# mounting a large fat32 drive



## allbanddxer (Jun 3, 2009)

I have a 250Gb external USB hard drive formatted in fat32 and would like to use it with my FreeBSD desktop system. I understand that because of the size of the partition and the limitations of the default kernel, mounting such a partition requires a flag to mount "large partitions". Mounting in a terminal is working fine, but I would like to know how to allow a file browser to mount this device. Is there a config file where I can add the extra command to mount large drives or will I just have to build a custom kernel? 
Thanks!


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## SirDice (Jun 3, 2009)

For what Desktop Environment? Gnome, KDE, XFCE or something else?


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## allbanddxer (Jun 3, 2009)

At the moment I run KDE4, but I also like to use Openbox with thunar from time to time.


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## allbanddxer (Jun 4, 2009)

Another idea I was thinking about is formatting the drive to a different file system. Does anyone have any experience sharing a drive between BSD and Linux?


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## vermaden (Jun 4, 2009)

`# mount -t msdosfs -o large /dev/ad6s1 /mnt`


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## allbanddxer (Jun 4, 2009)

Thank you Vermaden, but I am already aware of the mount command for large fat32 drives. What I am trying to accomplish is to have Dolphin, Nautilus, or Thunar allow me to mount the drive as I would in linux... by mounting it in the file manager. I realize that I can mount it in a terminal and then open it within the file manager, but I would like to make this as user friendly as possible. 
I tested this in PC-BSD as well and I seem to have the same problem. The more I think about it, recompiling the kernel might be the best option. I just hope I don't screw up...

Thanks for the help


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## vermaden (Jun 4, 2009)

allbanddxer said:
			
		

> The more I think about it, recompiling the kernel might be the best option. I just hope I don't screw up...



IHMO recompiling the kernel would not change anything here, its not that this functionality is not in the kernel (you can mount it by hand and it works), it about changing/modifying hald or whatever you user for automount to use -o loarge option for all mounts:

Pseudo example:

```
-CMD=mount -t msdosfs
+CMD=mount -t msdosfs -o large
```

But I do not know HALd very well, so ask FreeBSD and/or PC-BSD developers how to modify that (or even how to make it default for future PC-BSD releases).

For me its a bug that such user friendlyness focused system like PC-BSD forces you to use CLI to use your external drive.


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## SirDice (Jun 4, 2009)

I know how to do it in Gnome, you just need to edit a few entries in gconf. I could figure out how to use it in Xfce as that's what I'm currently using. Unfortunately I don't use KDE and I really don't know enough about it. Having said that, I assume KDE has something similar to gconf.


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## allbanddxer (Jun 4, 2009)

Thanks for the advice vermaden and sirdice, you have given me new options to experiment with. I will follow up on this thread if I make any progress.


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## phoenix (Jun 4, 2009)

SirDice said:
			
		

> I know how to do it in Gnome, you just need to edit a few entries in gconf. I could figure out how to use it in Xfce as that's what I'm currently using. Unfortunately I don't use KDE and I really don't know enough about it. Having said that, I assume KDE has something similar to gconf.



KDE uses the Solid libraries for managing devices.  Behind the scenes, this uses HAL/PolicyKit, same as GNOME.  And all the standard HAL/PolicyKit FAQs for GNOME apply to KDE as well.


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