path: root/gnome-users-guide/gnome-users-guide-1.4/C/applets/drivemount-ug.sgml

 <sect2 id="drivemountapplet">
  <title>Drive Mount Applet</title>

   <para>
   <application>Drive Mount Applet</application>, shown in <xref
   linkend="drivemountapplet-fig">, allows you to quickly and easily
   mount and unmount various types of drives and filesystems on your
   computer.  To add this applet to a <interface>Panel</interface>, 
   right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface> and choose
   <menuchoice>
    <guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
    <guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
    <guisubmenu>Applet</guisubmenu>
    <guisubmenu>Utility</guisubmenu>
    <guimenuitem>Drive Mount</guimenuitem>
   </menuchoice>.
  </para>

  <figure id="drivemountapplet-fig">
   <title>Drive Mount Applet</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Drive Mount Applet</screeninfo>
    <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/drivemount_applet_floppy" 
    srccredit="muet">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>

  <note>
   <title>Background Information for Beginners</title>
   <para>
    Many file systems on Linux and Unix systems must be manually
    mounted and unmounted.  After a file system is mounted, you can
    read and write to it.  When you are finished with a file system,
    you should unmount it.  It is important to unmount removable
    drives, such as floppy disks and Zip disks,
    before removing the media, because Linux and Unix systems do not
    always write the changes made immediately.  They typically buffer
    the changes made to the disk in order to improve the speed of the
    system. Partitions on fixed drives, such as your hard drive, are
    typically mounted automatically when your computer boots and
    unmounted when it shuts down.  Removable media must be mounted and
    unmounted by hand, such as by using the <application>Drive
    Mount</application> applet.  
   </para>
   <para>
    The "root
    filesystem" is the main filesystem on your computer starting with
    "/" (root).  Other filesystems are associated with directories inside
    the root filesystem.  These are called "mount points", which are
    just empty directories.  When a filesystem is mounted, its
    contents appear inside this directory.  As an example, most
    systems create a mount point "/mnt/floppy" which is just an empty
    directory if your floppy drive is not mounted.  It contains
    the contents of your floppy if the floppy drive is mounted.
   </para>
  </note>

  <!-- ============= Usage  ================================ -->
  <sect3 id="drivemount-usage">
   <title>Usage</title>
   <para>
    To mount or unmount a drive, simply click on the
    <application>Drive Mount Applet</application> icon with the left
    mouse button.  For drives which can eject their media, such as 
    most CDROM's and JAZ drives, you can eject the drive by clicking on the
    icon with the right mouse button and selecting
    <guimenuitem>Eject</guimenuitem>. To browse the contents of the
    drive with the <application>GNOME File Manager</application>, select
    <guimenuitem>Browse&hellip;</guimenuitem>. 
   </para>

   <para>
    Right-clicking on the applet brings up a menu containing the
    following items:
    <itemizedlist>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Browse&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash; shows
       the contents of the drive using the <application>GNOME File
       Manager</application>.
       The drive must be mounted for this to work.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Eject</guimenuitem> &mdash; ejects the
       storage medium for drives which can be ejected, such as       
       CDROM's and JAZ drives.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       opens the <link linkend="drivemountapplet-prefs">
       <guilabel>Properties</guilabel></link> dialog.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       displays this document.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>About&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       shows basic information about <application>Drive Mount
       Applet</application>, including the applet's version and the
       author's name.
      </para>
     </listitem>

    </itemizedlist>
   </para>

   <para>
    The mount point and mount status of a drive is shown in a tooltip
    if the cursor is left over the applet for a short time, as shown
    in <xref linkend="drivemountapplettooltips-fig">.
    <figure id="drivemountapplettooltips-fig">
     <title>Drive Mount Applet showing tooltip</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Drive Mount Applet showing tooltip</screeninfo>
      <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/drivemount_applet_tooltip"
      srccredit="muet">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
   </para>

  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Customization ============================= -->
  <sect3 id="drivemountapplet-prefs">
    <title>Customization</title>
    <para>
      You can customize <application>Drive Mount</application>
      applet by right-clicking on it and choosing
      <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem>. This will open the
      <interface>Properties</interface> dialog(shown in <xref
      linkend="drivemount-settings-fig">), which allows you to
      change various settings.
    </para>

