Mounting a *third* hard drive in Fedora?

[Ultraviolet Combat]

So, a couple years back, I asked about how to mount a second drive to let Steam access a library on that drive. It was helpful, more or less.

Today, I installed a new SSD on my computer, and I thought I'd move all my Steam games across my now 3 hard drives onto that. So, I looked at the GitHub wiki and followed the steps to mount the SSD in fstab like before. I used the same parameters, the only things I changed were the UUID for the drive and pointing it to a different folder, /media/gamedisk2 instead of the existing /media/gamedisk.

Now, I don't know if this is because the first partition I chose was FAT32 and I didn't specify it correctly in fstab, or because I moved some files onto the drive before I tried mounting it in fstab (probably the latter, in hindsight), but after I rebooted, I had locked myself out of Fedora by putting it into Emergency Mode. I had to boot up my USB stick with F32 just to edit the fstab entry out and get back into my computer. The error I got in Emergency Mode was something to the effect of root being unavailable.

After some additional headache I'm not sure is really worth describing here (long story short: I'd have probably avoided all of this if I remembered to use fstab first, or at least realized that the Disk utility for GNOME defaults to not auto-mounting), I've managed to wipe the FAT32 partition and have made a fresh one in EXT4, but I have yet to mount it.

So, my main question is, will I trigger Emergency Mode again by re-trying to mount the drive in the Steam-friendly way, or will it be fine so long as I don't touch the partition and mount it like I did the earlier, second hard drive?

I don't know if anyone else has done this, because most people probably don't have the luxury of more than two HDs in their rigs. I'm just worried I almost locked myself out because of a possible conflict and that I'm not really meant to mount more than one extra HD.

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

If you are (like me) too stupid to do it inside the terminal.
Just use the gnome, kde, YaST or whatever partition manager. those should configure fstab, mount point and all the other boring stuff for you.
But a third hard drive should just work like a second hard drive.
plug it in, create file system, select where you want to mount it, and tell steam where it is.
Sorry if my answere sounds dumb but thats the only thing i could think off, when reading your problem

[Zyro]

I had a primary SSD, and a second SSD as well as an HDD mounted. Shouldn't be a problem as long as you get the mounting right. Maybe post your fstab and the line you want to insert for review here.

[Kepos]

Encountered similar issues several times. In all possible scenarios it was my own bad by typing error in FSTAB. Recheck your UID, your line in the fstab. Sometimes copy/paste lost some types...

You could access your fstab (with an editor in admin mode) also by booting with a Linux USB image and correct the possible typing error.

[meheezen]

here is what i usually do:
1- create mountpoint
2- get disk UUID with "blkid"
3- try mounting the disk manually with "mount [/dev/disk] [mountpoint]"
4- edit /etc/fstab
5- umount the disk and try mounting with "mount [mountpoint]" which will look for that mountpoint entry on fstab
6- fix whatever needs fixing until step 5 succeeds

my /etc/fstab entry for a extra disk looks like this:

/dev/disk/by-uuid/c42e1a6c-411f-4010-9807-356b307fa172 /media/Bulk auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0

[nautsch]

Could you post the relevant entries of /etc/fstab (or the whole file)? To me this looks like a simple syntax error in the file, so fedora could no longer come up correctly.
You usually add a line in the form:

UUID=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx      /home                   btrfs   defaults                0       0

(this is from my machine for the home partition.)
You can also use the disk device e.g. /dev/sdX1 or a LABEL instead of UUID.

Some more pointers:
* If you no longer want to use the other disk, you can just mount the new disk to the old location, copy/move everything there and be done. (and do whatever you want with the old disk)
* You can mount the disk manually for initial setup, copying etc. mount <disk> <mountpoint> is the command to do that (as root). e.g. "mount /dev/sdc1 /media/gamedisk2". The mountpoint needs to be there before this works.
* mounting things manually to /media seems strange to me, since that is where all the automatic mounting usually takes place from kde/gnome etc. I'd choose somewhere in /opt or /mnt. But this might not cause problems, if you are living fine with the current disk there.
* Do not choose fat32 as a file system, if you do not plan to share the disk with a windows installation. Use ext4 or BTRFS. Or ZFS if you are so inclined. Fat32 is missing many features a usual linux file system has.

[Trisimiton]

used disks on gnome go to the hard drive and seclect the grear icon next to the play or stop button there is a mount options in the menue. you should select mount on startup and it should work. also to mount right then all you need to do is push play button. if there is a stop button, then it is already mounted. you will see a star in the right side of the partition that indicates it is going to mount on start up.

[BezaoBuilder]

Could you give us a copy of the fstab file that caused your system to boot into the dracut shell (what I think is the "emergency mode")?

[BezaoBuilder]

Also, make sure the root= kernel parameter on GRUB is correct.

[BezaoBuilder]

The folder where the drive is going to be mounted has to exist before it is actually mounted.

[dilatedjux]

I don't think it would trigger 'emergency mode'. I have 6 drives (including root) on my Debian machine. I use Btrfs and ntfs only though.

[Zyro]

Originally posted by DilatedJux:

I don't think it would trigger 'emergency mode'. I have 6 drives (including root) on my Debian machine. I use Btrfs and ntfs only though.

