Mount External Storage on Raspberry Pi : All Models

In this segment, we are going to show you “How to Mount External Storage Drives on Raspberry Pi all Models.”

What is Mount External Storage {Mounting & UnMounting} ?

Mounting is a process by which the operating system makes files and directories on a storage device (such as hard drive, CD-ROM, or network share) available for users to access via the computer’s file system.

In general, the process of mounting comprises an operating system acquiring access to the storage medium; recognizing, reading, processing file system structure, and metadata on it; before registering them to the virtual file system (VFS) component.

The location in VFS that the newly-mounted medium was registered is called mount point; when the mounting process is completed, the user can access files and directories on the medium from there.

An opposite process of mounting is called unmounting, in which the operating system cuts off all user access to files and directories on the mount point, writes the remaining queue of user data to the storage device, refreshes file system metadata, then relinquishes access to the device; making the storage device safe for removal.

Normally, when the computer is shutting down, every mounted-storage will undergo an unmounting process to ensure that all queued data got written, and to preserve the integrity of the file system structure on the media.

Source /> Wikipedia

Software Required :

Equipment Required		Optional
	Raspberry Pi 4		Case
	SD Card		Raspberry Pi Keyboard
	Ethernet Cable		Mouse
	Power Adapter
	External HDD
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Raspbian OS Installation :

Download Raspbian OS from Official Website: raspberrypi.org
Then write the image to the SD Card using: Etcher
Now, Boot the Raspberry Pi with this SD Card, Follow the On-Screen Instructions and then open Terminal.

STEP- 1: Mount External Storage

List the Drive

First of all, we need to list all the attached drives on our Raspberry Pi.

sudo blkid

Create a Mount Folder

Secondly, we need to create a mount folder to mount our External Drive.

sudo mkdir /mnt/Drive_Name

Mount the drive to Folder

After that, use the below-given command to mount the drive to the created folder.

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/Drive_Name

Give proper permission

Finally, provide the read and write permission to drive.

sudo chmod 775 /mnt/Drive_Name

STEP- 2: Auto Mount Drive on Startup

Similarly to automount the drive on startup we need to follow the below-given steps.

List the Drive & note UUID

Firstly, list all the drives using the below-given commands.

sudo blkid

Edit fstab

After that, we need to edit fstab to add our drive to startup.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Adding lines to fstab

Followed by adding the below-given line to fstab.

UUID=enter_uuid_here /mnt/Drive_Name auto nofail,uid=enter_uid_here,gid=enter_gid_here,noatime 0 0

Reboot Raspberry Pi

Finally, reboot the Raspberry Pi.

sudo reboot

STEP- 3: UnMount Drive

sudo umount /mnt/Drive_Name

STEP- 4: Remove Mount Folder

sudo rmdir /mnt/Drive_Name

In conclusion

Now you know the basics of Mounting External Drive on Raspberry Pi.
If you have any suggestions regarding this article please mention in the comment section down below.
Enjoy using Raspberry Pi.