Additional HDD

Additional HDD require changes in system settings, in order to be visible and accessible. Exact changes depend on whether the storage is for system or user files.

Additionall HDD must be partitioned, including if only one partititon is required

• as of 2012, most new HDD are sold pre-parttitioned GPT, with a single partition
• for guidance on changing partitioning see

Advanced Format (AF) Drives

File Migration

The simplest approach is to install additional HDD before any systems are installed or data created. If that is not feasible then any existing files/folders at the intended mount point need to be migrated

1. ensure that the files to be migrated are firstly backed up to independent media
2. as user root mount the new partition to a temporary point, typically /mnt
3. cd to the mount point that will later be used permantly for the new partition
4. use the "cp -ax" command to copy all files from within the folder of the mount point to ./mnt/
   • do not use use file managers for this purpose, because those may set incorrect timestamps, permisisons etc for files
5. unount from the temporary point
6. set the permanent mount point (and change permissions, if necessary) as in sections "User Storage" or "System Storage" below
7. the above procedure duplicates existing files. To remove the originals:
   • temporarily unmount the new partition
   • delete all files in the folder of the permanent mount point
   • remount the new partition to its permanent mount point

User Storage

1. a permanent mount point is required
   • mount points /mnt & /media are for temporary mounts
   • LSB makes no recommendations for permanent extra HDD
   • suggested mount points are "/data" for LInux data or "/windows/C" for Windows drives
   • admin tools such as Synaptic, Yast2 etc can be used to create and set mount points
2. user permissions for the mount point
   • in the above example. recursively change the Group for /data to (say) "users"
   • in the above example. recursively change the Owner for /data to the principal user
     • if other users are also to have access to the additional storage then Group permisisons for /data need to be relaxed
   • changes may be made via "File Manager - Super User Mode", if system allows that mode
   • else use "chgrp" & "chown" commands

System Storage

1. only the mount point need be changed
   • admin tools such as Synaptic, Yast2 etc can be used to set mount points
   • second HDD are likely to be most beneficially used in SOHO systems for one of /usr, /home or /srv

Rpeters22:10, 20 September 2012 (EST)