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mount – Used to mount files outside the Linux system

The mount command in Linux is used to mount file systems or storage devices to a specific location in the Linux directory tree. This command is essential for accessing data from external devices or network shares.

Overview

The basic syntax for the mount command is as follows:

mount [options] device directory

Here, device refers to the device or file system that needs to be mounted, and directory is the location where the device or file system will be mounted.

For example, to mount a USB drive with the device name /dev/sdb1 to the directory /mnt/usb, the command would be:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

Once the device is mounted, all the files and directories in the device can be accessed from the mount point /mnt/usb.

In addition to this basic usage, there are several other options that can be used with the mount command. These options are listed in the table below.

Options

Option Description
-a Mount all file systems mentioned in /etc/fstab.
-t Specify the file system type of the device to be mounted.
-o Specify mount options for the device.
-r Mount the device in read-only mode.
-w Mount the device in read-write mode.
-n Do not update the /etc/mtab file.
-L Mount the device with the label specified.
-U Mount the device with the UUID specified.

Troubleshooting Tips

  • If you receive an error message such as “mount: /dev/sdb1 already mounted or /mnt/usb busy”, it means that the device is already mounted or the mount point is currently in use. To resolve this issue, unmount the device or use a different mount point.
  • If you encounter permission issues while attempting to mount a device, make sure that you have root privileges or use the sudo command to run the mount command.
  • If a device is not automatically detected by the system, use the lsblk command to check if the device is recognized by the system. If it is, try mounting the device manually using the mount command.

Notes

  • It is important to unmount devices before physically removing them from the system. This can be done using the umount command followed by the mount point or device name.
  • The mount command can also be used to mount network shares, such as NFS or Samba shares. In this case, the device argument would be the network path to the share, and the directory argument would be the mount point in the local file system.

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