How do you mount external drives on a Raspberry Pi?

Mounting external drives on a Raspberry Pi (like USB flash drives or external HDDs/SSDs) is a common and useful task — especially for projects like file servers, media centers, or data logging. Here's a step-by-step guide:

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1. Connect the External Drive

• Plug your USB drive into one of the Pi’s USB ports.

• Power it externally if it's a large 2.5"/3.5" HDD (Raspberry Pi may not provide enough power).

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2. Identify the Drive

Open Terminal and type:

bash

lsblk

or

bash

sudo fdisk -l

Look for a device like:

bash

/dev/sda1     15G  ...

That’s your external drive.

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3. Create a Mount Point

Choose where the drive should be accessible from. Example:

bash

sudo mkdir /mnt/mydrive

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4. Mount the Drive Manually

For NTFS or exFAT (e.g., Windows drives):

Install support:

bash

sudo apt install ntfs-3g exfat-fuse exfat-utils

Then mount:

bash

sudo mount -t auto /dev/sda1 /mnt/mydrive

For ext4 (Linux format):

bash

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/mydrive

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5. Auto-Mount on Boot (Optional)

Edit the fstab file:

bash

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add a line like:

bash

/dev/sda1  /mnt/mydrive  auto  defaults,nofail  0  0

Use UUID instead of /dev/sda1 if you want a more stable reference:

bash

sudo blkid

Then update fstab with:

ini

UUID=xxxx-xxxx  /mnt/mydrive  auto  defaults,nofail  0  0

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Tips

• Use sudo umount /mnt/mydrive before unplugging.

• For read/write access, ensure correct permissions:

bash

sudo chown -R pi:pi /mnt/mydrive

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