I recently removed my HDD and forgot to edit fstab. On reboot, the device to be mounted which wasn't there did trigger emergency mode (to my surprise). I could enter a root console from there and fix it, though.

[Ultraviolet Combat]

Oof, did not mean to leave this thread without a response for almost 24 hours, let me see if I can reply to everyone in one post.

First off, I unfortunately can't post the fstab file/line (in my sleep-deprived anxiety last night, I didn't think to copy it for posterity's sake), and I'm not sure it would help here anyways, since I deleted both the line AND the filesystem partition it was supposed to point to.

Second, I think I need to provide some extra context: the last time I mounted a drive, it was a hard drive already installed in the PC from back when I was still on Win7, and I was trying to figure out how to get Steam on Fedora to access the games I manually migrated to there before I switched to Fedora. Also, I followed the actual tutorial for mounting on Valve's Proton GitHub (or at least, I'm pretty sure it was official, and it tells you to edit fstab from the terminal with sudo). I saw a post online elsewhere saying that putting data on the drive before you mount it with fstab can cause Emergency Mode to be triggered.

I guess I should elaborate a little on the additional headache I glossed over: after I was able to boot back into my system, I tried mounting the partition with the GNOME Disks utility, but the default settings left it unable to be written to by Steam, and double-checking the drive showed that I couldn't actually alter the data on it--it was stuck on read-only, and I couldn't do anything with it because it needed root access. I had to use fdisk with root privileges to clear it out so I could make a new partition in the new drive. However I mount it next time, it probably will not be through the GUI, or at least not with default settings.

Originally posted by BezaoBuilder:

Also, make sure the root= kernel parameter on GRUB is correct.

I'm not sure what GRUB is, but I can look it up later.

Originally posted by BezaoBuilder:

The folder where the drive is going to be mounted has to exist before it is actually mounted.

When I read this reply a bit ago, I thought that might be the culprit, but no, the /gamedisk2 folder did exist before my mounting attempt, it seems. However, related to the above permission weirdness, looking at my folder now, it seems like it belongs to root and not to my account. I'm not sure why this is, maybe it was created when I edited fstab, because I was using sudo at the time. The older /media/gamedisk folder for my older, second HD can be controlled by me, however.

Originally posted by nautsch:

Some more pointers:
* If you no longer want to use the other disk, you can just mount the new disk to the old location, copy/move everything there and be done. (and do whatever you want with the old disk)

That is an idea, but I'd like to use Steam's built-in manager to migrate my games. I should have mentioned that in the OP, and I admit that I might not be here if Steam's filesystem explorer didn't limit me to my main drive and require these symbolic links.

* mounting things manually to /media seems strange to me, since that is where all the automatic mounting usually takes place from kde/gnome etc. I'd choose somewhere in /opt or /mnt. But this might not cause problems, if you are living fine with the current disk there.

Again, I was following (what I thought were) the actual guidelines, and again, I admit I might not be here if I didn't think Steam's own manager would be headache-free instead of manually migrating things. I might just use /mnt if it really is simpler.

* Do not choose fat32 as a file system, if you do not plan to share the disk with a windows installation. Use ext4 or BTRFS. Or ZFS if you are so inclined. Fat32 is missing many features a usual linux file system has.

Yeah, lesson learned, I suppose. Like I said, I'm gonna use EXT4 this time.

I think, given the replies here, I might try again and just hope it doesn't break.

[Zyro]

Originally posted by RocketRunner:

I think, given the replies here, I might try again and just hope it doesn't break.

You could show us the line before you add it, and an "ls -la" of the parent directory of the mount point (like, if you want to mount to /media/newdisc, you post what "ls -la /media/" shows). So we could take a look if it looks fine.
The emergency mode also should allow you to log in as root and fix fstab, probably with "nano /etc/fstab".

[Ultraviolet Combat]

Well, I triggered Emergency Mode again by adding the following:

UUID=(long string of alphanumerics) /media/gamedisk2 ext4 uid=1000,gid=1000,rw,user,exec,umask=000 0 0

I was following the basic format of this page, which I finally found again: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows

I suppose this method is just not meant to work outside of the context of NTFS filesystems, which might be the problem.

The Emergency Mode doesn't allow me to log in, it gives me the message "Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked."

I've decided to just mount the disk with the GUI-based Disks utility, using "defaults" (plus setting it to show) as the only mounting options. I will see whether or not Steam can work with this. I apologize, this was all probably a waste of time.

[Aoi Blue]

Just add a line to the FSTab as usual.

As a note, do NOT use NTFS. XFS, is also, sadly, a no-go right now due to a buggy driver. (It is a shame because XFS is a great filesystem.)

Since it is an SSD likely want to use F2FS or EXT4, depending on the exact usage of the drive. EXT4 is better for complex tasks involving more manipulation of filesystem structures, for instance home directories, game directories and development files (especially development files.) F2FS is better for cases where you need maximum read acceleration on an SSD and optimization for large sequential writes on SSDs. This would be a media (music and video) drive or your main distro drive.

F2FS is also optimized for cases where you have good flash memory but a crappy controller or even no controller. This makes it ideal for a Linux only USB flash drive or the partitions on a tablet or smart phone. (F2FS was developed specifically for smart phones.)