How to mount disk and partition in Linux

You need to mount the disks or partitions that you want to use to a folder (mount point) before the data within it is accessible to you. From there you'll be able to navigate the filesystem and perform read or write operations.

You can manually mount disks and partitions manually each time you need to use it or you can add an entry in /etc/fstab so it automatically mounts everytime your system boots. You can mount these drives via the device name, label or UUID.

1. Launch terminal.
2. Get disk or partition name that you want to mount.

   $ lsblk
   NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
   loop0    7:0    0  55.4M  1 loop /snap/core18/1944
   loop1    7:1    0  55.4M  1 loop /snap/core18/1932
   loop2    7:2    0 217.9M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/60
   loop3    7:3    0   219M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/66
   loop4    7:4    0  64.8M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514
   loop5    7:5    0    51M  1 loop /snap/snap-store/518
   loop6    7:6    0  62.1M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
   loop7    7:7    0    51M  1 loop /snap/snap-store/498
   loop8    7:8    0  31.1M  1 loop /snap/snapd/10707
   loop9    7:9    0  31.1M  1 loop /snap/snapd/10492
   sda      8:0    0    20G  0 disk 
   ├─sda1   8:1    0     1M  0 part 
   ├─sda2   8:2    0   513M  0 part /boot/efi
   └─sda3   8:3    0  19.5G  0 part /
   sdb      8:16   0    20G  0 disk 
   └─sdb1   8:17   0    20G  0 part 
   sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

3. Check filesystem type of the disk or partition.

   $ blkid /dev/sdb1
   /dev/sdb1: UUID="ccab0f8d-3b5b-4189-9da3-23c49159c318" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="c088a647-01"

4. Create directory for mount point if it doesn't already exist.

   $ mkdir disk

5. Manually mount partition using mount.

   $ sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb1 disk
   [sudo] password for user:

6. Check if drive was successfully mounted.

   $ df -h
   Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
   tmpfs           391M  1.8M  389M   1% /run
   /dev/sda3        20G  7.1G   12G  39% /
   tmpfs           2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm
   tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
   tmpfs           4.0M     0  4.0M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
   /dev/sda2       512M  7.8M  505M   2% /boot/efi
   tmpfs           391M  112K  391M   1% /run/user/1000
   /dev/sdb1        20G   45M   19G   1% /home/user/disk

7. Unmount previously mounted drive.

   $ sudo umount /dev/sdb1

8. Open /etc/fstab using your preferred text editor.

   $ sudo vi /etc/fstab

9. Add an entry for a new mount point.

   /dev/sdb1       /home/user/disk ext4    defaults        0       0

10. Mount all filesystems in /etc/fstab.

    $ sudo mount -a

11. Check if drive or filesystem is mounted successfully.

    $ df -h
    Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
    tmpfs           391M  1.8M  389M   1% /run
    /dev/sda3        20G  7.1G   12G  39% /
    tmpfs           2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm
    tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
    tmpfs           4.0M     0  4.0M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
    /dev/sda2       512M  7.8M  505M   2% /boot/efi
    tmpfs           391M  112K  391M   1% /run/user/1000
    /dev/sdb1        20G   45M   19G   1% /home/user/disk