Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mount

What are these plastic rails on my hard drive called?

billybunny — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:43:26 -0800

What are these rails which snap into the side of a hard drive and allow it to slide into a bay called? And also, where can I get some more? My computer's case has absolutely no identifying information, and hell if I can remember who the manufacturer was 5 years after I bought the thing. I tried going into a computer store to get some more, but I couldn't even figure out what I was trying to buy, let alone if they'd have any of them!

My Maxtor drive (Seagate disk??) won't mount. Where should I send it?

skylar — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:05:20 -0800

My Maxtor Basics 1 terabyte external USB 2.0 drive no longer mounts. I have been through all the usual stuff with tech support (including disk management and device management) and I've tried it on multiple computers. Although the green light comes on when it's plugged into USB, apart from that it's not talking to the computer. There has been no strange noise, clicking, smoke or smell. Maxtor tech support say it's a failed drive. A data recovery company I phoned said it's probably damaged firmware but the data on the disk is probably safe. I'm nervous about sending it to a data recovery company because I seem to be looking at about GBP £179 minimum or maybe many, many hundreds more. Is it likely to be a matter of simply soldering something here or replacing something there, ie a job that I could take to a local geek? Or should I be looking to take this to a major data recovery centre? I'm in London, UK.

Ceiling mount video camera

JamesMCS — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:29:25 -0800

Can anybody suggest an inexpensive video camera that can be mounted to the ceiling of a Jazz Club, in order to give the patrons in another room, a view of the stage via Television monitor. I've already tried a few security style cameras, but in the low light of the club, the resolution is very poor.

iPhone 3G doesn't mount as a camera any more

AmbroseChapel — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:13:47 -0800

iPhone 3G doesn't mount as a camera any more (contains list of things already tried) My iPhone (upgraded to 3.0, but has worked fine between the upgrade and this problem) doesn't do what it's supposed to do for iPhoto, or other software, to see it as a camera and import the pictures. In all other respects it seems normal.

Here's what I've tried so far:

soft restart
hard restart
different computers
different operating systems
different USB cables
different photo-import software
a full restore

I'd really appreciate any suggestions.

Mirror, mirror, not quite on the wall

hayvac — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:09:34 -0800

I want to mount a mirror in a corner, but it can't be flush with either wall or perfectly vertical. Logistics within. My apartment has a beautiful west-facing view that is only visible from a small corner of the living room. I'm trying to install a mirror that will reflect that view toward the couch. (The couch can't move to where the view is visible.) Unfortunately, the place where the mirror would have to go is already occupied by a large bookcase that can't go anywhere else, so the mirror will have to go above it.

The logistics:

-The mirror is about three feet high by 1.5 feet wide.
-It has a wooden frame I can drill through.
-It has to be securely mounted in a corner without being flush to either wall.
-It can't be a perfect hypotenuse for the corner. The necessary angle to reflect the view is about 15-20 degrees off one wall, putting it 75-80 degrees off the other.
-It has to angle slightly downward (i.e., the top of the mirror will be farther from the wall than the bottom is).
-I can't drill into the bookcase itself, although placing something on top would be fine.

I've considered putting a floor mirror on top of the bookcase, but I can't find any that aren't full-length, which is too big.

Any ideas?

On preview, I see that this all sounds quite confusing. Here is a picture of what I'm trying to do.

Any GPFS gurus out there?

larsks — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:08:57 -0800

Grasping at straws here: have you successfully configured GPFS to operate in a multicluster environment? We're running GPFS and are running into some issues trying to get it to operate in multicluster mode, in which one GPFS cluster mounts filesystems from an unrelated GPFS cluster. We're following IBM's documentation (e.g., this) and everything looks great except we're unable to complete the mount operation. The log messages haven't been terribly helpful. This is on the "client" (the system initiating the mount request):

server refused connection because it is not configured to accept connections from the IP address ....  Ensure the local nodes name services is returning the same IP address which the host os configued to use for GPFS communication.

The client is contacting the server over a shared private network (e.g., 10.x.x.x address space). Both systems also have public (routeable) addresses. We've tried all sorts of permutations of the subnets setting.

