Hard drives - Partitioning and Booting
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Hard drives - Partitioning and Booting

Graphical Partition Editor

  1. Install the qtparted package (refer to the Adding Applications documentation for more help on installing applications).

  2. Once installed, open QtParted by going to Application LauncherSystemPartition Manager (QtParted).

Check disk space usage and view the partition table

  1. Open System Settings by going to Application LauncherFavoritesSystem Settings. Select the Advanced tab and then select Disks & Filesystems.

  2. Each partition will be listed under Available Disks and Filesystems details of each partition.

List mounted devices in a terminal

  1. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  2. To list the mounted devices type the following and then press the Enter key:

    mount

The listing shows the device (such as a hard disk partition), the mount point (where you access the files), the filesystem type and the mount options.

This example shows the hda2 hard disk partition mounted as '/', with the filesystem type ext3. The partition is mounted with two options, one to allow the device to be read from and wrote to and the other to remount the device as read only in the event of any errors.


/dev/hda2 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)

Mount/Unmount Windows partitions

NTFS or FAT32

For NTFS drives refer to step 4. For FAT32 drives refer to step 5. NTFS allows only read-only access whereas FAT32 allows both read and write access.

  1. Read the section called “Check disk space usage and view the partition table”

  2. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  3. First, make a directory where the partition can be mounted. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by pressing the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo mkdir /media/windows
    

  4. Next, type the following command to mount an NTFS Windows Partition and allow read-only access followed by pressing the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo mount /dev/hdaX /media/windows/ -t ntfs -o ro,umask=0222
    

  5. If your Windows partition uses the FAT32 filesystem, it is safe to allow read-write access to the partition. To do so, type the following command at the prompt followed by the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo mount /dev/hdaX /media/windows/ -t vfat -o umask=0000
    

    Note

    Replace /dev/hdaX with the correct device name for your partition.

  6. To unmount the partition, type the following command at the prompt followed by the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo umount /media/windows/
    

Mount Windows partitions on boot-up

  1. Read the section called “Check disk space usage and view the partition table”

  2. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  3. First, make a directory where the partition can be mounted. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by pressing the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo mkdir /media/windows
    

  4. Next, backup your configuration file for mounting drives and open the file in a text editor with administrative privileges. To do so, type the following at the prompt followed by pressing the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup
    

  5. Edit your /etc/fstab by pressing Alt+F2 and then typing kdesu kate /etc/fstab in the Run Command dialog followed by pressing the OK button.

  6. If your Windows partition uses the NTFS filesystem, append the following line at the end of file:

    /dev/hdaX /media/windows ntfs ro,umask=0222 0 0
    

    If your Windows partition uses the FAT32 filesystem, it is safe to allow read-write access to the partition. Append the following line at the end of the file:

    /dev/hdaX /media/windows vfat umask=0000 0 0

    instead of the one above.

    Note

    Replace /dev/hdaX with the correct device name for your partition.

  7. Save and close out of the edited file.

  8. Read the section called “Remount /etc/fstab without rebooting”.

Remount /etc/fstab without rebooting

  1. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  2. At the prompt, type the following and then press the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo mount -a
    

سېستىما قوزغالغاندا بىر سېستىما بۇيرۇقىنى ئاپتوماتىك ئىجرا قىلىش

Sometimes it can be useful to add a custom command to the startup process so that your computer executes it on every boot. Refer to the following procedure in order to set this up.

  1. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  2. Edit the crontab with administrative privileges. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo crontab -e
    

  3. Insert the following line:

    @reboot /home/user/command
    

    Note

    Replace /home/user/command with the full path to your command.

  4. Save the file and exit. If using Nano as the default command line editor, press Ctrl+X followed by Y for Yes and then the Enter key.

Change default Operating System at boot

  1. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  2. Make a backup of your boot configuration file. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
    

  3. Edit the menu.lst file by pressing Alt+F2 and then typing kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst followed by pressing the OK button.

  4. Locate the following line:

    ...
    default 0
    ...
    

    and replace it with the following line:

    default X_sequence

  5. Save and close out of the edited file.

Making the Boot Menu Visible

By default, the boot menu is hidden and you will need to hit Esc to see the boot menu. By following the following steps, it will be visible by default.

  1. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  2. Make a backup of your boot configuration file. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
    

  3. Edit the menu.lst file by pressing Alt+F2 and then typing kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst in the Run Command dialog followed by pressing the OK button.

  4. Locate the following line:

    # hiddenmenu
    

    and uncomment it by removing the # in front of the line so that it looks like:

    hiddenmenu
    

  5. Save and close out of the edited file.

Change the timeout for boot menu

  1. Open Konsole by going to Application LauncherSystemTerminal (Konsole).

  2. Make a backup of your boot configuration file. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by the Enter key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the Enter key):

    sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
    

  3. Edit the menu.lst file by pressing Alt+F2 and then typing kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst in the Run Command dialog followed by pressing the OK button.

  4. Locate the following line:

    ...
    timeout 3
    ...
    

    and replace it with the following line:

    timeout X_seconds
    

  5. Save and close out of the edited file.

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