OS201B OPERATING SYSTEMS

LABORATORY
LINUX
WORKING WITH STORAGE DEVICES:
[HINT: all underlined words are your hints/clues for each lab activity step. It may refer to the
command to be used.]
Mounting refers to making data available. It refers to the process whereby a device is made accessible
to users via the logical directory tree. This device is attached to a certain directory on the directory tree
called a mount point. Users can then create files and subdirectories in this mount point directory,
which are then stored on the filesystem that was mounted to that particular directory.
1.

Launch the terminal. At the command prompt, type mount (this will display mounted filesystems).
Observe all filesystems mounted especially on the latter part of the list displayed. Now, insert a
USB flash disk unto your system. Type again on the command line mount, notice the last lines of
the list. Was there a line that has been added to the list? If yes, write down the added line [do not
include all that are inside the parenthesis]
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2. On your answer above, what is the mounted device? What is the mount point directory?
Mounted device:_____________________
Mount point directory: __________________
3. Go the mount point directory. Create a directory named dir1 and create a empty file named file1
inside the directory dir1. Write down the list of commands you have used in this number. [You may
perform this step in one command line, but if you do not know how, you may use several command
lines]
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4. Display the content of the USB flash disk using the Terminal. Compare your output shown on the
terminal window and compare it to the GUI File Manager of Ubuntu. Do they have the same
output? If yes, how many folders do you have and how many files do each of the folder contain?
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5. Unmount your device. _______________________________________
6. After unmounting your device, type mount again on the command prompt, can you still see the
device and its filesystem properties on the list? Can you still see the device on the GUI File
manager? Why, what's the purpose of unmounting?
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7. Insert again your USB flash disk. Determine its disk free space (df) . Write down the command
that you have performed and the disk free space for your flash disk.
_______________________________
8. Look for the Local Disk device and determine its disk free space (df). Write down the command
that you have performed and the disk free space for your flash disk.
_____________________________
9.

You can do this step by checking on the disk usage (du). If a file system is approaching full
capacity, it might be useful to examine which directories on that filesystem are taking up the most
disk space such that you can remove or move files from that directory to another filesystem that has
sufficient space. View the size of the directory /usr and its contents. Write down the command line

that you have performed.

______________________________
10. Remember to unmount your device before performing this activity. Check filesystem for errors
(fsck) on your USB flash disk device. Write the command line used in performing this activity.
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WINDOWS
You may use the Computer Management, specifically Disk Management tools to do the following:
1. Mount your USB flash disk to an empty NTFS folder named testmount. Assign an empty
NTFS folder to your USB flash disk by mounting your flash disk drive. Try to save an empty
text file named test.txt and save it directly to the assigned NTFS folder, what happened to the
file? Where was it saved? What are the benefits of doing this activity?
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2. Take a look at the properties of the testmount NTFS folder and your USB flash drive. Compare
the properties of the testmount with your USB flash disk.
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3.

Remove the assignment of testmount folder to your USB flash disk. Go to the testmount
folder and check if the test.txt exists? Check the assigned USB flash drive and see if test.txt file
exists. What happened to the test.txt found before thru the testmount?
_________________________________________________________________________
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4.

Research on the counterpart command prompt commands on mounting and assigning of

devices to an empty folder in your hard drive. List down the counterpart commands you have
performed on each steps of this activity.
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