Mounting in File System

Operating system organises files on a disk using filesystem. And these filesystems differ with operating systems. We have greater number of filesystems available for linux. One of the great benefits of linux is that we can access data on many different file systems even if these filesystems are from different operating system. In order to access the file system in the linux first we need to mount it. Mounting refers to making a group of files in a file system structure accessible to user or group of users. It is done by attaching a root directory from one file system to that of another. This ensures that the other directory or device appears as a directory or subdirectory of that system.

Mounting may be local or remote. In local mounting it connects disk drivers as one machine such that they behave as single logical system, while remote mount uses NFS(Network file system) to connect to directories on other machine so that they can be used as if they are the part of the users file system. Opposite of mounting is unmounting [commands for the same will be discussed later] and it is removal of access of those files/folders. It was the overview of what a mounting is.

In unix based system there is a single directory tree, and all the accessible storage must have an associated location in a single directory tree. And for making the storage accessible mounting is used.