Mount (computing)

As a mount point (English " mountpoint " ) is referred to under Unix-like operating systems, the location in the directory structure, to which a resource is mounted. It must be a directory exists under the directory structure of the corresponding data carrier, for example, a CD-ROM, integrated. Can then be accessed through this directory on the CD -ROM. In this way, all the disks are below the so-called root directory (English root, represented by / ) included in a directory tree. Partitions on the same disk, for example, a hard disk, are also hooked.

The previous directory structure so the mount point extended to those structures which come with the new disk. So it does not matter for applications on which disk is a file because the operating system takes over the management and you have to know only the path in question through the directory structure.

The key for the system disks or partitions are mounted automatically at system startup and unmounted when it shuts down. Mounted Volumes must be removed from the directory structure again before they can be taken out of the drive. This is important because it can lead to data loss otherwise, because when you remove data is written back to disk from the cache.

Mount points are specified in the file fstab ( filesystem table ), which also characteristics can be predefined. This includes user permissions, write permission, read access, and others.

The command with which a volume can be suspended is, mount; the process is called hooking, embedding or mounting ( mounting english ). The command to unmount a disk is called umount. In many methods are used, which automatically embed a disk, after this connected or inserted ( automounter ).

• Operating system theory