mount Command: Tutorial & Examples

Making storage accessible

The mount command is a fundamental command for Linux users, used to mount filesystems onto your Linux system. In other words, it lets you access your storage devices and the data that they hold.

The mount operation attaches a filesystem, stored on some device or other, to the active Linux directory tree. Understanding the mount command is essential as a Linux administrator because you'll often need to manually mount or unmount devices like disks, partitions, and ISO images.

How Does the mount Command Work?

When a storage device is connected to a Linux system, the operating system recognizes the device, but it does not automatically make the filesystem available to the user. This is where the mount command comes in.

The mount command essentially tells the Linux kernel to make the files and directories of a device available in a certain location in the directory tree, called a mount point.

Common mount Command Parameters

Below are some of the common parameters that you can use with the mount command:

• -t type: This option is used to indicate the type of the filesystem. Some common filesystem types that can be specified with -t include ext2, ext3, ext4, iso9660, vfat, and ntfs.
• -o options: This option allows you to specify particular mount options. Some common mount options include ro ( read-only), rw (read-write), user (allow ordinary user to mount), and auto (automatically mount at startup).
• -a: This option mounts all filesystems mentioned in /etc/fstab.

Example Usage of the mount Command

Here are a few examples of how to use the mount command:

• Mounting a device manually:

  sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/my_usb_drive
  

In this example, /dev/sdb1 is the device to be mounted and /mnt/my_usb_drive is the mount point.

• Mounting an ISO image:

  sudo mount -o loop disk_image.iso /mnt/disk
  

Here, the -o loop option tells the system to create a loop device for the ISO image.

• Mounting all filesystems listed in /etc/fstab:

  sudo mount -a
  

Troubleshooting with the mount Command

The mount command can be used to solve various problems related to storage devices. For instance, if a USB device is not accessible after being plugged in, you can manually mount the device using the mount command.

Similarly, if a certain partition is not being mounted at startup, you can check the /etc/fstab file and use the mount -a command to mount all filesystems listed in the file.