Managing Storage Media in Linux

Linux provides strong capabilities for handling storage devices, both physical (e.g., hard disks and USB drives) and virtual (e.g., RAID, LVM). This guide covers key command-line tools for common tasks such as mounting devices, formatting partitions, and creating CD-ROM images without deep system-level configuration.

Essential Commands

mount: Attach a file system
umount: Detach a file system
fsck: Check and repair file systems
fdisk: Partition table manipulation
mkfs: Create a file system
dd: Clone or convert data
genisoimage: Build ISO 9660 files
wodim: Burn data to optical media
md5sum: Verify data integrity

Mounting and Unmounting Devices

Mounting integrates a device into Linux's unified file system. Unlike Windows (C:, D:, etc.), Linux uses a single tree. The /etc/fstab file defines mount points for system boot:

LABEL=/12 / ext4 defaults 1 1

LABEL=/home /home ext4 defaults 1 2

LABEL=/boot /boot ext4 defaults 1 2

fstab Fields

Field	Description
Device	Name, label, or UUID (e.g., /dev/sda1)
Mount Point	Where to attach device (e.g., /home)
File System Type	e.g., ext4, ntfs, vfat, iso9660
Options	Mount flags (e.g., rw, ro)
Frequency	Backup setting for `dump`
Order	Check order for `fsck`

Viewing Mounted Systems

mount

/dev/sda2 on / type ext4
/dev/sda5 on /home type ext4
/dev/sdb1 on /media/disk type vfat

Mounting a CD-ROM

sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom

sudo mount -t iso9660 /dev/sdc /mnt/cdrom

Accessing the Contents

cd /mnt/cdrom
ls

Unmounting a Device

cd
umount /dev/sdc

If a device is in use (e.g., current working directory), umount fails until released.

Why Unmounting Matters

Linux uses RAM buffering for performance. Unmounting flushes writes and prevents data loss.

Identifying Devices

ls /dev
tail -f /var/log/messages

Example log when connecting USB:

sdb: sdb1
Attached SCSI removable disk

Mounting a Flash Drive

sudo mkdir /mnt/flash

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/flash

df

Creating File Systems

Using fdisk

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

p: Show partitions
t: Set type (e.g., 83 = Linux)
w: Write and exit
q: Quit without saving

Formatting with mkfs

mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdb1
mkfs -t vfat /dev/sdb1

Testing and Repairing with fsck

umount /dev/sdb1
fsck /dev/sdb1

/dev/sdb1: clean, 11/3904 files, 1661/15608 blocks

Copying Data with dd

dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc

dd if=/dev/sdb of=flash_drive.img

Creating CD-ROM Images

Clone a CD-ROM

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=ubuntu.iso

Create ISO from Directory

genisoimage -o cd-rom.iso -R -J ~/cd-rom-files

Mounting ISO Files

mkdir /mnt/iso_image

sudo mount -t iso9660 -o loop image.iso /mnt/iso_image

umount /mnt/iso_image

Erasing and Burning CD-RWs

wodim dev=/dev/cdrw blank=fast

wodim dev=/dev/cdrw image.iso

Verifying ISO Integrity

md5sum image.iso

Compare ISO to Disc:

md5sum dvd-image.iso

dd if=/dev/dvd bs=2048 count=$(( $(stat -c "%s" dvd-image.iso) / 2048 ))

Conclusion

Tools like mount, fdisk, mkfs, and dd give Linux users deep control over storage media. Mastering these commands helps ensure safe device handling, efficient backups, and solid system management.