this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
837 points (98.7% liked)

Technology

76415 readers
3661 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] the_q@lemmy.zip 19 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

That's a lot of instructions just to use the computer you paid for and is yours...

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (3 children)

Linux has its stupid bullshit too, its just 12 of one and a dozen of another sort of situation. For example I don't have to jump through hoops to auto mount a secondary drive on windows I just install the drive and there it is. But on linux I have to jump through all sorts of ridiculous hoops for some stupid reason. However it will auto mount flash drives and sd cards even though those are the ones more likely to pose a security risk.

[–] drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

I just plugged in an old drive to make sure I'm not going crazy, and I didn't do anything besides hit the power button, log in, and open the file explorer:

And its right there.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

It depends on the DE.

Even still, typing mount /dev/sda1 external isn't exactly Cirque du Soleil

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

articles like this wouldn't exist if it wasn't true, they will appear but they wont auto mount https://techhut.tv/auto-mount-drives-in-linux-fstab/

*some distros may auto mount but I never used one that did

[–] glog78@digitalcourage.social 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

@the_riviera_kid @drosophila

As always on Linux you have different possibilities. Most big Desktop Environment's like KDE / GNOME / Cinnamon .... can mount devices automatically or on a click on the device. No need for additional entries in fstab.

If you however want a more general approach you can use systemd's automount or a fixed mountpount using fstab.

Most normal Desktop User's will be totally fine with the DE Solutions.

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I use my secondary and tertiary drives for steam and I boot my machine to big picture mode on startup so I need them to auto mount. Having to navigate to the file manager and clicking on them is not the same.

[–] drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I just click on it and it mounts and opens

This is Linux Mint btw

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, but you had to click on it first. It didn't mount on boot.

[–] drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I thought you were talking about just opening the drive to use it from the file browser.

I do actually have a drive I use for automated backups, but I just used the GUI to change the automount setting:

I guess that's a little bit inconvenient, but its like 3 clicks, adding a step to something I had to do to set up some other software. Its not any more complicated than disabling sticky keys in Windows.

Except we're not comparing it to disabling sticky keys, we're comparing it to needing needing to follow an entire page's worth of instructions, pressing secret key combinations and entering commands into the terminal, just so you can use your computer without it phoning home to the mothership. And that's on top of the fact that the instructions are probably going to be different in a year since microsoft is deliberately fucking with you.

[–] blue_canuck@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Say what? That's not true in the slightest, if the drive is mountable it will show up in your file manager.

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

articles like this wouldn't exist if it wasn't true, they will appear but they wont auto mount https://techhut.tv/auto-mount-drives-in-linux-fstab/

*some distros may auto mount but I never used one that did

[–] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I think people are confused because the difference between mount on access and mount on boot is meaningless for 98% of people. I can think of reasons to need the latter, but not many.

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

You are probably right, most folks aren't even aware because they have no need for it. The only reason I need it is for my gaming rig that launches big picture mode on startup. I have no need for it on any of my desktop machines.

[–] the_q@lemmy.zip 2 points 14 hours ago

Yeah, but again you don't have to do all this stuff just to use the PC. And for having the tiny user base Linux does it's amazingly pro-user compared to the monopolistic bullshittery that is Microsoft Windows.