Add another SATA Drive

Question

I have installed Ubuntu 10.10 X64 (when I type "arch" in terminal, it outputs "x86_64"), I have only one 250GB SATA Drive (SATA 0) at the moment where I have my OS and apps installed.

I am now purchasing a 1TB SATA Drive and will install that inside the machine on a separate SATA Controller (SATA1), Question is :

a) How will I format and use this drive to store my data (Music, FTP downloads, softwares)
b) Will it automatically be available when I restart my system ?

Any other advise you may wish to give with regards to a new drive.

Will be grateful for your answers Kind Regards Rihatum

Answer 1

a. Format it with gparted . It's very easy to use if you just make sure you take care selecting all the options you need.

Random pix of the web:

• Top right has a drop down box. Choose your new disc (will be /dev/sdb1).
• You will get 1 big unallocated with the size of your disc. Format it with ext3/etc4 (or whatever system you want on it ;) )
• You can also create partitions on it if need be.

b. No, you will need to manually add it to /etc/fstab (with gksu gedit /etc/fstab) but that's fairly easy. It will be something like this:

/dev/sdb1 /mountpoint ext4 defaults 1 2

• make a backup of /etc/fstab 1st (with something similar to cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.20110614).
• gparted will tell you the name of the disc but I assume it will be /dev/sdb;
• mountpoint is a directory you created;
• ext4 is the formatting you used (could be ext2, ext3 or a windows version).

Answer 2

a. Use Disk Utility (installed by default), this application not only allows you to partition but also allows you manage the volumes (like mounting and unmounting, benchmarking, bootable, and checking and repairing). I find it much prettier, more hardy*, and generally a more enjoyable experience than gparted.

To partition: Click on the drive you wish to partition on the left (you can see the description) format the drive (see figure) and then click in the Volumes area (which will say "free space") to add partitions.

Note: I haven't added a screenshot of the actual partition screen, as I don't fancy formatting any of my drives, if someone has one please edit it in!

b. The partitions will be "available" (seen on the left hand side of nautilus), but won't be mounted by default - necessary if it's music libraries and stuff, to do this use pysdm - Storage Device Manager.

Find the partition(s) you wish to mount on start up (locate it's name from Disk Utility e.g. sdb1), click on assistant. Uncheck "Mount file system in read only mode" and keep "The file system is mounted at boot time" checked.

Click Mount, Apply then Close, and restart your system (part b. is taken from here).