    <figure id="drivemount-settings-fig">
     <title>Properties dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Properties dialog</screeninfo>
      <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/drivemount_applet_settings" 
      srccredit="muet">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>

    <para>
     The properties are:
     <itemizedlist>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Mount Point</guilabel> &mdash; This is the mount
        point used when mounting the drive.  This is
        an empty directory which will hold the contents of the drive
        whenever the drive is mounted.  Mount points can occur
        anywhere in your filesystem, but the convention is to put all
        mount points for removable drives in the  <filename
        class="directory">/mnt</filename>
        directory.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Update in seconds</guilabel> &mdash; This is the
        interval in seconds at
        which <application>Drive Mount</application> refreshes its
        icon by checking the mount status.  This is only
        important if you sometimes mount or unmount a drive using a
        command or application other than <application>Drive
        Mount</application>.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Icon</guilabel> &mdash; This determines the icons
        (one for unmounted and
        one for mounted) displayed for the
        drive.  There are icon sets for most of the commonly used
        drives (floppy, CDROM, Zip, hard disk, and JAZ).
        They are shown in <xref
        linkend="drivemountappletall-fig">. You may also select
        <guimenuitem>Custom</guimenuitem>; this allows you to specify
        your own icons.
       </para>
       <figure id="drivemountappletall-fig">
        <title>Icons for Mounted and Unmounted Drives of Various Types</title>
        <screenshot>
         <screeninfo>Icons for Mounted and Unmounted Drives of Various
         Types</screeninfo> 
         <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/drivemount_applet_all" 
         srccredit="muet">
         </graphic>
        </screenshot>
       </figure>
       <para>
        Notice that <xref linkend="drivemountappletall-fig">
        shows the icons for the unmounted and mounted states of (from
        left to right) floppy, CDROM, Zip, JAZ, and hard disk drives.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Custom icon for mounted</guilabel>  &mdash; A custom
        icon which is
        displayed when the drive is mounted.  This option is only
        available if the <guimenu>Icon:</guimenu> selection is set to
        "Custom". 
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Custom icon for not mounted</guilabel>  &mdash; A
        custom icon which is
        displayed when the drive is not mounted.  This option is only
        available if the <guimenu>Icon:</guimenu> selection is set to
        "Custom". 
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>Scale size to panel</guibutton> &mdash; Selecting
        this option scales
        the size of the mounted and unmounted icons with the
        <interface>Panel</interface>'s size.  If this option is not
        set, the icon sizes are fixed, independent of the size of
        the <interface>Panel</interface>. Selecting this option
        typically makes for a nicer appearance.  For very small
        <interface>Panel</interface> sizes, unselecting this option
        may be useful, as it forces the applet to appear rotated and
        larger, which makes it easier to see.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>Use automount friendly status test</guibutton>
        &mdash;  Select this option
        if you use automount, otherwise leave it unselected.
       </para>
       <note>
        <title>Information for Advanced Users</title>
        <para>
         The default command used by <application>Drive
         Mount</application>to test whether a drive is mounted is
         <command>stat</command> and would cause the drive to actually be
         mounted if the user is using
         <application>automount</application>. If this button is 
         selected, it uses <command>mount</command> instead, which
         does not cause <application>automount</application> to mount
         the drive.  The reason this button is not selected by default
         is that <command>mount</command> is more cpu intensive than
         <command>stat</command>. 
        </para>
       </note>
      </listitem>

     </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para>After you have made all the changes you want, click on
      <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to apply the changes and close the
      <interface>Properties</interface> dialog. Click
      <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> to apply changes without closing.
      <guibutton>Close</guibutton> closes
      <interface>Properties</interface> without saving changes which
      have not been applied.  Applied changes cannot be cancelled.
    </para>
  </sect3>

  <!-- ============= Configuring Your System  ============== -->
  <sect3 id="drivemountapplet-configuring">
   <title>Configuring Your System</title>

   <warning>
    <title>For Advanced Users</title>
    <para>
     This section is intended for system administrators and advanced
     users.
    </para>
   </warning>
  
