hardware.md

How do I permanently add external storage to a Linux machine?

• Very helpful video
• How to use parted

0. Delete old partitions (if they exist).
   • run $ sudo fdisk -l and find the location of the drive you have attached. Look for the Disk with the expected number of bytes available:
     • For, example, the 5 TB (5000981077504 bytes) HD I attached is showing up as /dev/sda and it has 1 partition at /dev/sda1.

     $ sudo fdisk -l
     Disk /dev/sda: 4.6 TiB, 5000981077504 bytes, 9767541167 sectors
     Disk model: Portable        
     Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
     Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
     I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
     Disklabel type: gpt
     Disk identifier: 285B58D2-268E-499A-BFD2-201B5F9B181E
     
     Device     Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
     /dev/sda1   2048 9767540735 9767538688  4.6T Linux filesystem

     • run $ sudo fdisk <path_to_external_disk> ($ sudo fdisk /dev/sda in example), and continuously press d until all partitions are deleted. Type w to write the changes.
     • Once complete, run $ sudo fdisk -l again to confirm your changes worked. You should see the same output as above, except there shouldn't be any "Device"s listed:

       $ sudo fdisk -l
       Disk /dev/sda: 4.6 TiB, 5000981077504 bytes, 9767541167 sectors
       Disk model: Portable        
       Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
       Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
       I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
       Disklabel type: gpt
       Disk identifier: 285B58D2-268E-499A-BFD2-201B5F9B181E

1. Create a new partition.
   • run $ sudo parted <path_to_external_disk> ($ sudo parted /dev/sda in example) to start the GNU parted program:
     • run (parted) mklabel gpt
     • run (parted) mkpart primary 0GB <desired_amount_of_space>
       • E.g. (parted) mkpart primary 0GB 5TB
     • run (parted) quit to persist your changes.
2. Create new filesystem.
   • run $ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
     • Make sure you specifiy the path to the partition (/dev/sda1) and not the drive (/dev/sda) itself.
3. Create a directory to to which the drive should be mounted.
   • Drives that are going to be considered permanent should be mounted to a subdirectory of /mnt/.
     • run $ sudo mkdir /mnt/<dir_name_you_want>
4. Add the external drive to the /etc/fstab file (fstab = file system table) so it is mounted at boot.
   • run $ sudo blkid and copy the UUID (without the parentheses) that corresponds to the partition you created.
   • edit the /etc/fstab file.
     • run $ sudo vi /etc/fstab
     • Add the following line:

     # ...other PARTUUID lines...
     UUID=<random_UUD_copied_from_above> <path_to_mount_directory> <filesystem_type> defaults 0 1
     # for example
     UUID=fe6b201c-bd1a-4843-a88a-167db8746d89 /mnt/seagate_5tb_extdrive ext4 defaults 0 1

5. Run $ sudo mount -a to mount the drive
   • After you have run the above, run $ df -H and you should see the new filesystem pop up:
     • For example (second line from bottom):

     $ df -H
     Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
     /dev/root        32G   22G  8.9G  71% /
     devtmpfs        1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev
     tmpfs           2.1G     0  2.1G   0% /dev/shm
     tmpfs           2.1G   51M  2.0G   3% /run
     tmpfs           5.3M  4.1k  5.3M   1% /run/lock
     tmpfs           2.1G     0  2.1G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
     /dev/mmcblk0p1  265M   53M  213M  20% /boot
     /dev/sda1       5.0T  1.4G  4.8T   1% /mnt/seagate_5tb_extdrive
     tmpfs           403M     0  403M   0% /run/user/1000

6. Set the permissions appropriately on /mnt/<path_to_mount_directory>/ (e.g. /mnt/seagate_5tb_extdrive/) so users can read/write/execute what they need to.
7. Test that you're setup persists after a reboot.
   • run $ sudo reboot to restart the machine. Once it is backup, run $ df -H again and you should see the same output as that in step 6.