[clug] Volume names

[Keith Sayers]

On Tuesday 12 April 2011 04:00:03 Brendan Jurd and Paul Wayper cogitated and counselled :

> > ? ? ? ?Can Linux ascribe a volume name to a hard drive, please?
 
> Not to a hard drive, but if you're looking for something like Windows'
> "volume label" a la the Format Disk program, you want to put a label
> on a _filesystem_, not a hard drive.

	Yes, that is my objective.  I have a system of removable hard drives and for various 
historical reasons have accumulated several such.  I am now in a position to work through 
them, selecting and consolidating what I want to keep.  To enable me to identify them I 
have given each drive a name and pencilled that on to the carrier tray and for those that 
have been used under Windows I can also make that a volume name.  For those that are so 
named and are visible to Linux, Dolphin the file manager will display that volume name.  
For example one which contains only data, no operating system, appears in 
Dolphin as 'Easton' and I know exactly which one I have in the drive.  I now have some 
that are Linux only and would have liked them also to appear suitably named.
 
> The method for doing so depends on the filesystem.  For example, for
> an ext2 or ext3 filesystem, `tune2fs -L <label> <device>` will get you
> there.

	Apparently I am ext4 - using Kubuntu 10.4 if that helps

> ...... e2label and tune2fs
> won't write anything (they won't find a correctly-formatted superblock on
> the filesystem).  

	Correct - they did not.

But on Monday 11 April 2011 07:29:02 Andrew Janke puzzled with :

> In which direction?

	Err... well forwards, I think, but what directions are available?

> If you want a pointy-click version use "Disk Utility"
> (System->Administration on Gnome).

	I looked for that but it seems to not be in Kubuntu.

> If you want a Command Line version use "blkid".

	I printed out the info on that but it seems that the 'L label' option is to find a 
device with a given name rather than apply a name to a device - have I misunderstood?
 
> Generally a disk is mounted using its volume ID or a ext2/3/4 label if
> it exists, you can label a disk using e2label.

	I came back to that after some guidance from Steve Jenkin and found that the SATA 
drive I had installed - the only one then in the box - had become /dev/sda5 (it had 
previously been /dev/sdb5), tried 'e2label  /dev/sda5 Trevor'  as root in the Konsole and 
something  happened.  When I then came back to Dolphin I found that in the leftside column 
I still had the 'OS' entry which had previously been the SATA drive, but now also a 
'Trevor' entry which pointed to the same place.  So I was at least a step forward.  I then 
right clicked on the OS and took the option to 'hide entry' - but that removed both OS and 
Trevor although I got them back without trouble.

	That is where I am at the moment.  I will keep experimenting but in the meantime my 
thanks for all the help.

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Keith Sayers                                        keiths at apex.net.au
6 Clambe Place,
CHARNWOOD, ACT 2615
Australia                              http://www.apex.net.au/~keiths
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