DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Help Me to Edit FSTAB File

8 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/help-me-to-edit-fstab-file.90903/

Rahim
Rahim Original post #1
Jun 20, 2008 at 12:34 AM
Bought 300 GB IDE and created 3 Partitions:
/dev/sdb1 ext3
/dev/sdb2 ext3
/dev/sdb3 vfat

Here is my fstab file
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/WinXP ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_IN 0 0
/dev/sda5 /media/Songs ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_IN 0 0
/dev/sda6 / ext3 errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda7 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda8 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd1 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/Linux ext3 auto,user,exec,rw 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/Dump ext3 auto,user,exec,rw 0 0
/dev/sdb3 /media/Multi vfat auto,user,exec,rw 0 0

But whenever i try to copy to sdb1/2/3 it sayd "You DOnt Have The Permission to write to the destination".
So how can i edit the parameters to anble me to create/delete(read/write) in the 2nd Hard Disk?
Faun
Faun #2
Jun 20, 2008 at 1:20 AM
first edit ur fstab as given below
/dev/sdb1 /media/Linux ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/Dump ext3 defaults 0 0
then

do
sudo mount -a
do a chown to the directory where the sdb1 and sdb2 are mounted
e.g.
sudo chown -R username:username /media/Linux
sudo chown -R username:username /media/Dump
where username is your user account name, it is displayed in terminal.

for fat i dunno wats the problem, but it should be writeable
/dev/sdb3 /media/Multi vfat relatime 0 2
them
sudo mount -a
then
try to do the chown method with fat too
Rahim
Rahim #3
Jun 20, 2008 at 1:31 AM
Here is the error for fat partition
"chown: changing ownership of `/media/Multi/': Operation not permitted"
Faun
Faun #4
Jun 20, 2008 at 1:42 AM
use
/dev/sdb3 /media/Multi vfat umask=000 0 0

and then
sudo mount -a

see if now u can write on fat partition
else reboot to effect changes
Rahim
Rahim #5
Jun 20, 2008 at 2:00 AM
^That did the trick. thanks again.
Faun
Faun #6
Jun 20, 2008 at 2:01 AM
anytime :D
M
Jun 20, 2008 at 2:19 AM
Why not let the VFS do it's stuff? Why live with old age tech? What you need in fstab is just your / and swap. All else can be handled by auto mounters.
Rahim
Rahim #8
Jun 20, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Now everything has been setup properly thanks to T159.
The 2 ext3 partitions in 2nd drive (sdb1 & sdb2), are both named as 83 GB Media & 21 GB Media respectively on the Desktop. I want to give a label to both like "Songs" & "Videos" like it has been given for ntfs partitions or my vfat partitons(sdb3) as "Multi"(I named it through XP).
How can i do it?
Remember i have no problem with the mount points and permissions.