Ubuntu : Adding a new hard drive

After you have installed the hard drive and booted up do the following:

# lshw -C disk
  *-disk:0              
       description: ATA Disk
       product: ST3250410AS
       vendor: Seagate
       physical id: 0
       bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/sda
       version: 3.AA
       serial: 6RYC8Y1L
       size: 232GiB (250GB)
       capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
       configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=000d0ffe
  *-disk:1
       description: ATA Disk
       product: ST3500418AS
       vendor: Seagate
       physical id: 1
       bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/sdb
       version: CC34
       serial: 6VM0M7CJ
       size: 465GiB (500GB)
       capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
       configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=000d099d

In this case I added disk:1 to the system and we can see it assigned /dev/sdb as the logical drive. You can also look in the dmesg output to see what has been assigned but this is easier.

Next you need to create partitions on the drive using fdisk (as root):

fdisk /dev/sdb

Command (m for help): m
  Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)

  Command (m for help):

Type n for new partition

Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
Type p

Partition number (1-4):

Enter 1 if you are just creating a single partition
Then type w to write and exit.

Now the partitions are created you need to create the file system on the drive:

mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdb1

When done you need to create a mount point, in this case I made mine /storage, and then edit your /etc/fstab file so the OS can mount the drive:

mkdir /storage
vi /etc/fstab

Add the following

/dev/sdb1    /storage   ext3    defaults     0        2

When done you then execute the following to mount the drive

mount -a

Check the drive is there

df -h

Whallah!

Checking you wireless speed on a Mac

Want to quickly get some details around your wireless connectivity on your Mac, well that is pretty easy when you know how. Just hold down the Option key when clicking on your wireless icon in the menu bar.

 

As you can see it gives additional information:

• Wireless AP SSID
• Your Wireless AP MAC address
• Channel used
• Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) value
• Transmit rate (in this case 54Mbps)

Star Gazing - Check out Stellarium

This is a great App for Mac, Linux and Windows for those of you that love star gazing.

Aptana Studio - Web IDE

Aptana Studio is a complete web development environment that combines powerful authoring tools for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, along with thousands of additional plugins created by the community.

Now you can work cross platform with projects as Aptana comes for Windows, Mac and Linux!

Google Chrome for Mac & Linux!

It's here and it works very well .... just need to check out some of the plug-ins that one can get for Chrome. I'm a big Firefox fan and have a bunch of plug-ins that I really love using .......if Chrome has them I may just be persuaded to swap over permanently.

Are you satisfied with your desktop ... why not Bumptop?

Very kewl ..... web site only has windows download at the moment but there is a Mac Beta version too. It's great to see the desktop is evolving with handy programs like these.

http://bumptop.com/

Great site!!

Check out Category 5 Technology TV

The site is run by Canadian, Robbie Ferguson, and deals with Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems showing viewers ways of doing things on the OS' and introducing new programs (free and sometimes commercial) as well as reviews on hardware. Robbie also takes questions via the live Ustream chat room or via e-mail.

Check it out .... you may just pick up some nice tips.

I really enjoy the concept, nice one Robbie!