Join Log in
Score:0
avatar Ubuntu

Rookie questions about FSTAB and external drives

in flag
jourdin.antonius

Server has two external HDs connected via USB (one is a USB-USB connection, the other is a USB-SATA connection if that matters). They are permanent mounts into their respective /mnt directories via an entry in FSTAB

As part of a backup process, I'm trying to backup data on cycling hard drives. Can you have two mount entries in FSTAB that point to the same directory, or will FSTAB throw an exception to that? (I understand if you plugged both of the drives into the machine at the same time, that could cause a conflict, but assume I never did that).

Example in FSTAB

UUID:"USBDRIVE#1" /mnt/backupawesomeness

UUID:"USBDRIVE#2" /mnt/backupawesomeness

So basically only #1 or #2 will ever be plugged in, but to avoid having to re-do the backup procedure every time a new drive is put in, i'm thinking of doing it this way. ​ if you can't do that, what's a better way to have a swappable/cycling backup option?

39
0 + 0
ru flag
Thomas Ward
You can only have one device mounted on one mount directory at a time. `fstab` won't *error out* per se but your example in fstab is incomplete and wrong. If these are *permanent mounts* then you need to give them individual mount points, which is the better approach.
0
Reply
in flag
jourdin.antonius
Is creating a directory in /mnt (in this example "backupawesomeness") not the correct way to give the drive an individual mount point? i understand in my example i have the same "individual mount poitn" for 2 drives, but i just want to make sure i understand you first about creating individual mount points
0
Reply
in flag
jourdin.antonius
Sorry, I should elaborate. I'm intending them to be "permanent mounts" in the sense that my backup software is set to put the backups in a constant directory (i.e. the mount point directory). So... the directory that the backups (and the storage space) need to be permanent, but I want it to be permanent across different disks if that makes sense?
0
Reply
Organic Marble avatar
us flag
Organic Marble
If you never plan to plug them in simo, why not just give both drives the same UUID? The UUID is changeable by the user.
0
Reply
ธงชาติไทย
Elon Musk
I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.