2.0 KiB
+++ date = '2026-08-02T20:58:52-04:00' title = 'fstab guide' draft = true tags = ['linux', 'guide'] +++
When I was but a burgeoning penguin cutting my teeth in Mint, my first few forays with mounting a new drive had proven to be a struggle. Sure - LLMs exist now, why bother writing this?
Why not.
This brief tutorial should be cross-flavor, meaning it should work on Debian-, Fedora-, and Arch-based systems alike. For today's guide we'll be using CachyOS, adjust for your package manager accordingly! :)
STOP TALKING AND GIVE ME INFO
Installing Gnome Disks
I'm assuming your drive is already installed in the machine.
To begin, if you don't already have it, I like to use Gnome's Disk Utility on most of my distributions - it is handy for our use case.
Install it with:
sudo pacman -Syyu
sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility
Then we leave that terminal open to the side, and open up what we just installed. You can either search "Disks" in your app launcher, or run:
gnome-disk-utility
Ideally you'll have Disks on one window, terminal on the other.
Formatting
Now. In Disks, you'll want to format your disk from the 3-dot menu in the top right.
Once formatted, mount the sucker. Name it something you'll remember, we'll need it soon.
(Quick note! If you plan to daily this drive in Linux, leave it as "ext4". If you intend to dual boot, format to "fat32")
Making a Directory
Now you're formatted. You'll notice a little string of numbers under the partition now, a field labeled "UUID". We need that. Copy paste your UUID, and move over to the terminal
Now it's time to make a directory - so the computer knows where to dump the available storage. In your terminal:
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/YourDriveName
Name the directory whatever you decided earlier.
/etc/fstab
sudo nano /etc/fstab
Use the DOWN key to go to the bottom of the file. Once there, insert:
UUID=[uuid from Gnome Disk Util] /mnt/