# Understanding Fstab mount options

**URL:** <https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831>\
**Category:** 🏷️ General\
**Tags:** not\_nc\_related, ncp\
**Created:** [April 20, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831 "2022-04-20T15:49:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![treesMcGees](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/treesmcgees/32/65509_2.png) [@treesMcGees](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/treesMcGees)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831/1 "2022-04-20T15:49:18Z")

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Hi, I am looking for more context with the fstab mount options.

why is ‘users’ required instead of ‘root’? Can I put other options as well, like ‘auto’, ‘defaults’, or ‘nofail’?

I have also found this person’s guide: [Using External Storage as Primary Storage for NextCloud](https://sebroy.com/blog/technical/nextcloud-external-primary-storage/) which suggests these options: defaults,auto,users,rw,nofail

Thank you 🙂

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**Author:** ![anon75456558](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/anon75456558/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@anon75456558](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/anon75456558)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831/2 "2022-04-20T15:59:55Z")

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There are a number of options available. You can always read the `man fstab` page or `fstab --help` directly on your machine.

You can also search to discover every available option via Arch Wiki, Ubuntu Wiki, and thousands of other guides.

> **[fstab at DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=fstab&ia=web)**
>
> DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

Have fun! Here are a few to get started:

- auto/noauto: Specify whether the partition should be automatically mounted on boot. You can block specific partitions from mounting at boot-up by using “noauto”.

- nouser/user: This allows the user to have mounting and unmounting privileges. An important note is that “user” automatically implies “noexec” so if you need to execute binaries and still mount as a user, be sure to explicitly use “exec” as an option.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![treesMcGees](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/treesmcgees/32/65509_2.png) [@treesMcGees](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/treesMcGees)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831/3 "2022-04-22T12:33:46Z")

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Thank you for your reply! I am looking them up.

> UUID= **YourDrive’sUUID** /media/ncp ext4 rw,users 0 0

I understand why nextcloud would need rw, but is there any specific reason we would want users to mount/unmount the drive? I believe nextcloud uses the www-data user. Is this required for it to function?

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**Author:** ![anon75456558](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/anon75456558/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@anon75456558](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/anon75456558)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 2:05pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831/4 "2022-04-22T14:05:29Z")

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www-data is part of the users group.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![treesMcGees](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/treesmcgees/32/65509_2.png) [@treesMcGees](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/treesMcGees)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831/5 "2022-04-22T19:26:07Z")

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Yes, I get that. Does www-data need to mount/unmount the drive?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anon75456558](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/anon75456558/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@anon75456558](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/anon75456558)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/understanding-fstab-mount-options/137831/6 "2022-04-22T19:38:41Z")

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Yeah, that will give nextcloud access to the location.

Nextcloud = www-data