Mounting A New Drive (Ubuntu/Linux)

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Affected Roles:  Administrator, Owner

Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps:  DW Spectrum® IPVMS

Complexity:  Medium to High

Last Edit:  January 21, 2022

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Drive Setup

After adding a hard drive to a DW Blackjack® computer, the new storage drive will need to be initialized and a new partition must be created before it can be utilized for storage by the DW Spectrum® Server.

This article will outline how to initialize and partition a new hard drive using an Ubuntu/Linux operating system.

 

**NOTE:  Linux commands are case-sensitive.  Be mindful of the use of spaces, special characters, and capitalization.

 

**NOTE:  For mounting a drive using a Windows OS, see Mounting A New Drive (Windows).

 

Supported/Affected Devices

• DW Blackjack® Series (Ubuntu/Linux)

 

Initializing and Partition Creation

After physically mounting the drive to the Ubuntu computer, the new hard drive will need to be initialized and partitioned by the OS to create a partition for the DW Spectrum® Server to use as media storage. To do so, follow the directions below.

 

Part 1:  Stopping the DW Media Service

Before setting up the new hard drive, stop the DW Media Service program from running. This will prevent the DW Spectrum® Server from trying to write to an unavailable drive.

To stop the DW Media Service:

1. If you have not already done so, power on the DW Blackjack® (Ubuntu) unit and boot to the computer’s desktop.

 

2. Open the Terminal program (CTRL + ALT + T).

To gain root access as a Superuser, use the command:

When prompted, enter the default password of “Dw5pectrum”, then press the Enter key. When typing the password, be aware that text will not display in the command terminal.

 

 

**NOTE:  For older DW Blackjack units purchased prior to June 18, 2021, the previously utilized default Linux OS login was "admin/admin".

 

 

3. After gaining Superuser access, stop the DW Media Service.

To stop the DW Media Service, use the command:

The DW Media Service will stop and the Server will refrain from writing to its storage drives.

 

Part 2:  Initializing the Drive

After stopping the DW Media Service, the new hard drive will need to be initialized.

To initialize the new hard drive:

1. Open the Unity launcher.  This icon is located in the left panel of the desktop, by default.

Using the Unity program, search for “Disks”, then launch the Disks tool.

 

2. Select the target drive, then click on the Gears icon and prompt the initialization process.

When prompted, enter the system’s Administrator password and click on Authenticate to begin the initialization process.

1. 1. Default Password:  Dw5pectrum

 

**NOTE:  Initializing the hard drive will completely erase all stored data on the specified drive.  This should not be an issue as this is a new hard drive.

 

Part 3:  Creating A New Partition

After initializing the drive, a storage partition must be created on the new hard drive.

To create a new partition:

1. The GPT Partition Table in the Disks application will be created and will display in the Disk Drives section.  The new HDD is ready to be allocated.

To create a new partition, select the unallocated hard disk from the list of Disk Drives, then click on the add (+) icon

 

2. The Create Partition window will display.

In the Name box, name the partition as “home1” (case sensitive), then click the Create button.

 

**NOTE:  It is recommended to keep the Partition Size at the HDD’s maximum capacity when creating the partition.

 

 

3. Next, from the Drives application, click on the Gears icon for the drive and select Edit Mount Options.

The Mount Options window will display.

Toggle OFF the Automatic Mount Options setting.

Configure the following settings:

1. Mount Options – enable Mount at startup
2. (below Symbolic Icon Name) – nosuid,nodev,nofail
3. Mount Point – /home1
4. Identify As – LABEL=home1
5. Filesystem Type – auto

Once configured (see image below), click the OK button.

 

4. Click the Play button to mount the drive.

 

Part 4:  Start the DW Media Service

After the new hard drive has been initialized and partitioned, the DW Media Service must be restarted on the Server before the DW Spectrum® Server program can write to the new drive.

To start the DW Media Service:

1. Open the Terminal (CTRL+ALT+T).

To gain access as a Superuser, use the command:

When prompted, enter the default password of “Dw5pectrum”, then press the Enter key. 

 

**NOTE:  For older DW Blackjack units purchased prior to June 18, 2021, the previously utilized default Linux OS login was "admin/admin".

 

2. After gaining Superuser access, start the DW Media Service.

To start the DW Media Service, use the command:

The DW Media Service will restart and the Server can begin writing to the new storage drive.