Why does my File Browser keep opening?

carsonb — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:49:44 -0800

There are currently 4 File Browsers open on my desktop, all displaying either the contents of my external hard drive or the folder where it's mounted (/media/). I didn't open them—they just showed up. This morning when I woke up there was 40+ File Browser windows open of the same. Another window just opened; it seems to occur at random intervals. I'm running Ubuntu Linux 8.10, wtf is causing this? It's been going on for about a week now. My external drive is a 500gb WD network drive that's been ripped out of its original case, rehoused in a new external enclosure, wiped and repartitioned as ext3, and plugged directly into my desktop. I keep my music collection on it, and about a week ago Amarok totally forgot that I have any music files. I checked the path marked for the collection; Amarok still knows where the files are, and will play them if I drag/drop them from the browser into the playlist, but it doesn't report that I have a collection. Oddly, saved playlists still work.

Then, yesterday, the drive wouldn't even mount. Every time I tried I got an odd error message that didn't turn up many results in the Google. (Hasn't happened today and I don't have the text of the msg saved.) The only concrete suggestion I got from searching was to try testdisk to root out any bad sectors, find missing partitions, etc. So I ran that, didn't really find any problems, but had the program re-write the partition table anyway. The drive mounted after I did that, but has so far continued the original bad behavior.

I've banged on all the relevant keyboard keys; it's not a stuck key. I've unplugged the drive to let it cool down and plugged it back in. I've tried prayer and idol worship and what seems like a million other things. I'm running out of ideas here.

What's going on? (4 more File Browsers have opened in the background while I typed this.) How do I make it stop? Do I have a virus? (My computer is acting like I never expected a Linux desktop to, coming from buggy, virusy Windows.) Is my drive dying? How can I get Amarok to recognize my collection again? Failing relevant answers to the above, what's the easiest way to close a zillion (but not all) windows at once?

Two SMB shares with similar names. Why the trouble?

furtive — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:52:51 -0800

Two SMB shares on OSX with same/similar names causing big headaches. Is there a way to force mount points? I have the following two samba shares on OS X 10.5:

Filesystem                   Size   Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on

//lamothec@devwebv/inetpub/  25Gi   17Gi  7.8Gi    69%    /Volumes/inetpub

//lamothec@prodweb/inetpub/  88Gi  8.7Gi   79Gi    10%    /Volumes/inetpub-1

They seem distinct enough from the command line, but when it comes to Finder/Desktop/Dreamweaver/TextMate all sorts of shenanigans occur, the most common being:

they both show up as "inetpub" (quick fix was to give them diff icons)

When Dreamweaver or TextMate save to the second inetpub (e.g. /Volumes/inetpub-1) it actual saves to the first one! (/Volumes/inetpub)

It's the second bug that's killing me the most. I'm guessing (unless you know of an easier solution) that there's a way to force the second drive to have a different mount name. If so please hope me!

Has anyone successfully attached an iPhone to their bicycle handlebars?

stackhaus23 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:05:09 -0800

Has anyone successfully attached an iPhone to their bicycle handlebars? There are a bunch of iPhone handlebar mounts from all manner of sellers on eBay etc. Just seeing if anyone had any success and could recommend one? The only application is occasional road use for long distance cycling.

DVD Filesystems

claudius — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:53:10 -0800

What would cause certain folders to show up when a DVD is mounted under Windows (XP, FWIW), but not to show up under Linux (Ubuntu Intrepid)? I was given the wonderful New York Times Complete Front Pages as a birthday present, but I can't see all the folders when running in Linux (when it is automounted, or the ripped image is mounted loopback). I'm aware of Rock Ridge and Joliet extensions, but AFAIR, these are for POSIX permissions and Unicode filenames respectively (and are for CDROMS).

What could be going on?

And as an addendum, how are .idx and .pdx files (indices, I presume) handled by Acrobat?

How do I find an objective price for auto repairs?

