mount and umount large capacity external USB HDD (fstab)

[freebsd_user at guice.ath.cx]

> On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:24:42 -0500
> freebsd_user at guice.ath.cx wrote:
>> Hope we are posting to the correct list ...
>> We__re using a laptop for our temp mail-server and would like to attach
a
>> two (2) or three (3) TB external USB HDD for back-up purposes.  Would
someone be kind enough to point us to a step-by-step article on what needs
>> to be entered in the /etc/fstab to allow us to leave the drive
connected
>> and facilitate auto mount/umount across system reboots; the results
Google
>> are presenting isn__t sufficient.  Perhaps it__s or search terms that
aren__t
>> on point.
>> Thanks.
> The following link  provides a 'recipe' for using gpart to partition the
disk.
> http://scratching.psybermonkey.net/2010/06/freebsd-how-to-format-partition.html
If you use the '-L' flag to newfs after creating one or more partitions, e.g.
> newfs -L "image" daXp1
> This will create a device node in /dev/ufs (/dev/ufs/image).
> You may then create fstab  entries as usual, but using the label device,
e.g.
> /dev/ufs/image		/usr/image		ufs		rw	2 2
> Unless you add "noauto" to the options (rw,noauto) the system will fsck
and mount the partition on boot.
> You can, of course, create several partitions on the disk, using a
separate label (-L) for each.
> Is this what you needed?

Thank you for your prompt reply.  This appears to be what we were looking
for, however, the gpart method has opened up another list of speed-bumps
(so to speak), meaning, while reading about 'gpart' on our fbsd-7.3-P1
system; the command 'gpart show' yields no results.  We have shelved the
gpart suggestion and will try and do this with itemized commands from the
CLI; something that we have never needed to do in the past --first time
for everything. (smile)
-
Currently our USB drive is seen as:

da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
da0: <Seagate FA GoFlex Desk 0155> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-4 device da0:
40.000MB/s transfers
da0: 2861588MB (732566645 4096 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 45600C)

we are considering using the following:

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=1k count=1
# fdisk -BI da0 #Initialize your new disk
# bsdlabel -B -w da1s1 auto #Label it.
# bsdlabel -e da0s1 # Edit the bsdlabel just created and add any
partitions.
# mkdir -p /mnt/drv-e
# mkdir -p /mnt/drv-f
# mkdir -p /mnt/drv-g
# mkdir -p /mnt/drv-h
# newfs /dev/da0s1e # Repeat this for every partition you created. # newfs
/dev/da0s1f
# newfs /dev/da0s1g
# newfs /dev/da0s1h
# mount /dev/da1s1e /mnt/drv-e # Mount the partition(s)
# mount /dev/da1s1f /mnt/drv-f
# mount /dev/da1s1g /mnt/drv-g
# mount /dev/da1s1h /mnt/drv-h
-
# vi /etc/fstab # Add the appropriate entry/entries to your /etc/fstab.

Is our thinking 'sane' when doing the above?  Initial example
taken/borrowed from the FreeBSD Handbook 18.3.2.1 Using Slices.
-
-
Lastly, we don't fully understand, nor have we found an article or man
page that explains (in a way we can understand), how to use the 'bs= ' to
the 'dd' command.

Within the 'man dd' the examples show 'bs=512' however, in the FreeBSD
Handbook 18.3.2.1 Using Slices, they demonstrate dd using 'bs=1k'; we
continue to be confused.  Should we take this confusion to another list?

Thanks in advance ...