/etc/fstab is the configuration file which contains the information about all available partitions and indicates how and where they are mounted.
An example of a fstab
file:
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda5 / ext4 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda6 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda8 /mnt/dados auto defaults 0 2
- The column
<file system>
refers to the the device where the file system is. Alternatively, an UUID or label can be specified here. - The column
<dir>
refers to the mount point, which place should the device be mounted. - The column
<type>
refers to the filesystem type;auto
can be specified if the filesystem should be detected automatically. - The column
<options>
refers to filesystem-specific options. - The column
<dump>
is used by the utility dump to specify the dumping schedule. - The column
<pass>
, controls the order used byfsck
to verify the file systems. Usually the root device is set to 1 and other devices are set to either 2 (fsck
after the root file system) or 0 (nofsck
).
Options can be found by typing man mount.<file system type>