I’m running a Ubuntu server on my old laptop with an external HDD connected to it. The external HDD is powered independently from the laptop, as it is plugged into the wall.
During a power outage, my laptop remains operational due to its battery, but the HDD shuts down. When power is restored, my laptop does not automatically remount the HDD, and I have to reboot the system manually to access it.
Does anyone know how I can resolve this issue?


I had one back in the day like that. My notes on that event are old so maybe someone can modify or clarify.
First you’ll have to find the UUID of the external drive. (
lsblk -f) Then create a mount file like:sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/mnt-data.mount. In themnt-data.mountfile, insert something like:[Unit] Description=External HDD Mount Requires=dev-disk-by\x2duuid-<YOUR_UUID>.device After=dev-disk-by\x2duuid-<YOUR_UUID>.device After=local-fs.target [Mount] What=/dev/disk/by-uuid/<YOUR_UUID> Where=/mnt/data Type=ext4 # Change to ntfs, xfs, etc., depending on your drive format Options=rw,noatime,nofailEnable and reload:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl enable mnt-data.mount sudo systemctl start mnt-data.mountVerify status:
systemctl status mnt-data.mountShould say ‘active’. Reboot and test. Let me know if that works. Like I said, that was a while ago. If it works, it’s just another reason why you should doccument your server setups. If it doesn’t, well shucks I tried. LOL
My /etc/fstab file currently has the following:
UUID=412ea77a-96e1-427c-9f75-2aae2fe0dca1 /mnt/wd ext4 defaults 0 2If I were to use the
mnt-data.mountyou’ve suggested, does that mean I need to delete what I already have in /etc/fstab and replace it with what you suggested?This but put the entries in /etc/fstab instead.
I’ll make an addenda to my notes. Thanks.