How to mount a new drive on startup [duplicate]

I have recently installed a new hard drive to my Ubuntu 10.0.4 box. I used System -> Administration -> Disk Utils to format the disk (ext4 file type) - but did not create a partition (is this advisable?).

I have manually mounted the drive as /mydata.

I want to have the machine automatically mount the device on startup/reboot. How may I do this?

[[Update]]

This is the output from running sudo fdisk -l on my system:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000858bf

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       59334   476595200   83  Linux
/dev/sda2           59334       60802    11789313    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           59334       60802    11789312   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 16.0 GB, 16026435072 bytes
254 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1956 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16002 * 512 = 8193024 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1        1955    15641929    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

First of all your /dev/sdb isn't partitioned. I am assuming this is the disk you want to mount.

WARNING: THIS WILL DESTROY ANY DATA ON YOUR TARGET DISK

Run sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

1. Press O and press Enter (creates a new table)

2. Press N and press Enter (creates a new partition)

3. Press P and press Enter (makes a primary partition)

4. Then press 1 and press Enter (creates it as the 1st partition)

5. Finally, press W (this will write any changes to disk)

Okay now you have a partition, now you need a filesystem.

6. Run sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

7. Now you can add it to fstab

   You need to add it to /etc/fstab use your favourite text editor

   Be careful with this file as it can quite easily cause your system not to boot.

   Add a line for the drive, the format would look like this.

   This assumes the partition is formatted as ext4 as per mkfs above

   #device        mountpoint             fstype    options  dump   fsck
   
   /dev/sdb1    /home/yourname/mydata    ext4    defaults    0    1
   

Then on the next reboot it will auto mount.

This web page has a lot of useful info on fstab

The GUI solution for me is gnome-disks

sudo gnome-disks

Then with the configuration button you can "edit mount options", feel free to give the destination of your mount point and it will be saved into the /etc/fstab automatically

Note: the nofail option that causes the system not to hang if this mount point is not available, could be useful in case of potential unreachable filesystem on boot such as USB, NFS, etc.

To set the drive to mount automatically each time you boot the computer

You’ll need to edit /etc/fstab:

Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command below.

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add this line to the end:

/dev/sdaX /media/mydata ext4 defaults 0 0

Note: Make sure to replace the X with the right value for your situation.

Or you can use Storage Device Manager, from the software centre.

The fstab file lets the system know which drives to mount (or how to mount them, at least).

sudo edit /etc/fstab

then add a line like this one:

/dev/sdb1      /mydata   ext4   defaults   0   0

Of course, replace the values to suit your actual locations:

• /dev/sdb1 should be the device and partition for the disk you want to mount.
• /mydata is the place where you want to mount it.
• ext4 is the type of filesystem it's using. If you're not sure, issue the mount command without arguments when the drive is mounted (even if you mounted it manually), it will tell you the filesystem type. (in 12.04 you may simply type auto which determines the filesystem for you at launch)
• The other values (defaults 0 0) are OK like I show them.

If you want to learn more, you can read man fstab.