A Curious Problem (seemingly resolved, thankfully, but still.....)

[Mark]

On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 6:33 PM, Nathan Bahn <nathan.bahn at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> M.S.--
> I realize that this must be a silly question, but where is the mount point
> directory?
>
Well, yes, it is, but it's a subtle point that escapes people at times.

A mount point is just a directory.  What M.S. was saying is that
perhaps you wrote to the (mount point) directory without mounting the
partition.  In that case, the mount point will be treated as a normal
directory that can have files stored in it, like all directories can.

However, when you mount a device to a mount point (directory),
whatever was in that directory is hidden under whatever you mounted on
top of it.

E.g.:

~$ ls /boot
config-2.6.9-89.EL
config-2.6.9-89.ELlargesmp
grub/
initrd-2.6.9-89.EL.img
initrd-2.6.9-89.ELlargesmp.img
lost+found/
memtest86+-1.26
message
message.ja
symvers-2.6.9-89.EL.gz
symvers-2.6.9-89.ELlargesmp.gz
System.map-2.6.9-89.EL
System.map-2.6.9-89.ELlargesmp
vmlinuz-2.6.9-89.EL
vmlinuz-2.6.9-89.ELlargesmp
~$ mount /dev/sdb5 /boot
~$ ls /boot
anaconda-ks.cfg
AvamarClient-linux-rhel4-x86_64-5.0.100-409.rpm
commands_for_setup.txt
Desktop
install.log
install.log.syslog
ixgbe-2.0.75.7.tar.gz
ixgbe-2.0.84.9
ixgbe-2.0.84.9.tar.gz
ixgbevf-1.0.8
ixgbevf-1.0.8.tar.gz
om
OM_6.0.1_ManNode_A00.tar.gz
oracle
randsnapup
resync_with_dd
salil

See the difference?