How to add drives to fstab on fresh install (switch from GNOME to XFCE)

I’m obviously not doing something correctly. I tried adding the UUID and mount points found when doing running blkid in terminal but once I save fstab the drives disappear. However, I’m curious if maybe I’m getting the mount points wrong as the disks are located in my /run/media/user folder.

This is also on a fresh install of Manjaro and I switched to XFCE from GNOME. Not sure if that would cause any issues.

System:
  Kernel: 6.12.17-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
    root=UUID=a3cde39f-540a-457b-b2ee-44fd0a0413ce rw quiet splash apparmor=1
    security=apparmor resume=UUID=5a38419e-ab7f-434a-b717-dc89aec9799f
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: AB350-Gaming v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: AB350-Gaming-CF v: x.x serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI-[Legacy]: American Megatrends v: F21
    date: 02/08/2018
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 16 GiB available: 15.57 GiB used: 3.47 GiB (22.3%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 64 GiB slots: 4 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 16 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: Channel-A DIMM 0 type: no module installed
  Device-2: Channel-A DIMM 1 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous unbuffered
    (unregistered) size: 8 GiB speed: 2133 MT/s volts: note: check curr: 1
    min: 1 max: 1 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: TeamGroup
    part-no: UD4-3000 serial: <filter>
  Device-3: Channel-B DIMM 0 type: no module installed
  Device-4: Channel-B DIMM 1 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous unbuffered
    (unregistered) size: 8 GiB speed: 2133 MT/s volts: note: check curr: 1
    min: 1 max: 1 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: TeamGroup
    part-no: UD4-3000 serial: <filter>
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen level: v3
    note: check built: 2017-19 process: GF 14nm family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 1
    stepping: 1 microcode: 0x8001129
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 6 threads: 12 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 576 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x64 KiB L2: 3 MiB
    desc: 6x512 KiB L3: 16 MiB desc: 2x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1550 min/max: 1550/3200 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1550 2: 1550 3: 1550
    4: 1550 5: 1550 6: 1550 7: 1550 8: 1550 9: 1550 10: 1550 11: 1550 12: 1550
    bogomips: 76669
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1
    bmi2 bpext clflush clflushopt clzero cmov cmp_legacy constant_tsc cpb
    cpuid cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic extd_apicid f16c
    flushbyasid fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate irperf lahf_lm
    lbrv lm mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe msr mtrr mwaitx
    nonstop_tsc nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter
    pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni
    popcnt pse pse36 rapl rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sep sev sha_ni skinit
    smap smca smep ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 succor svm
    svm_lock syscall tce topoext tsc tsc_scale v_vmsave_vmload vgif
    vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wdt xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveerptr xsaveopt
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: untrained return thunk; SMT vulnerable
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Vulnerable: Safe RET, no microcode
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; STIBP: disabled; RSB filling;
    PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 3GB] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: nouveau v: kernel non-free: 550/565.xx+ status: current (as of
    2025-01; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
    built: 2016-2021 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s ports: active: DVI-D-1,HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3
    bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c02 class-ID: 0300 temp: 53.0 C
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0.0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: DVI-D-1 pos: primary,left model: Acer G277HL serial: <filter>
    built: 2018 res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2
    chroma: red: x: 0.639 y: 0.337 green: x: 0.314 y: 0.624 blue: x: 0.149
    y: 0.063 white: x: 0.314 y: 0.329 size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23")
    diag: 686mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080, 1680x1050, 1280x1024,
    1440x900, 1280x800, 1152x864, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480,
    720x400
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 pos: right model: Acer SA241Y
    serial: <filter> built: 2023 res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 75 scale: 100% (1)
    dpi: 93 gamma: 1.2 chroma: red: x: 0.655 y: 0.333 green: x: 0.329 y: 0.612
    blue: x: 0.149 y: 0.059 white: x: 0.314 y: 0.329
    size: 527x296mm (20.75x11.65") diag: 604mm (23.8") ratio: 16:9
    modes: 1920x1080, 1920x1080i, 1680x1050, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1280x800,
    1152x864, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 720x576, 720x480, 640x480, 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia nouveau platforms: device: 0 drv: nouveau
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nouveau surfaceless: drv: nouveau x11:
    drv: nouveau inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 4.3 vendor: mesa v: 24.3.4-arch1.1 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NV136 device-ID: 10de:1c02 memory: 2.91 GiB
    unified: no
  API: Vulkan Message: No Vulkan data available.
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16
    link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 08:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f1
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h HD Audio
    vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0a:00.3 chip-ID: 1022:1457 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.17-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Device-2: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter
    driver: bcma-pci-bridge v: N/A modules: bcma pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:43a0 class-ID: 0280
  Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: ASUSTek ASUS USB-BT500 driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 0b05:190e
