Does Anyone Know How to Map a Network Drive in Trisquel?

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davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Hi all. I would like to permanently map a network drive with the intent to be able to backup to it using the "Backup" app in Trisquel. I looked up the Ubuntu method using the GUI but the interface is different. I also looked up the command-line methods but it seems rather complicated. Would someone help me with this?

Thanks.

BugRep
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Joined: 04/05/2012

Could you specify what protocol can be used to access the drive? It could be SMB, NFS, FTP, SFTP, DAV, DAVS... Every protocol has different settings.

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

BugRep, I happen to be used to using Samba, but if I should be using something else, please let me know. I have just started to configure my Trisquel laptop. To be clear, I want to be able to backup to the network drive using the "Backup" app, which I believe is based off of Dejadup/Duplicity.

BugRep
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Joined: 04/05/2012

If you want to continue using samba, and don't have a password set up, it's easy.
Open a terminal and execute these commands (replacing servername and sharename):

sudo apt-get install cifs-utils
sudo mkdir /media/samba-share
echo "//servername/sharename /media/samba-share cifs guest,uid=$(id -u),iocharset=utf8 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Note: do not remove -a from tee command or you will have huge problems; if you execute the last command twice, you will have a duplicate entry in /etc/fstab

You can review the changes /etc/fstab using a GUI editor

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

or a terminal-based one

sudo editor /etc/fstab

I think it is more secure to be using sftp. It is a file transfer protocol built on top of ssh. If your network drive is on a system running GNU/Linux it will be easy to set it up.

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

I see the folder for the drive is being added, and appears in the sidebar, but when I try to access it I am stopped by the attached warning.

The reason why I havent considered SFTP is because I am accessing a drive that is attached to another linux computer on my local network so I feel SFTP is for access over the internet, is it not?

Thank you very much for your guide.

warning message.png
jxself
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Joined: 09/13/2010

"SFTP is for access over the internet, is it not?"

Network protocols are for accessing over a network, public or private. The internet is nothing more than a network of networks. Your stuff at home is a network. Best not to draw arbitrary restrictions over what sort of network a given protocol is "supposed" to run on. There's no difference. :)

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Fair. lol

UPDATE: Thanks for opening my mind. I ended up being able to do what I wanted with SSH :)

BugRep
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Joined: 04/05/2012

Have you tried restarting the system? It should be automatically mounted on boot.
To mount all from /etc/fstab without a reboot execute:

sudo mount -a

If that doesn't work, append "user" like this:

guest,uid=1000,iocharset=utf8,user

This will allow you to mount after booting with a click.

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

hrmm not working... I wonder what would stop this from working... Investigating...

UPDATE: Thanks for the help. I think I need to think more carefully about what I am trying to do. I am new to Linux so its been quite a ride to learn. If I figure it out I'll share it on this thread.

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Alright, after making sure SSH was working properly between all of my computers, I decided I should try a SFTP approach. WAY WASIER and more familiar for me. I followed the steps here and got it working very easily:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/how-to-mount-a-remote-folder-using-ssh-on-ubuntu/

Thanks so much for bothering to help and suggesting "SFTP". :)

UPDATE:
I found out how to deal with mounting this network drive after login too: https://askubuntu.com/questions/270049/how-to-run-a-command-at-login

I was having issues with editing the fstab again but this method works for now... I need to up my fstab skillz :)

antiesnob
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Joined: 08/22/2013

"(...)I am accessing a drive that is attached to another linux computer on my local network(...)"
Seems perfect fit to use NFS. Give it a try. Samba was made for multiplattform with Windows machines and Linux based ones..{[

edit: sorry, which is the filesystem on the attached drive?? NFS is for Unix like FS

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

The Attached drive is NTFS, but the system is a Linux system. So probably don't use NFS eh?

UPDATE: I ended up being able to do it with SSH.

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

You mean the system is a GNU/Linux system: https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html

The name does matter: https://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html

davidpgil
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Yes, I am aware of this. Love "Saint" Richard Stallman. ;)