In Linux you can mount a partition by giving the mount command.
Eg. mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/c
This means that the device /dev/hda1 can be accessed from the /mnt/c directory.But instead of typing this again and again every time we log in. There is a better solution.We put this in /etc/fstab. So that /dev/hda1 is always mounted on startup.
To open fstab file type
vi /etc/fstab
In the first column type the name of the device which you want to mount eg. /dev/hda1
Then in the second column type the name of the of the directory where you want to mount.
Remember the directory name should exist.
In the third column type the file system name.
Like vfat for fat file system
ext3 for ext3
ntfs for ntfs
swap for swap
In the fourth column type defaults
In fifth column type 0
In sixth column type 0
fstab file
When you are done save the file and quit
