Mount a USB drive
To mount a USB drive (either an external hard drive or large flash drive), a working knowledge of Linux™ command line interface and a basic understanding of disk drives and partitions are necessary.
Ion Torrent™ Server is an Ubuntu™ server, which does not mount external hard drives automatically. To address this need, the ion-usbmount utility is included with Torrent Suite™ Software. This utility automatically mounts attached USB drives in the /media directory. If ion-usbmount does not mount a particular USB drive automatically, follow these steps to mount the drive manually.
These instructions provide only an overview of the required steps, and can be a helpful reminder if you are new to the Linux™ operating system. For more detailed instructions and background information, see the Ubuntu™ documentation at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/USB.
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Before connecting a USB drive, enter the following command to see a list of the drives in the system: sudo fdisk -l
The local hard drive usually has a name such as /dev/sda, as in the following example:
ionadmin@itw-test01: ~$ sudo fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical) : 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0004366b Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdal * 1 37 291840 83 Linux Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda2 37 60802 488092673 5 Extended /dev/sda5 37 60802 488092672 8e Linux LVM
- Connect the USB drive.
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Wait approximately 10 seconds, then reenter: sudo fdisk -l.
The new USB drive appears in the list. The name of the USB drive is usually /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc, depending on the number of drives installed. The partition is a number that is added to the name of the physical drive. For example, the first partition on drive /dev/sdc would be called /dev/sdc1. In the following example, there is a 2‑GB partition (1953512001 blocks) attached to the system that is named /dev/sdb1. It is configured with a Linux™ partition. (If the drive was formatted on Windows™, it is either a FAT or an NTFS partition).
ionadmin@itw-test01:/$ sudo fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal) : 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0004366b Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdal * 1 37 291840 83 Linux Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda2 37 60802 488092673 5 Extended /dev/sda5 37 60802 488092672 8e Linux LVM Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/ optimal) : 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x5786fcfb Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 1 243201 1953512001 83 Linux
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If the drive has a Windows™ FAT or NTFS partition, reformat the drive as an ext3 partition to preserve the Linux™ file information.
IMPORTANT! Be careful to format the correct hard drive.
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Enter sudo mkfs.ext3 <your_device>. For example:
sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sde5
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Label the partition on the external USB drive. To label the partition, enter the following:
sudo e2label <your_device_place> <partition_label>.?
For example, the external drive that is connected in /dev/sdbl is labeled as TS_Backup1:
sudo e2label /dev/sdb1 TS_Backup1
It is important to provide a different label name to each partition to avoid error when multiple external USB drives are connected to the Ion Torrent™ Server at the same time.
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Enter sudo mkfs.ext3 <your_device>. For example:
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Ensure that the external USB drive mounts automatically. Disconnect the external USB drive, then reconnect it. Wait approximately 10 seconds.
The external USB drive appears under the Services tab in Torrent Suite™ Software