fsck or fstab config question

[Basil Chupin]

On 01/09/2010 05:40, pkaplan1 at comcast.net wrote:
> I'm running 10.04 on a laptop and have an external USB drive 
> (/dev/sdb*) in my office that is connected to a base station.  When I 
> boot in the office and the drive is connected, everything is normal. 
>  When the drive is not connected, the boot process pauses to tell me 
> that the external partitions on the drive can't be found (duh!, it's 
> not connected) and awaits manual input to skip the step before 
> starting the display manager.  If I select skip, booting completes 
> normally, but the next time I try to boot with the drive connected, 
> all five partitions are subject to an fsck check, which can last up to 
> five minutes.
>
> Here is my fstab file:
> ----------
>
[pruned]

> Is there something here that is forcing an fsck and if so, what needs 
> to be changed, either in fstab or in the fsck configuration.
>
> TIA
> Paul
>

This usually happens when you have the external USB running when you are 
installing the OS and therefore it is recognised as a legitimate HD and 
will appear in fstab. Next time don't have it running when you  are 
installing.

What you can do now is to rem it out (#) in fstab - I don't know which 
one it is, you've only got sda and sdb - so that the boot process will 
not go looking for the drive. Then, when you want to use it switch it on 
and it will get picked up as an USB drive.

Alternatively, simply keep hitting the S key to skip the partitions 
being mounted, and then bear with the system checking the drives for 
errors on the next boot :-) .

BC


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