Linux Community Magazine

what is fstab?This is the main configuration file which retains all the information about the partitions and storage devices of your Linux system, which also shows how you can initialize and integrate them. Thus this is the main file, used while mounting so as to determine the options usable.Where is it located?fstab is located under /etc directory and so the exact path of the file is /etc/fstab.Basic StructureAs all of the Linux systems have bit different fstab file because of the different partitions and devices, still the basic structure is same. This has basically six columns:* First and Second: These tell about the device or partition and mount point (the point where data is to be attached to the file system) to the mount command. If you doesn't do the process manually, this file tells the defaults values. * Third: This column is here to tell about the file system type of the device or partition. * Fourth: This column lists the mount options and if the file system sho uld be mounted at boot or not. The others may include auto / noauto, dev / nodev, ro, rw and so on. * Fifth and Sixth: This one tells about dump and fsck options. The dump option uses a number to decide upon the backup of file system, whether it should be done or not. Fsck option tells about the order in which the file system should be checked. Corruption Problems and CureThe non-booting and non-mounting problems may be seen if this file becomes corrupt anyways. This can be a hard issue as you won't be able to use and run the system. Also, if you find that you can't access Windows partition from Linux, can't use floppy, CD etc. as usual, something is fishy with this file. The corruption in this file can be usual as this is a plain text file and this is very easy to open and edit, using any of the text editor, so the user faults can also make it corrupt, if he/she has the root privileges.Boot the system from the installation CD and try to correct the file, if you can't then r einstall the operating system. But at this last resort, do care of the data which you either have in your primary volume or whole of the hard drive (in case no disk partitioning is there). If you lose your important data in this case, try using Linux recovery programs as these are the only help which can benefit you Linux recovery after formatting.Data recovery Linux tools are instructed to perform a scan of the hard drive and recover all the lost data. Packaged with the interactive interface, the Linux recovery applications are the sure to get data after any case of loss.Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is the most advanced and high-ending product for Linux data recovery. This data recovery Linux utility runs for Ext2, Ext3 and Reiser FS file systems and for all the flavors of Linux. The software uses the most powerful scanning procedure fo Linux recovery.