Mount and unmount drives

A drive becomes accessible for recordings, timeshift, backups and plugins through a mount point. Mounting connects its filesystem to a directory. Unmounting removes that connection without deleting the files.

Open Device Manager

Use Menu → Setup → System → Storage Devices → Device Manager. QuickMenu also provides access to drives and mounts. Network shares are configured separately under NAS & network shares.

Device Manager with the mounted HDD and separately selected OPENATV_DEMO USB data partition — In this example, sda is the HDD and sdb the USB stick. Those letters are not fixed roles. The selected USB partition is already mounted at /media/OPENATV_DEMO. Open original image ↗

Device, partition and mount point

Term	Example	Meaning
Whole device	`sdb`	The entire USB stick, including its partition table.
Partition	`sdb2`	Part of the device with its own filesystem. Indentation shows its parent device.
Filesystem	`ext4`	Organises files and folders on the partition.
Label	`OPENATV_DEMO`	A readable filesystem name.
Mount point	`/media/OPENATV_DEMO`	Directory through which the mounted files are accessed.
R/W	Read and write	Access is generally possible; space and permissions must also be suitable.

Identify a device by type, capacity, model and connection. Names such as sda and sdb may change with connection order. The swap partition visible in the example is virtual-memory backing, not a recording drive.

Temporary mount and unmount

Select the data partition, rather than its parent device row. Blue shows Mount or Unmount according to state. Read any destination choice or prompt and check the resulting state in the list.

Before unmounting, finish recordings, timeshift, playback, backups and other accesses to that drive. If it is busy, stop the process using it. Pulling the cable is not a substitute for unmounting. Remove a USB drive only after it has been unmounted successfully.

A temporary mount does not automatically create a persistent startup entry. Blue is intended for partitions without a permanent mount assignment; with a permanent assignment, use the mount-point configuration instead. A permanently ignored device must be activated again before it can be used.

Assign a permanent mount point

Select the data partition and press OK for its mount point. Yellow – Mount point opens the multi-partition overview.
Choose the intended path. /media/hdd is commonly used for the main recording drive. Give an additional USB stick a different, unused path.
Simple is enough to select a path. Advanced also shows filesystem and mount options; change them only for a specific reason.
Save with Green and follow any reboot request.
Reopen Device Manager and verify the actual mount point.

USB mount configuration in Simple mode with no permanent target assigned — None means no permanent mount point is configured here. The partition can still be mounted temporarily, as shown in the device overview. Open original image ↗

Do not also assign /media/hdd to a USB stick when it already belongs to the HDD. Permanent entries use the filesystem UUID where possible, avoiding confusion when sdX names change. Formatting changes the UUID; check the assignment again afterwards.

Recording and timeshift paths

A mount point does not automatically update every storage destination. Check recording paths, the timeshift path, backup destination and, if applicable, EPG storage. Use Find a setting to search for these terms directly.

The directory can still exist when the drive is missing. That does not prove the storage is mounted. Check the device overview before writing large amounts of data there.

Press MENU inside Device Manager to open Harddisk Settings.

Harddisk Settings with standby times, hardware timer and display of unknown devices — MENU opens another settings page here. It does not format a drive. Open original image ↗

Hard disk standby after sets the idle timeout. The second timeout controls behaviour while the receiver is in standby. Hardware standby timer delegates this to a supported drive function. A mechanical drive needs to spin up on the next access; flash storage has no rotating motor. Network and plugin accesses can wake the drive. Show unknown devices includes devices that could not be clearly assigned.

Continue with formatting and filesystem checks and backup.

Source: Device Manager and mount-point configuration.