience, there is a symbolic link, also in /dev, and it points
    to the device file that represents the cdrom drive.

    So, if /dev/cdrom didn't exist, you would issue the command
    Code:
    ln -s /dev/hdc /dev/cdrom
    ..or hdb or hdd or whatever your drive is.

    The other thing that needs to exist is a directory where it will be mounted.
    /mnt/cdrom is the most common, and should already exist.
    So the link you created wasn't correct.

    Code:
    rcgreen@blue:~$ ls -l /dev/cdrom
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 8 2005-10-24 11:35 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/hdc
    I came in to the world with nothing. I still have most of it.

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