New install on SSD and trying to find old files.

Opensuse 12.3
KDE 4.10.5

I was running just fine and wanted to improve performance so I bought a new 250GB SSD.
My plan was to install 12.3 to it on SDA then copy my old “Desktop” from SDB.
I wasn’t sure that would work so I was prepared to just do bits and pieces during the copy.

Well, the new SDA is working just fine, so I wired in SDB, rebooted, and went looking at it with Dolphin.
The darn thing is blank or at least it looks to be.
The way Linux organizes files is still a major puzzle whenever I get outside of the standards.
I seem to remember that I had 2 partitions dealing with my data (home ?) on SDB but the smaller one has disappeared.
Is it truly gone or can I generate a 2nd home pointing to it ?

thanks

When you add another drive, you need to mount the partitions to use them. With the drive installed open up terminal and type in this command:

su -
password:
fdisk -l

Post the result in a code # tag field and we can suggest a mount command.

Thank You,

SDB:Basics of partitions, filesystems, mount points - openSUSE

BTW, I guess you mean sda and sdb when typing SDA and SDB. In Linux (as in real life) ‘a’ is not the same as ‘A’.

Here they are and you have given me a clue. I did not know about having to mount it. So I am going to read up on the mount command and see what I can come up with.

Corky-PC:~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 256.1 GB, 256060514304 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31130 cylinders, total 500118192 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006150b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048     4192255     2095104   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *     4192256   416227327   206017536   83  Linux
/dev/sda3       416227328   458174463    20973568   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006fdc2

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        2048    41945087    20971520    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb2        41945088  1953523711   955789312   83  Linux
/dev/sdb5         4210688    20113407     7951360   83  Linux
/dev/sdb6        20115456    41945087    10914816   83  Linux

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdc'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sdc: 16.0 GB, 16008609792 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1946 cylinders, total 31266816 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcee0ec63

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1            2048    31266815    15632384    b  W95 FAT32


Thank you hcvv and yes I meant sda and sdb. I have read some of the articles dealing with the file system but had skimmed over the bit about “mounts”.
And now I am going back for a reread.

I have to admit that I learn better in a classroom environment because of all the questions that popup.

Onward to mount:

I would like to mount sdb where it would normally get mounted during the installation of 12.3 and I can’t figure it out.
I think I could mount it elsewhere but would prefer not to do that.
It eventually will be /home.

oops, it looks to be /run/media/user
and ?? var/run/media/user
and these don’t seem to be permanent.

Do I need both ?
I want it to be permanent so another user can access it.
Do I need to do it as root and set some kind of permissions ?

In my case:
sda2 = /…Did this automatically create the root folder during install ?
sda3 = /home…Did this automatically create /home during the install ?

Where did /swap go ?

For my mount command do I need to make the directory before ?

Lol, are they folders or directories ?

This is more complicated than I had thought.

Well, I’ll be darned.
Some reading led me to an article that shows me how to mount it within KDE
desktop configuration/hardware/removable devices.

YES !!!

Please post output from


cat /etc/fstab
df -h

Well nuts, it looks like sdb was not permanent or they are not in “df -h”, yet show up in Dolphin.
Most strange.

hexdump@Corky-PC:~> cat /etc/fstab
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SanDisk_SDSSDHP256G_133357400917-part1 swap                 swap       defaults              0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SanDisk_SDSSDHP256G_133357400917-part2 /                    ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard        1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SanDisk_SDSSDHP256G_133357400917-part3 /home                ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard        1 2
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
usbfs                /proc/bus/usb        usbfs      noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
hexdump@Corky-PC:~> 
hexdump@Corky-PC:~> df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs        1.8G  8.0K  1.8G   1% /dev
tmpfs           1.9G  600K  1.9G   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs           1.9G  3.4M  1.9G   1% /run
/dev/sda2       194G  5.4G  179G   3% /
tmpfs           1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           1.9G  3.4M  1.9G   1% /var/lock
tmpfs           1.9G  3.4M  1.9G   1% /var/run
/dev/sda3        20G  4.7G   15G  25% /home
hexdump@Corky-PC:~> 



Your default mount for /home is


/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SanDisk_SDSSDHP256G_133357400917-part3 /home                ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard        1 2

So your home is on sda3

If you want home to be else whee like I assume sdb2 then the easiest way is to set it in Yast-boot modal

first remove the current location for home then set the new partition for home by setting it to mount at /home. When you reboot the sdb2 partition should be mounted as /home

Note also that this should not be done from a booted DVD or pen but in the booted system. I mention since you seem to have a pen drive in the fdisk table so not sure where you are booting from.

Also note that this can be set up at install by going to advance/expert setting in the partition section.