Re: Basic structure of Linux : File system, types of files with extentions, drive informations, and all the basics.

Robert Newson wrote:
ac wrote:

....
Mounting is like activating or 'plugging-in' of your hard drive item
(device) into the active file system being used. The plugging-in
occurs at a certain place (the mount point) in the filesystem. The
filesystem is tree shaped and 'root' is the top. The mount point is an
empty directory which you wish to use for the mounted stuff.

Just to be confusing, the mount point directory doesn't have to be empty:

When a partition is mounted onto the filing tree at a specific directory,
the contents of the original directory become unaccessible until the mounted
filesystem (partition) is unmounted.

I've used this by creating empty files in the mount directories called
"Media.not.mounted". If I try to list the files there (using the ls(1)
command), if not mounted, I get told so!

Root is symbolised by
/
(a forward slash)

The full path to any directory (folder) or file is from root, for example
/dev/hda2/folder4
is the path to folder4, on the second partition on the first hard
drive (the primary IDE drive I believe)

Not quite. /dev/hda2 is raw access to the second partition on hda - if you
read that file you'll get the information from the disk directly as it is
stored; to access the data via the filesystem on that partition it *HAS* to
be mounted somewhere, whereupon files on that disk are then access via
${MOUNT_POINT}/directory4/file1 etc.


I have no problem with anything you have corrected, thanks. Please
note though that the op was asking a very newbie question, and I aimed
a simplistic answer at that level only, and by definition, it was
inadequate and incomplete for non newbies. I believe that non newbies
would not need to ask such a question in that way at all, and would
invite a more rigorous answer. I was a newbie for quite a while, and
appreciated and valued all answers (still do), although the more
rigorous an answer was, often it did not assist me as much as some of
the simplistic ones. Next time, I was able to ask a more informed
question. At an early stage I wondered what it would be like if I ever
began to forget what it would be like to actually forget what it used
to be like to have a windoze only existence. I know now, and it is
increasingly difficult to remember what a non linux life was like.
--
ac
.

Relevant Pages

  • read/only root filesystem strategy
    ... the installed system as possible be running under a read/only mount. ... or a widely shared network filesystem. ... Modifying the kernel to perform the setup. ... Partition hda1 would house the kernel and a small rescue ...
    (comp.os.linux.development.system)
  • Re: hardisk full
    ... mount the appropriate partition on each. ... create tar files (This assumes you have at least twice the currently ... one filesystem at a time and use the other partition as the location to ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: Problem with multiple mounts
    ... make reiserfs and run fsstress test case on this partition. ... I mount this partition on the nbd server. ... Unless you have a filesystem that is ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: the mounted NTFS cant be refreshed
    ... > I'm using the vmware to run RH9 on a XP host. ... I can mount the NTFS ... > files on that partition, the linux-client doesn't get a responce. ... there's no way to get WinXP to unmount a filesystem on a fixed ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: problem mounting filesystem
    ... Try to mount /dev/hdd1 elsewhere: ... I am able to use fdisk to partition the disk, and mke2fs to put an ext3 filesystem on it. ...
    (RedHat)