Pori User Guide

This guide covers normal day-to-day use of Pori.

Before You Start

Requirement	How to Verify	What to Look For
Sudo access	groups command	Your username appears in sudo or wheel group
Disk healthy state	sudo fsck -n /dev/sdXn	No “dirty bit” or error messages (run on unmounted disk)
Disk visible to system	lsblk -f	Your device appears in the list with filesystem type (ext4, ntfs, etc.)
Mount point parent exists	ls -la /mnt or your chosen path	Parent directory exists (Pori creates the final mount point, but not the full path)

Mount a Disk

Data Safety

• Double-check the device: Pori shows disk sizes and labels, but verify you’re selecting the correct physical disk.
• Avoid system directories: Never mount to /home, /usr, /var, or other system paths unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
• Unmount before unplugging: Always use Pori’s unmount (or systemctl stop) before physically disconnecting USB drives to prevent corruption.

1. Open Pori.
2. Select a drive that is not already mounted.
3. Click Mount Disk.
4. In the dialog:
   • Confirm or edit the mount point.
   • (Optional) add a description.
   • Keep or adjust recommended mount options.
   • (Optional) add extra comma-separated options.
5. Click Mount.
6. Authenticate when prompted.

If successful, Pori refreshes the device list and the disk appears as mounted.

Mount Options

Pori pre-selects recommended options based on filesystem type:

Filesystem	Default Options	Notes
ext4	defaults	Standard POSIX permissions
ntfs	defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000	Placeholders resolved to your actual UID/GID at mount time
exfat	defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000	Same UID/GID resolution
udf	defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000	For if you want to game from the same partition on both linux & windows

Extra Options

Add comma-separated options (e.g., noexec,nosuid,ro for read-only, no-execution access). These append to the recommended set.

NTFS Confirmation

When mounting an NTFS disk, Pori shows a compatibility warning before continuing. You can cancel or proceed.

What Pori Creates

For a mount point like /home/alice/mnt/games, Pori creates:

• Unit file: /etc/systemd/system/home-alice-mnt-games.mount
• Unit content mapping:
  • What=/dev/disk/by-uuid/<UUID>
  • Where=<mount point you chose>
  • Type=<filesystem type>
  • Options=<selected options>

Pori then runs:

• systemctl daemon-reload
• systemctl enable --now <unit>

What Pori Doesn’t Modify

Pori creates native systemd .mount units. It does not:

• Edit /etc/fstab
• Create /etc/crypttab entries (for encrypted disks — decrypt first with your distro’s disk utility)
• Handle network mounts (NFS, SMB, SSHFS)
• Manage LVM or RAID (use on activated logical volumes only)

Best Practices

• Use descriptive mount points: /mnt/backup-drive is better than /mnt/sdb1 (which changes between boots).
• Use /mnt or /media: which are often used for mounting. You can also create a new directory like /drives, /games, etc. Don’t do home directory mounts (/home/$USER/mnt) if multiple users need access.
• Label your disks: Use e2label or ntfslabel so Pori shows friendly names, not just /dev/sdb1.
• Check UUID stability: Pori uses /dev/disk/by-uuid/ which survives disk reordering. USB drives should keep consistent UUIDs.

Verify or Troubleshoot

• Check unit status:
  • systemctl status <unit>.mount
• Check logs:
  • journalctl -u <unit>.mount
• If authentication fails:
  • Retry with the correct sudo password.
• If a disk is missing:
  • Confirm it appears in lsblk -f.