Mount a hard disk in ubuntu + reboot (may have different filesystem type)

1. $ sudo fdisk -l
display device
Disk /dev/sdc: 2 TiB, 2197949513728 bytes, 4292870144 sectors

2. $ mkdir /media/DiskC
Better use /media instead of /mnt, because /mnt is usually the automatic mount point, may be replaced when restarting.

3 $ mount /dev/sdc /media/DiskC
Then error occured
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdc,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error

       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so.

(for several filesystems (e.g. nfs, cifs) you might need a /sbin/mount. helper program)

This is relevant given that you are trying to mount NFS. The /sbin/mount.nfs helper program is provided by nfs-common. You can install it with:

sudo apt install nfs-common

On the other hand, if you are trying to mount CIFS, the helper program is provided by cifs-utils. You can install it with:

sudo apt install cifs-utils

4. convert file type

$ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc

goto step 3.

Done!

Auto mount on start up.

[IMPORTANT] sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.old - Create a backup of the fstab file just in case something unwanted happens.

Auto-mount at boot

We want the drive to auto-mount at boot.  This usually means editing /etc/fstab.

Firstly, it's always best to use the drives UUID.  To find the drive's UUID do

ls -al /dev/disk/by-uuid/

Copy the resultant UUID (for your disk) and then open fstab for editing (note I'm using vim here but use whatever editor you prefer):

sudo vim /etc/fstab

You want to add an entry for the UUID and mount point.  Below is an example of an fstab file with an entry added for the mount above:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a # device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices # that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5). # # <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass> # / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation UUID=63a46dce-b895-4c1f-9034-b1104694a956 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1 # swap was on /dev/sdb5 during installation UUID=b9b9ee49-c69c-475b-894b-1279d44034ae none            swap    sw              0       0 # data drive UUID=19fa40a3-fd17-412f-9063-a29ca0e75f93 /media/data   ext4    defaults        0       0

Note: the entry added is the last line.

Test fstab

We always want to test the fstab before rebooting (an incorrect fstab can render a disk unbootable).  To test do:

sudo findmnt --verify

check the last line for errors.  Warnings can help in improving your fstab.

Use lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,UUID to find out the UUIDs and filesystems of the partition you want to mount. For example:

$ lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,UUID
NAME   FSTYPE UUID
sda
├─sda2
├─sda5 swap   498d24e5-7755-422f-be45-1b78d50b44e8
└─sda1 ext4   d4873b63-0956-42a7-9dcf-bd64e495a9ff

NTFS

UUID=<uuid> <pathtomount> ntfs uid=<userid>,gid=<groupid>,umask=0022,sync,auto,rw 0 0

Examples for the <> variables:

• <uuid>=3087106951D2FA7E
• <pathtomount>=/home/data/
• <userid>=1000
• <groupid>=1000

Use id -u <username> to get the userid and id -g <username> to get the groupid.

# Mount all disks

sudo mount -a