Summary

Sub-menu: /disk

Since v6.20 release, attached storage is now managed in "/disk" sub-menu, instead of the previous "/store disk" menu.

• This menu will list all attached storage devices, presuming that they are supported and in working condition.

• As a note, Webproxy and User manager stores as now shown as directories in "/files menu". When configuring webproxy cache or usermanager database you will now be asked to write in the actual full path of the directory where you want these stores to be created.

This is especially useful for RouterBOARD devices with SD/CF/USB slots and x86 systems with additional dedicated storage drives - as the built-in storage is quite small, an external drive comes in very handy when you want a big User Manager database, proxy cache or possibly SMB shares on your router.

You can add as many external or secondary drives as you want, and select any number of them for each of the mentioned feature usages. For example, User Manager could be used on 3 disks, one of them would be the active database, and the rest would be backups. You can then add a fourth disk, copy the active data to it - unmount - unplug it - and move to another server, to keep using the actual database. This means migration and backup are made easy!

Examples

Formatting attached storage unit - Simple

1. Disk is attached, and already mounted automatically by the system.

[admin@MikroTik]  > /disk print
 # NAME  LABEL   	 TYPE	DISK 	FREE 	   SIZE
 0 disk1 usb-flash 	 ext3   00     7.1GiB     7.2GiB

[admin@MikroTik] > /file print
 # NAME                        TYPE          SIZE CREATION-TIME
 2 skins                       directory          jan/01/1970 03:00:01
 3 pub                         directory          feb/04/1970 21:31:40
 4 disk1                       disk               apr/20/2015 14:05:16

2. Unmounting storage drive in order to format it. 

[admin@MikroTik] > /disk eject-drive 0

3. Formatting the disk, in either of two supported file-systems (ext3 or fat32). 

[admin@MikroTik] > /disk format-drive 0 file-system=ext3 label=flashdrive
  formatted: 100%

4. It's done! Drive is formatted and should be automatically mounted after formatting process is finished. 

Formatting attached storage unit - Detailed

Let us presume that you have added a storage device to your device that is running RouterOS. System will try to automatically mount it and in such case if storage is formatted in a supported file-system and partition record, it will be found in "/files" menu moments after you plugged it in to the host device.

If not, here is what you have to do.

1. Do a quick print of disk menu, to make sure that router sees the attached storage.

[admin@MikroTik] > disk print
 # NAME		LABEL	TYPE	DISK	FREE       SIZE
 0 disk1        NO NAME fat32   00     6.6GiB     7.2GiB

We can here see that system sees one storage drive and also that it is formatted with a known file-system type.

When running file menu print-out we also see that is mounted. 

[admin@MikroTik] > file print
 # NAME     TYPE    SIZE CREATION-TIME
 0 disk1    disk         apr/20/2015 13:44:11
 1 skins    directory    jan/01/1970 03:00:01
 2 pub      directory    feb/04/1970 21:31:40

2. Now to format it we must first unmount it. To do that we need to issue the command that is pasted below. Note that you can use disk "id" or "name" for this task. ID number is usable only after the print command on the specific menu has been issued and presuming that the order or count has not changed, as that would also possibly change the id. OR this disk name identifier which in this example case would be
"NO NAME". Name can be used without issuing print as that is a static value and should not change unless changed manually by you.

In short: using the ID number of the disk is easy, but printout of this menu must be done first. 

[admin@MikroTik] > disk eject-drive 0

In short: using name, quicker if you know the device name. But "" needs to be added if this value contains spaces or some symbols that might confuse console. 

[admin@MikroTik] > disk eject-drive "NO NAME"

3. Formatting drive now that it is unmounted. We issue command with previously know id or name and with desired file-system (ext3 or fat32), we can also assign label to device as I did in this example. 

[admin@MikroTik] > /disk format-drive 0 file-system=ext3 label=usb-flash
  formatted: 100%