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Idea #7805: Permanent Mount Names for External Devices

Written by yochaigal the 29 Apr 08 at 00:43. Category: Hardware support. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale

One major flaw I've found is with mounting devices.
It would be great if one could just plug a device in, then after it mounts s/he could give it a permanent mount name.
People shouldn't have to manipulate udev rules!

Below is an example:

A new linux user is using Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, Gnome or KDE.
They have one external USB hard drive, and one USB flash drive. Let's say they first plug in the external drive, it mounts under /dev/sda1 (successfully, let's assume hotplugging works) to the location /media/disk.
The user plugs in the flash drive. It mounts as /dev/sda2 to the location /media/usbdisk.
Success! But wait, what happens if the user unmounts both devices, and then reverses the procedure? What if he mounts the usb drive first?

Lo and behold, the opposite happens:it configures them as /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda1, respectively mounting the external drive to /media/usbdisk, and vice-versa.
Now, /etc/fstab allows you to assign device markers (/dev) to certain mountpoints, right? But how can one effect which new device is assigned which marker? With UUIDS, right?
But when one assigns UUIDs to certain /devs, it effectively disables hotplugging!
So where are we? Back at the beginning!
Now, I may be wrong about a few of the particulars here, and if so, please, please correct me. But does anyone know a way around this?
In Windows XP, Vista, and Mac OS X, one can assign a mount point/drive/partition a permanent name.
This is very annoying; for example if I have shifting mount points then my ktorrent, amarok saved locations get screwed up.

There are a few programs that help with this.

http://flomertens.free.fr/disk-manager/features.html
http://pysdm.sourceforge.net/
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #7805
Written by yochaigal the 29 Apr 08 at 00:43.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #7805 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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forum Ubuntuforums.org thread #728241


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Comments
yochaigal wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 04:49
If you are voting against this, please explain. I really can't see why someone would be against this; or at least suggest an alternative.

Cypher wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 09:30
Right click on the device in Dolphin, go into the properties, and change it's name... Yeap, that's it, you've just done it the way you wanted. Next time you'll plug it in, it will retake its name. And there are some other interesting mounting options there, have a look.

I guess GNOME does not allow to do this... I'd be surprised if you could.

Endolith wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 13:45
I think I disagree with this. The mount name should depend on the partition's label, and everything you would want to do with it should be accessible that way. Whether it shows up as /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda2 should be irrelevant.

a3_nm wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 14:54
I agree with Endolith, however I do not know of any easy way to change a drive's label using the Gnome interface.

yochaigal wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 15:15
Dolphin (ie KDE4) allows you to change mount names; but they don't keep.
Try my experiment.
Also, the mount name doesn't necessarily depend on the device node; but we still do need a way to keep mounts static; I have seen more than a few newbies turned away from GNU/Linux because they keep having to reconfigure their media players and torrent clients.

yochaigal wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 18:30
I should point out that I'm not suggesting we enrich the mount options already available by Gnome/KDE 3.5/KDE 4.0.
I am simply suggesting that we make static udev rules easier to apply; or create a simple setup gui that does all the hard work for us and allows hotplugging.

daisy.code wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 19:24
Does ext3/2 have the capability to hold disk labels? Is the UUID unique for each disk?

With a FAT32 USB Stick, the disk label works quite nicely. I suppose you'd have to use fdisk or gparted (gfloppy?) for that.

I'd like to see this option for various types of USB device. Joypad 1 and 2 are a good example.

yochaigal wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 20:07
See
http://www.lissot.net/partition/ext2fs/labels.html

Rinzwind wrote on the 29 Apr 08 at 20:14
a3_nm: if you right click on an external device you can set its mount point name in the right most tab.


tgape wrote on the 3 May 08 at 21:04
I think MacOS X does this nearly right - when you insert formated removable media, it gets the label off of the media, and uses that as the directory name - which is dynamically created as needed.

Now, I feel MacOS X fails, in that one can only change the label name through the GUI. IMHO, any rename of the mount point by an authorized user should do a relabel.

Having said that, I have no issue with also making a device-centric name available. This could be done by making a symbolic link from one to the other

awalton wrote on the 3 May 08 at 21:35
"Does ext3/2 have the capability to hold disk labels?"
Yes. e2label.

"Is the UUID unique for each disk?"
UUID stands for "Universally Unique IDentifier". If it weren't Universally Unique, then it'd hardly be worth calling it that.

xapient wrote on the 10 May 08 at 10:43
i just tried with two USB devices and it worked perfect..

i am using konqueror (kde 3.5.9)- disk labeled.. mountpoint defined... test.. works.. new test in different "plugin" order.. also works.. did i miss something?

jpka wrote on the 25 Jun 08 at 17:23
+1

I comment some about this here
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5228822#post5228822


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