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   From: Joe LaVigne    
   Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.ubuntu   
   Subject: Re: Question about mount command and location of files   
   Date: 2 Mar 2007 20:22:42 GMT   
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   On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:23:43 +0000, Chris Fasano wrote:   
      
   > On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:26:13 +0000, Blue wrote:   
   >>    
   >> Mounting does not shift the files (phyisically). It just allows them to be   
   >> read.    
   >    
   >    
   > Thank you.  This explanation is (somewhat) what's causing my   
   > misunderstanding.  If files aren't physically moved by mounting, then if I   
   > create a directory under hda1 (home/newdirectory) the /newdirectory is   
   > physically located on hda.   
   >    
   > So why would any files now created under /newdirectory be physically   
   > located on hdb just because I mounted /dev/hdb1 to /home/newdirectory,   
   > since as you say "mounting does not shift files physically?"   
      
   It doesn't "shift" files.  I makes a mount point.  When you mount a drive,   
   you are granting access to it.  Your filesystem is not drive dependent.    
   So, if you haven't mounted the drive, /newdirectory is part of a   
   filesystem mounted on hda.  When you mount hdb1 to /newdirectory, it is   
   now the startpoint for the filesystem on hdb1.   
      
   You are thinking very much in Windows terms, where drives each have a   
   letter, and a very strict (and limited) way in which they are usually   
   used.  Even Windows can be mounted like we are discussing, though.   
      
   >    
   > I'm not disputing the answer, just trying to understand how it works,    
   > and it's driving me nuts.  I won't post again on this issue; thanks   
   > again.   
   >    
   > Is there a difference between these two tasks:   
   >    
   > 1. mkdir under /home   
   > 2. add files to /home/newdirectory   
   > 3. mount /dev/hdb to /home/newdirectory   
   >    
   > and   
   >    
   > 1. mkdir under /home   
   > 2. mount /dev/hdb to /home/newdirectory   
   > 3. add files to /home/newdirectory   
      
   Yes.  A monstrous difference.  In example 1, when you add the files, the   
   mount has not been done, so the files are written to the drive currently   
   mounted there, which is wherever /home is (note:  You don't intimate, in   
   this example, that it is on hda1, so it cannot be assumed.  /home could be   
   anywhere).   
      
   In example 2, you mounted the partition to the mountpoint first, so the   
   files are written to the mounted partition.   
      
   >    
   > There must be a difference between these tasks.  I'll experiment tonight   
   > after work.   
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