I have a USB drive that is usually, though not always, connected to my desktop system. If it is connected to the system at boot time, the device path should be created and the drive should be mounted immediately, i.e. BEFORE any user logs in. If it is not connected at boot time, there should be no serious problem. If the drive is connected to a running system (on which it had not been previously connected), the device path should be created, and it should be mounted by root. Root should be able to unmount the drive, when it is mounted. I assume this should be done by either udev or hal -- HOW? Thanks - jon
