Need a little guidance with fstab and "bind" option...

[jonrpick]

I just completed a fresh installation of F13 on my newly rebuilt PC. I decided to keep a separate large partition for documents, downloads, videos, music, etc... However I didn't want several smaller ones. I just created the one big one and mounted it at /mnt/Extra.

Afterward, I created folders in that partition such as "Downloads", "Music", etc... then using the "bind" option in my /etc/fstab file, I mounted those folders to the folders under my /home directory.

Follow me, so far? When I save a file in /home/pickens/Downloads the file is physically located at /mnt/Extra/Downloads. My reasoning for doing so is so that I can run multiple distros while keeping all of my files within reach. When I install Mandriva, for instance (later today, probably) the contents of /home/pickens/Downloads will be exactly the same.

So... I noticed that of the folders I've mapped over to the /home/pickens folder, there are now TWO locations appearing with the same name--one with the full path "/home/pickens/Downloads" and another that just says "Downloads". They both appear under "Places" but the latter doesn't have a folder icon--it has an icon that looks like a CDROM drive.

Here's a screenshot as an example, as well as the error I get when I click on the location:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...42f7b96f_b.jpg



If I'd scrolled down further to the "Downloads" location that has the folder icon, it'll work fine.

Why do I have a redundant, non-working location?

Here's my fstab file, in case it helps...

[pickens@Galvetron ~]$ cat /etc/fstab 

#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Thu Nov  4 12:42:43 2010
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info
#
UUID=72f69745-f850-45dc-8219-9d8d6b207220 /                       ext4    defaults        1 1
UUID=65d8c382-777f-42f8-8c68-8ac22587a944 swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
UUID=c67e5e4d-54fb-46a1-9dc4-53d33d75b629 /mnt/Extra     ext3    rw,noexec,auto,users,async        0 0
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0

/mnt/Extra/Desktop/     /home/pickens/Desktop/   auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/DirecTV/     /home/pickens/DirecTV/   auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/Documents/   /home/pickens/Documents/ auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/Downloads/   /home/pickens/Downloads/ auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/Movies/      /home/pickens/Movies/    auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/Music/       /home/pickens/Music/     auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/Pictures/    /home/pickens/Pictures/  auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
/mnt/Extra/Videos/      /home/pickens/Videos/    auto    rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0
[pickens@Galvetron ~]$

Thanks!

~Jon

[Mack]

I'm not an authority, but I've used "bind" a good deal for other purposes. And at least you deserve a reply.

You might try lines like

/mnt/Extra/Desktop/ /home/pickens/Desktop/ none rw,bind 0 0

rather than

/mnt/Extra/Desktop/ /home/pickens/Desktop/ auto rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0

I think you're just attaching one node in the directory tree at another, rather than mounting a files system there (hence "none" for "auto").

If this doesn't help, you could always use symlinks: Remove /home/pickens/Desktop/ and instead

ln -s /mnt/Extra/Desktop /home/pickens/Desktop

My experience is that this works just as well unless the remapped directories include relative symlinks (that is links to nodes starting "../..").

I hope this helps...

[jonrpick]

Originally Posted by Mack

I'm not an authority, but I've used "bind" a good deal for other purposes. And at least you deserve a reply.

You might try lines like

/mnt/Extra/Desktop/ /home/pickens/Desktop/ none rw,bind 0 0

rather than

/mnt/Extra/Desktop/ /home/pickens/Desktop/ auto rw,noexec,auto,users,async,bind 0 0

I think you're just attaching one node in the directory tree at another, rather than mounting a files system there (hence "none" for "auto").

If this doesn't help, you could always use symlinks: Remove /home/pickens/Desktop/ and instead

ln -s /mnt/Extra/Desktop /home/pickens/Desktop

My experience is that this works just as well unless the remapped directories include relative symlinks (that is links to nodes starting "../..").

I hope this helps...

That made sense... Those "extra", non-mountable volumes had the disk icons next to them as if they were removable volumes. They were listed right along-side the other removable media types (cd/dvd, flash cards, etc...)

I this, as you suggested:

/mnt/Extra/Desktop/     /home/pickens/Desktop/   auto    rw,bind         0 0

...and the removable volumes went away, yet the folders themselves still functioned the same.

Thanks for your help...

~Jon