SpringAquifer — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:46:08 -0800

I normally take my 1999 Accord to the Honda dealership for oil changes. During my last visit, the mechanic suggested a couple of fairly expensive maintenance procedures. Is there a good resource out there to help me decide whether the prices they quoted me were reasonable? I was told that (1) my left inner CV boot was starting to leak and that (2) my front and side motor mounts were cracked. The mechanic quoted me $220 and $540 for the repairs, respectively.

It seems to me the former is probably worth doing, while the latter isn't. Since that the CV boot itself isn't worth that much, most of the cost is going to go toward labor.

So: Is there an efficient way for me to find a reasonable price for labor, other than simply calling up a bunch of dealers and garages for a quote?

Mechanical sculptures in mount prospect

Reverend John — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:37:08 -0800

Northern Chicago Suburbs filter: I'm trying to find info about a group of mechanical sculptures which were once installed at Mount Prospect Plaza. They were there around the mid 80's to early 90's. The current owners of the mall were not the owners at the time, and didn't have any info about the sculptures. Additionally, as far as I can tell the mall has had 100% turnover of its stores since that time, so I don't think any of the current workers there would remember it. I also visited the Mt. Prospect historical society and the public library, and neither had any info.

However, I'm 100% sure they were there, my brother and sisters remember them also. Most were wind powered, however there was one which was electric. This one was in the middle of a large sunken circular garden. At the edge of the circle was a control console consisting of four large switches. Each switch controlled one motor on the sculpture. The sculpture was a long jointed pole, with a motor at each joint, and one at the base to rotate the pole. At the end of the pole was a large ball. The height from the ground to the first joint was such that, even when all the joints were in their extreme 'down' position, the height of the ball was still about 10 feet off the ground so it couldn't hit anyone. Additionally, at the edge of the circle was a second pole, about 20 feet tall, with a tab at the top. If you used the switches to swing the ball to hit the tab a bell would ring. It was quite awesome, and I've been dying in the years since its disappearance to know what happened to it, if it moved, if it exists somewhere else, if its creator has done other works, etc.

Allow a filesystem in Ubuntu to be mounted by users

remi — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:29:21 -0800

How do you create a user-mountable filesystem in Ubuntu Eee 8.04.1? I have an Asus Eee PC 4G laptop running Ubuntu Eee 8.04.1 as its operating system, which is a customized distro of Ubuntu 8.04 made for the Eee PC. Since I bought a new MacBook recently, I'm currently setting up this computer to be used as a small home file (Samba), print (CUPS), and Web (Apache) server.

An SD card is in the computer's card slot and an external hard drive is connected via USB. Both have a VFAT filesystem. I want both those filesystems to be writable, mountable, and unmountable by all users in the computer (not just by root or the user who mounts them).

The filesystem on the SD card is labelled "SDCARD" and the one on the HDD is labelled "HARDDISK". I already created empty directories in /mnt, both with mode 777, and modified the /etc/fstab file to have the following:

LABEL=SDCARD /mnt/sdc auto users,auto,exec,rw,umask=111,dmask=000 0 0
LABEL=HARDDISK /mnt/hdd auto users,auto,exec,rw,umask=111,dmask=000 0 0

I tried both the "user" and "users" option in the fstab file, but every time I try to mount one of the filesystems mentioned above using a regular user, I get the following message:

mount: must be superuser to use mount

It works fine when I mount using the "sudo" command or the "root" account. Note that I can't simply use symlinks to point to the filesystems in /media, since I need to override the mount options to allow all users to write on the filesystems. I also think modifying udev options just for this may be overkill and time-consuming.

Besides, with the "user" or "users" in the fstab, why can't I still mount using a normal user? Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks in advance!

Undesk My Monitor

burnmp3s — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:31:41 -0800

How can setup an lcd computer monitor to be used sitting in a normal chair, rather than in front of a desk? I want to setup a computer rig in my living room, without a normal computer desk. Ideally I want to be able to sit in a normal lounge chair without any desk in front of it, and still be able to get a nice close-up head-on view of a monitor.

