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Thread ID: 66894	2006-03-10 05:29:00	Linux - /home/me on a portable HDD?	personthingy (1670)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
437184	2006-03-11 04:08:00	Coming at you logged in as "personthingy" whose files live on /mnt/sda5/personthingy , instead of the usual and predictable /home/personthingy So far there seems to be no problem, although it will be interesting when i go home in a couple of days to see what my computer has to think about using /mnt/sda5/personthingy as a location for the new users files I'm just going to reboot, just to see what the system thinks of logging "personthingy" into /mnt/sda5/personthingy, when up to now that partition wasn't mounted unless i told the system to do so.. la la la la la	personthingy (1670)
437185	2006-03-11 04:19:00	And we have the predictable problem.. sda5 is not mounted, so without the users files, i am returned to the log in screen, where i must log in as root, and then i must mount /mnt/sda5, log out, and finaly log in as personthingy, this time successfully So far i have found no issues with anything not working as per normal, apart from the above. Is there a way to tidy away this small issue of sda5 not being mounted by default?	personthingy (1670)
437186	2006-03-11 04:23:00	Another option is to install a linux distro in the usb hard disk, along with a bootloader. This is only an option if both the computers allow you to boot of a usb HDD, and if your Hard Disk is big enough. Also the advantage with this is that you can perform updates to the system without burning another cdrom. This is just an alternative - just giving ideas ;)Yes this might work if i thought i was only ever going to be the only user of this box under *nix.... however, i would like this machine to work as a *nix box without the USB HDD, as i am ever hopeful that those who live here might at some stage play :D	personthingy (1670)
437187	2006-03-12 00:58:00	Chris, I think the best way wil be to do it this way. Always log in using the /home/personthingy "permanent" directory. That will always work. It will let the system use that directory for its "notes", and other things it needs to remember between sessions (which might differ between computers). So you're doing everything in a standard way as far as the system's concerned. If your external disk is a USB, it can be set up to be automatically mounted (possibly to /mnt/removable by default) if it's plugged in when you boot, or when it's plugged in. (I've had trouble stopping this from happening sometimes. :D ) Make a softlink to that mount point in /home/personthingy. (Or make a mount point in /home/pt and change the fstab entry accordingly. That's less desirable, because the damn user-fiendly stuff [kudzu etc] can change fstab without asking you.) I'd use a softlink. This way you'll have to do a CD (or mouseclick) to get to the portable directory, but you'll find it automatic after a couple of times. But it will work. Guaranteed. No unexpected oopses. And it won't affect anyone else. If you arrive somewhere without the external disk, you can still do things in your own directory.	Graham L (2)
437188	2006-03-15 06:26:00	Well.. the result of the expererment..... I now have access to 2 computers that see "personthingy"'s home as /mnt/sda5/personthingy I've set the acount # to 1111 as thats high enough that i probably won't encounter it elseware, but is easy to remember. I need to log in as root to ensure sda5 is indeed mounted, and then i log in as "personthingy" So far there are NO problems other than amerok, my media player looks in /Music and there's a different collection on the different host machine. This causes some small hickups. I imagine there will be similar errors with missing progs and the likes. In essence its a success, i carry "me" in a portable HDD the size of a ciggerette packet, and all my mail, my bookmarks and most used stuff are with me. I can see no reason why it couldn't be done on a pen drive. :D me chuffed	personthingy (1670)
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