How to Mount and Unmount Drives on Arch Linux

Managing storage devices is a core task for any Linux user, and Arch Linux, known for its simplicity and control, gives you full power over how drives are mounted and unmounted. Whether you’re dealing with internal partitions, external USB drives, or network shares, understanding the mounting process is essential.

This guide covers the fundamental concepts of mounting and unmounting drives in Arch Linux, how to manually do it via the command line, how to automate it, and how to troubleshoot common problems.

What Is Mounting?

In Linux, mounting refers to the process of making a filesystem accessible at a certain point in the directory tree. Linux doesn’t use drive letters (like Windows); instead, it mounts filesystems to directories called mount points.

When you plug in a USB stick or attach a hard drive, Arch Linux doesn’t automatically mount it unless you’re using a desktop environment that includes automount functionality (like GNOME or KDE). On a minimal or server setup, you’ll need to mount it manually.

Prerequisites

Before mounting drives, make sure your system is ready:

1. Logged in as root or with sudo privileges.
2. Drives should be detected by the system.
3. Required utilities installed (most are included by default):
   • util-linux for mount, umount, and lsblk
   • ntfs-3g for NTFS support (install with sudo pacman -S ntfs-3g)

Step 1: Identify the Drive

The first step is to identify the device you want to mount.

lsblk

Example output:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda      8:0    0 232.9G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot
├─sda2   8:2    0    32G  0 part /
└─sda3   8:3    0 200.4G  0 part /home
sdb      8:16   1  14.9G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   1  14.9G  0 part 

Here, sdb1 is likely a USB drive. To confirm:

sudo blkid /dev/sdb1

Output may look like:

/dev/sdb1: UUID="1234-ABCD" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="abc123"

This tells us it’s a FAT filesystem (commonly used in USB drives).

Step 2: Create a Mount Point

You need a directory where the filesystem will be accessible.

sudo mkdir /mnt/usb

You can name the mount point whatever you want (e.g., /mnt/backup, /mnt/media).

Step 3: Mount the Drive

Now that you have the device and the mount point:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

To verify it mounted correctly:

df -h

You should see something like:

/dev/sdb1      14G   2G   12G  15% /mnt/usb

Alternatively, lsblk will now show a mountpoint next to sdb1.

Step 4: Accessing the Mounted Drive

Once mounted, the contents of the drive are accessible under the mount point:

cd /mnt/usb
ls -lh

You can read, copy, or modify files here like any other directory—permissions permitting.

Step 5: Unmount the Drive

When you’re done, unmount the drive before removing it to avoid data corruption.

sudo umount /mnt/usb

Or, using the device name:

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

If the drive is busy (e.g., you’re inside /mnt/usb in the terminal), you’ll see an error. Exit any shell sessions or close files, then try again.

Optional: Mount with Specific Options

You can specify options when mounting. For example, to mount an NTFS drive read-only:

sudo mount -t ntfs -o ro /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

For FAT32 (vfat):

sudo mount -t vfat -o uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

Where uid=1000 and gid=1000 ensure that your regular user has ownership of the files.

Automating Mounts with /etc/fstab

If you want a drive to mount automatically at boot, add an entry to /etc/fstab.

Step 1: Get the UUID

sudo blkid /dev/sdb1

Example output:

UUID="1234-ABCD" TYPE="vfat"

Step 2: Edit /etc/fstab

Open with a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add a line at the end:

UUID=1234-ABCD  /mnt/usb  vfat  defaults,noauto,user  0  0

• defaults: use default options.
• noauto: don’t mount automatically unless requested (use auto to mount at boot).
• user: allow non-root users to mount.
• 0 0: these two fields relate to filesystem checks; 0 disables.

To test the entry without rebooting:

sudo mount /mnt/usb

If you see no error, it worked.

Mounting Drives as a Regular User (udisksctl)

In graphical environments or when using policies like udev rules, users can mount drives without root using tools like udisksctl.

udisksctl mount -b /dev/sdb1

And to unmount:

udisksctl unmount -b /dev/sdb1

This is useful in desktop environments or for users who want safer mounting.

Handling Common Filesystems

Use -t <type> with mount if auto-detection fails.

Troubleshooting Tips

“mount: unknown filesystem type”

Install required tools. For NTFS:

sudo pacman -S ntfs-3g

For exFAT:

sudo pacman -S exfatprogs

“device is busy” when unmounting

Check what’s using it:

lsof +D /mnt/usb

Or use fuser:

sudo fuser -vm /mnt/usb

Then close the processes and try unmounting again.

Permissions Issues

If you get “Permission denied,” try mounting with uid and gid options or change ownership after mounting:

sudo chown youruser:yourgroup /mnt/usb

Bonus: Graphical Tools

If you’re using GNOME, KDE, or XFCE, graphical tools like Disks, Thunar, or KDE Partition Manager can manage mounts easily.

You can also install gnome-disk-utility for a GUI mount/unmount interface:

sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility

Conclusion

Mounting and unmounting drives is a basic but essential task for Arch Linux users, especially those who prefer manual control. With a few commands, you can inspect, mount, access, and cleanly remove drives. Automating via fstab adds convenience, while user-space tools like udisksctl offer simplicity for regular users.

Whether you’re working with USB sticks, backup drives, or additional internal partitions, mastering these steps ensures safe and efficient storage management.