I'm thinking the best way to do this is to use a monitor arm, such as these, but they all seem to be designed around being mounted directly in front of the user. I need one to be able to travel sideways some distance so that I can mount it next to the chair and pull it in front of me when I want to use it. Does something like that exist, or is there anything I'm not thinking of that would help me do this?

Note: I'm aware that laptops exist, but I don't like using a tiny keyboard that's attached to the screen. I want the monitor to be eye-level and the keyboard to be wrist-level. I'm trying to capture as much of the desktop ergonomics as possible with this setup.

How do I persistently mount an ext HDD in OS X?

philomathoholic — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:11:40 -0800

How do I set up OS X (10.4) to mount an external hard drive at a specific folder on startup? I've tried putting @reboot mount /dev/disk1s1 /my/mountpoint into root's crontab, but that didn't work. There wasn't any output produced, even with "mount -v", and the HDD wasn't mounted.

I've heard mention of NetInfo Manager, and I see where "mounts" may be specified, but I don't know how to set it up.

Is there a way to get it so that when I restart my computer, the external hard drive shows up mounted at /my/mountpoint? FYI, I don't care about having the icon on the desktop.

Old Server Rail Kits?

yellowbkpk — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:28:29 -0800

Where do I find sliding rail kits for older Dell PowerEdge 1750, Sun, and HP/Compaq G3/G4 machines? We've been moving a bunch of 1U servers from one server room to another at work, and quite a few of the machines don't have rails. One of the rules that the IT folks have in this new server room is that machines can't be stacked higher than one on top of the other, so we need to find quite a few rail kits.

My Google-fu seems to be lacking as I can't seem to find any sites that sell such a thing.

Mount Shasta Fun!

goalyeehah — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:55:26 -0800

What is there to do when visiting Mount Shasta and Siskiyou County? I plan on spending 3 days there late next month. I would not consider myself to be an outdoorsman, yet would be interested in hot springs, hikes, nature walks, good restaurants, bookstores and more. Also would love to check out a local farmer's market or 2 if any are going on.

First time Skiing- can I rent ski clothes or just suck it up and buy some?

Jimmie — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:31:06 -0800

I'm going skiing this weekend with people who know how to ski- or in other words, they all own their own equipment and ski clothing. I have never skied before. Getting the equipment- boots, skiis, pole, blah blah is all ok... but is it even possible to rent clothing? Where? No one has spare skiing clothing and I don't know anyone I could borrow from. I've googled all over the place and keep on getting ads or pages which redirect to junk directories.

I don't want to invest in buying just in case this is a one shot deal and I end up not liking skiiing and never do it again. The jacket I suppose I can deal with wearing a nylon jacket with a sweater or layers underneath, but the nylon or whatever pants I have no idea where to rent some.

Anywhere recommendations near Mount Sunapee, or on the way to Mount Sunapee from Manchester, NH?

Help me Portrait my Landscape monitors?

penciltopper — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:52:49 -0800

I want to make my Landscape monitors into Portrait monitors. Help me find a stand, and maybe software? So, hardware: 17" Planar LCD (PL1700) x2
The stands are built-in and only do landscape.
But there are 4 screws in the back for use with a mount (100mmx100mm).

Software, I dunno. Do I need UltraMon or something to make them go Portrait?

I work with document layouts enough that it makes more sense for me to have these be Portrait instead of Landscape. (Being able to switch back and forth would be a plus, tho.) And I just got these, so I don't think they'll spring for two more new monitors that are made to swivel btw. Portrait/Landscape.

I keep them far enough apart (long story) that a dual-monitor arm might not fit right or give me the angles I need. And I don't think my office cube will be able to accomodate two adjustable mounted arms, like an architect's lamp, bolted to the desk. So I'm looking for two independent STANDS to mount them to, not arms.

Looks like I want VESA 100x100 mounts, but all I'm seeing when I search for that are arms, single or dual. I want a base/stand, not an arm. Anyone?

Using a camera as a card writer in XP. Possible?

lattiboy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:22:53 -0800

How do I mount a digital camera as a writable drive (to the SD card) in Windows XP? I'm trying to upgrade the firmware (chdk) on my just purchased Canon A570. I need to write a file to the root of the SD card, but I don't have a card reader around. The Canon shows up in "My Computer", but I cannot change the designation in disk management. I know card readers are all of $5, but I really wanted to get this done tonight.