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.47 TiB used: 2.7 TiB (77.8%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD20EZAZ-00L9GB0 size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 0A80
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 250GB
    size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 3B6Q scheme: MBR
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Seagate model: ST3500312CS
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 5900 serial: <filter> fw-rev: CA12 scheme: MBR
  ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 3B6Q
  ID-5: /dev/sde maj-min: 8:64 vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide
    size: 58.46 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 tech: N/A serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 1.27 scheme: MBR
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: HL-DT-ST model: BD-RE BH30N rev: A201
    dev-links: cdrom
  Features: speed: 40 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes
    rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 215.76 GiB size: 211.31 GiB (97.94%)
    used: 20.38 GiB (9.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17 label: N/A
    uuid: a3cde39f-540a-457b-b2ee-44fd0a0413ce
  ID-2: /run/media/nicholas/fourth-disk raw-size: 931.51 GiB
    size: 915.82 GiB (98.31%) used: 853.32 GiB (93.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdd
    maj-min: 8:48 label: fourth-disk
    uuid: 1be4d25b-4ff6-40b0-a5c7-dfe6cc409b83
  ID-3: /run/media/nicholas/second disk raw-size: 434.51 GiB
    size: 426.62 GiB (98.18%) used: 257.67 GiB (60.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc2
    maj-min: 8:34 label: second disk
    uuid: 1ec047b4-ec64-4d28-8893-f16ad7899256
  ID-4: /run/media/nicholas/third-disk raw-size: 1.82 TiB
    size: 1.79 TiB (98.37%) used: 1.59 TiB (89.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda
    maj-min: 8:0 label: third-disk uuid: 31f2d06a-293c-46c3-9216-27dc993cfb4e
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 17.13 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18 label: swap
    uuid: 5a38419e-ab7f-434a-b717-dc89aec9799f
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33 size: 31.25 GiB fs: swap label: N/A
    uuid: 14863704-322a-453c-b7a5-87bba34bb094
  ID-2: /dev/sde1 maj-min: 8:65 size: 3.63 GiB fs: iso9660
  ID-3: /dev/sde2 maj-min: 8:66 size: 4 MiB fs: vfat label: MISO_EFI
    uuid: 9D59-BEAA
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 10 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1:2 info: ASUSTek ASUS USB-BT500 type: bluetooth driver: btusb
    interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1
    power: 500mA chip-ID: 0b05:190e class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 1-3:3 info: SanDisk Cruzer Glide type: mass storage
    driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s)
    lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 power: 200mA chip-ID: 0781:5575 class-ID: 0806
    serial: <filter>
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1
    speed: 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 3-3:6 info: Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum Optical Mouse
    type: mouse,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 300mA
    chip-ID: 046d:c332 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 3-4:7 info: Ducky One 3̠ type: HID,keyboard,mouse
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 5 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s)
    lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 3233:1011 class-ID: 0300
    serial: <filter>
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s (596.0 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 39.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 53.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 0
Repos:
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1163 libs: 389 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: http://ftp.free.org/mirrors/repo.manjaro.org/repos/stable/$repo/$arch
    2: https://gsl-syd.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    3: https://mirror.phoepsilonix.love/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 371
  1: cpu: 14.0% command: firefox pid: 2272 mem: 511.7 MiB (3.2%)
  2: cpu: 6.7% command: Xorg pid: 948 mem: 132.7 MiB (0.8%)
  3: cpu: 6.4% command: Thunar pid: 1187 mem: 68.1 MiB (0.4%)
  4: cpu: 3.4% command: [kworker/u49:0-events_unbound] pid: 91
    mem: 0.00 MiB (0.0%)
  5: cpu: 3.4% command: [kworker/u50:1-events_unbound] pid: 3991
    mem: 0.00 MiB (0.0%)
  Memory top: 5 of 371
  1: mem: 511.7 MiB (3.2%) command: firefox pid: 2272 cpu: 14.0%
  2: mem: 428.9 MiB (2.6%) command: steamwebhelper pid: 1970 cpu: 1.4%
  3: mem: 352.2 MiB (2.2%) command: ./steamwebhelper pid: 1898 cpu: 1.2%
  4: mem: 265.8 MiB (1.6%) command: firefox pid: 3625 cpu: 2.1%
  5: mem: 257.7 MiB (1.6%) command: firefox pid: 3056 cpu: 3.2%
Info:
  Processes: 371 Power: uptime: 21m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 6.2 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager
    Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: N/A Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: xfce4-terminal
    inxi: 3.3.37

You must create your own directories, for example under your home, or like me under /media.
But /run is a “dynamic” directory created and maintained by the system. The directories you want to use are probably not created at boot.

1 Like

Exactly. Run is in ram. At the very early time fstab is read it does not yet exist.
Use uuid.
Alternatively there was a tutorial for using systemd mountpoints in the tutorial section.

In the fstab file I was using /dev/sxx for example, but should I have put media in front of that?

I did it before but can’t remember!

What are you trying to do?

Your system is working just fine.

Are you trying to add some external device to /etc/fstab ?

If they are external (USB) drives - they will end up being mounted to /run/media/...

What is wrong with that?
In your opinion.

It’s the standard behavior - it can be changed, of course.

See if these tutorials can help you… :point_down:

2 Likes

I tried those but was goofing something up. I did a fresh install of GNOME again and used the Disks utility and I think that may have sorted it out for me. Thank you! Will look at those if I need to make adjustments and study fstab after the alteration from the utility.

1 Like

A sometimes useful linux tool:

Topic closed as OP performed a fresh install; finding a solution for their issue is now rather moot.