   <para>
    In order for <application>Drive Mount Applet</application> to work
    properly, the system may need to be configured by the system
    administrator, using root privileges.  This section provides a
    very basic introduction.
   </para>

   <para>
    Information describing the mount point and filesystem type of each
    drive is kept in <filename>/etc/fstab</filename>.  This can be
    configured by hand or by using the
    <application>linuxconf</application> application. For drives which
    do not always have a single filesystem type (such as a floppy
    drive which may have msdos or ext2 filesystems), you should use
    "auto" for the filesystem type.  Each device has a single line in
    /etc/fstab of the following form:
    <programlisting>
    /dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy      auto    noauto,rw,user  0 0
    </programlisting>
    This entry describes the first floppy device (/dev/fd0) as having
    a mount point of <filename>/mnt/floppy</filename>, a variable
    filesystem type which should be automatically detected, and the
    following configurations: "noauto"&mdash; Do not automatically
    mount the drive when the computer is booted, "rw"&mdash; The drive
    is readable and writable, and "user"&mdash; Users have permission
    to mount the drive.  These, along with the last two fields which
    we do not describe here, are discussed in detail in the fstab man
    pages, available by typing <command>man fstab</command> or through
    the <application>GNOME Help Browser</application>.
   </para>
   <para>
    The <application>linuxconf</application> application provides a
    graphical interface for controlling these filesystems.  To start
    <application>linuxconf</application>, just type
    <command>linuxconf</command> in a shell window (you must log in as
    root). Select 
    <menuchoice>
     <guimenu>Config</guimenu>
     <guisubmenu>filesystems</guisubmenu>
     <guimenuitem>Access local drive</guimenuitem>
    </menuchoice>. 
    To edit an entry, just select
    it. <application>linuxconf</application> is meant to be easy
    to use and has its own internal help system to guide you
    through the process. You may also add new entries by selecting the
    <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button.
   </para>
  </sect3>


  <!-- ============ Troubleshooting & Error Messages ======= -->
  <sect3 id="drivemountapplet-troubleshooting">
   <title>Troubleshooting and Understanding Error Messages</title>
   <para>
    If you do not have your system configured properly, you may
    encounter certain error messages when trying to mount or access
    certain drives. Here are some of the more common error messages
    and their causes: 
    <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>mount: /dev/fd0 is not a valid block
       device</quote>&mdash; The most common cause for this error is
       that the drive (in this example, /dev/fd0, corresponding to the
       floppy drive) is empty. 
      </para>
     </listitem> 
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>mount: only root can mount /dev/fda on
       /mnt/floppy</quote>&mdash; You do not have permission to mount
       this drive.  Contact the system administrator, who can give you
       permission. 
      </para>
      <note>
       <title>Note for System Administrators</title>
       <para>
        You can set a drive to be mountable and unmountable by users by
        adding "users" to the mount options (fourth column) in
        <filename>/etc/fstab</filename>.  This may be done by hand or
        by using <application>linuxconf</application>, using the
        <guilabel>Local volume</guilabel> tab in  
       <menuchoice>
        <guimenu>Config</guimenu>
        <guisubmenu>Filesystems</guisubmenu>
        <guimenuitem>Access local drive</guimenuitem>
       </menuchoice>. After you select the correct drive from the list,
        it will show you the <guilabel>Volume
        specifications</guilabel>.  Click on the
        <guilabel>Options</guilabel> tab, and select the
        <guibutton>User mountable</guibutton> button. 
       </para>
      </note>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on
       /dev/cdrom, or too many mounted file systems</quote>&mdash;
       This error can be caused by several problems.  It is most
       commonly caused by not having the right filesystem type, such as
       trying to mount a music CDROM as if it held data, or trying to
       mount an msdos formatted floppy as ext2.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>mount /mnt/cdrom 2>&1 reported: mount: No medium
       found</quote>&mdash; This error indicates the drive, in
       this case the CDROM drive, is empty.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>umount /mnt/cdrom 2>&1 reported: umount: /mnt/cdrom:
       device is busy</quote>&mdash; This error indicates that the
       drive cannot be unmounted because the drive is being used by
       the computer.  This often happens if you have the
       <application>GNOME File Manager</application> open to a
       directory on the drive or if you have a terminal window open
       with the working directory on the drive.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>umount: can't find /mnt/floppy in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
       </quote>&mdash;
       This indicates that the system has not been configured to mount
       the mount point you are trying to use.  In many cases, you may
       have put the wrong mount point in the <guilabel>Mount
       point</guilabel> entry in the <interface>Properties
       Dialog</interface> (see <xref
       linkend="drivemountapplet-prefs">). To find out which mount
       point you should be using, contact your system administrator.
      </para>
      <note>
       <title>Note for Advanced Users</title>
       <para>
        Each device (filesystem or drive) which can be mounted should
        be listed in the <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> configuration
        file. Reading this file will tell you which devices are
        configured for your system.  To add or modify entries, you can
        edit this file by hand or by using the
        <application>linuxconf</application> application.
       </para>
      </note>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>mount: /dev/fd0 already mounted or /mnt/floppy busy
       mount: according to mtab, /dev/fd0 is mounted on /mnt/floppy_ext2
       </quote>&mdash;
       This error occurs if you have a single device (in this case
       /dev/fd0) configured for multiple mount points and you try to
       mount one mount point while another one is already mounted.
       Having multiple mount points for a single device typically is
       not necessary.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <quote>mount: the kernel does not recognize /dev/sda4 as a
       block device(maybe 'insmod driver'?)</quote>&mdash; Contact
       your system administrator. (This error
       occurs if your kernel is not properly configured to
       automatically mount the necessary kernel modules to read the
       device.)
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </para>
  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Bugs ================================== -->
  <!-- This section should describe known bugs and limitations of
       the program if there are any - please be frank and list all
       problems you know of -->
  <sect3 id="drivemount-bugs">
   <title>Known Bugs and Limitations</title>
   <para>
    <guimenuitem>Eject</guimenuitem> does not always work.  Trying to
    eject with the drive mounted does not give a warning, explaining
    why the drive does not eject.
   </para>
  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Authors ================================ -->