How do I mount a laptop to my treadmill?

mosch — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:09:23 -0800

What's the best way to mount a laptop to a Landice L7 Treadmill, for use while walking? Previously I had a True 500 treadmill, and I mounted a laptop by building a custom wooden shelf. This (obviously) presented some problems, and shortened the lives of the laptops that sat on the shelf, but was great for my fitness regimen.

Since the original experiment was such a success, I want to do it right this time. But what is right?

Help identify cool mystery bike rack?

de void — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:53:18 -0800

Help me identify/locate the manufacturer of a cool hitch-mounted bike rack I saw last summer. I want one. The google goggles, they do nothing. Saw a really cool bicycle rack at a mountain bike trail parking lot last summer. Wanted it then, want it now, but can't find it.

As stated, the bike rack is a hitch mount (plugs into a square trailer receiver). The rack I saw carried 2 bikes. I suspect there may be other longer models that carry 3 or 4 bikes.

It had a center frame/bar that had a "stretched/flattened Z" profile when viewed from the side; the end that connects to the hitch mount is lower than the bike carrying end.

It carried the bikes in "V" channels that were mounted perpendicular to the center frame. The bikes were secured to the rack by ratcheting straps that locked the wheels down into the V channels. I seem to remember that there were no attachment points or risers for the bike frames and that all the securing was done at the wheels, but that doesn't seem feasible. Perhaps there were folding fork braces that I missed.

The whole rack had a dull silver color that suggested it was made of aluminum alloy.

It had a plate riveted to one of the channels with the manufacturer's name and the web site. It was not one that I had heard of before (Thule/Yakima etc.). I remember thinking that it sounded like a small shop, and that I should write the web site down because I would forget it. I didn't, and I did.

Help me configure the ultimate Mac OSX backup solution.

drgonzo2k2 — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:04:57 -0800

Help me configure the ultimate Mac OSX backup solution! I just received two very nice external firewire hard drives for Christmas. My plan is to place my music collection on one drive and use the other drive to have a perfect copy of all my music in case the original fails. As I add to my collection every couple of days or so, I'd really like to automate this to create regular backups. My plan was to have both drives connected and powered on, with the backup drive unmounted. The OS would mount it when needed to do the backup and then unmount it again when it was finished. I thought I could accomplish this with SuperDuper! and its scheduling function, and for the most part it works. The only problem is when my wife logs in the system mounts the backup drive. Then spotlight wants to index it, and if I log in it seems to get stuck in this weird phase of mounting and unmounting.

If anyone could tell me step-by-step how to make this work and have the drive ONLY be mounted when it is needed to perform a backup, I would greatly appreciate it. If I can get this to work I'd like to do the same thing with my system drive and a 3rd firewire drive that I have.

Mounting Google Picasa Account in Leopard

davidstith — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:32:08 -0800

Looking to mount my Google Picasa account in Leopard. Has anyone attempted this? I have MacFuse but have yet to find a solution to map it all together.

Mountaing a webcam in a window

chef_boyardee — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:01:56 -0800

I need to mount a webcam so that it looks out a window... unfortunately this is not as easy as it sounds. Creative ideas? Unfortunately as you can see most webcams are designed to be placed on a flat surface and not mounted at a window. Unfortunately you can't necessarily just set the webcam on the windowsill as most windows (like mine) have a screen at the bottom that severely obscures the view. So I have to mount the webcam halfway up the window where the clear pane is.

The only decent thing I've found is to stick the webcam into an electrical box, padded with wadded paper, and jam the stud tab into the window sash crack. Unfortunately you can't reach inside to make adjustments and it's very awkward.

Yes, I do know I can remove the window screen, but this is new construction and I don't want to start tearing out the windows; we might have to use the screened window sometimes. It also doesn't solve the issue of the webcam's factory mount having only a limited range of motion.

Any ideas here on how to do this better? Has anyone been in this predicament? Improvisation is fine.