  <sect3 id="drivemount-authors">
   <title>Authors</title>
   <para>
    <application>Drive Mount Applet</application> was written by John Ellis
    (<email>johne@bellatlantic.net</email>).  Please send all comments,
    suggestions, and bug 
    reports to the <ulink url="http://bugs.gnome.org" type="http">GNOME
    bug tracking database</ulink>. (Instructions for submitting bug
    reports can be found <ulink
    url="http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html" type="http">
    on-line</ulink>. If you are using
    GNOME 1.1 or later, you can also use <application>Bug Report
    Tool</application> (<command>bug-buddy</command>), available in the
    <guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> submenu of <guimenu>Main
    Menu</guimenu>, for submitting bug reports.
   </para>

   <para>
    This manual was written by Dan Mueth
    (<email>d-mueth@uchicago.edu</email>). Please send all comments and
    suggestions regarding this manual to the <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.gnome.org/gdp">GNOME Documentation Project</ulink> 
    by sending an email to <email>docs@gnome.org</email>. You can also
    submit comments online by using the <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.gnome.org/gdp/doctable/">GNOME Documentation Status
    Table</ulink>.
   </para>

   <!-- For translations: uncomment this:

   <para>
    Latin translation was done by ME
    (<email>MYNAME@MYADDRESS</email>). Please send all  comments  and
    suggestions regarding this translation to SOMEWHERE.
   </para>

   -->

  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Application License ============================= -->

  <!-- 
   <sect3 id="license">
   <title>License</title>
   <para>
    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
    modify it under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU General Public
    License</citetitle> as published by the Free Software Foundation;
    either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
    version.
   </para>
   <para>
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> for more details.
   </para>
   <para>
    A copy of the <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> is
    included as an appendix to the <citetitle>GNOME Users
    Guide</citetitle>.  You may also obtain a copy of the
    <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> from the Free
    Software Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to
    <address>
     Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     <street>59 Temple Place</street> - Suite 330
     <city>Boston</city>, <state>MA</state> <postcode>02111-1307</postcode>
     <country>USA</country>
    </address>
   </para>
  </sect3>

 --> 
 </sect2>