That’s a really good observation, and you’re right to be puzzled — because all three machines are Linux, but they’re behaving differently with extra drives. Let’s unpack why:

Why some drives “just show up” and others don’t

1. How the drive is formatted
   – If the drive is NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, or another “removable-style” filesystem, Linux desktop environments (like GNOME or KDE) treat it like a hot-plug device → they auto-detect it, mount it when you click it, and show it in the sidebar.
   – If the drive is ext4, xfs, btrfs (native Linux filesystems), the desktop won’t automatically present it unless there’s a mount rule. Linux assumes those are “system” disks, not “external storage,” so you need /etc/fstab to make them mount consistently.

2. How the drive is partitioned
   – A raw disk with no partition table might not show up in the GUI at all until you format or partition it.
   – A disk with a valid partition but no filesystem might appear in lsblk but not in your file manager.

3. System behavior differences
   – On your main machine with 3 drives and the kitchen box with 2 drives, chances are those extra drives are formatted with NTFS or FAT (maybe they used to be Windows drives) → that’s why GNOME auto-presents them.
   – On “little Roblox machine,” the 4TB was probably formatted as ext4 when you set it up. Since it’s native Linux FS, the desktop won’t auto-mount it unless you tell it to.

Why this matters for your setup

For Little Ougway, you want the 4TB to be ext4 (or xfs) and mounted at a fixed location (/mnt/storage), because Postgres and your ingestion pipeline need a reliable, permanent mount. You don’t want it “auto-mount when clicked” like an NTFS disk.

So:
– The fact it doesn’t “just appear” in the sidebar is actually normal and expected.
– The other machines are probably only looking different because of filesystem types (auto-mountable vs. “system” style).

What you can do

If you want the 4TB to behave like the others (show up in the sidebar, auto-mount), you’ve got two options:

1. Leave it ext4, but add it to /etc/fstab
   – That way it auto-mounts at boot, always at the same path.
   – It won’t appear in “Removable Devices” sidebar, but it will appear in the sidebar as a permanent mount point if you mount it under /media/username/….

2. Reformat it to NTFS/exFAT
   – Then it’ll behave like the others (auto-detected, sidebar, hot-mount), but that’s not good for Postgres. You lose POSIX permissions, symlinks, etc. Not recommended for your use case.

The cleanest solution for Ougway

• Keep the 4TB formatted as ext4.
• Create a fixed mount point (/mnt/storage).
• Add a proper /etc/fstab entry so it auto-mounts at boot.
• If you want it visible in your GUI sidebar, you can mount it under /media/darren/storage instead — GNOME/KDE will show that automatically.

👉 To move forward, I need to know: do you want this 4TB to behave like a system disk (reliable mount for database) or like a removable disk (click-to-mount, shows up in sidebar)?

That choice changes how we set up the mount.

Exactly — you’ve put your finger right on it.

It feels backwards, but here’s the deal:

• NTFS / exFAT / FAT → these are treated by Linux desktop environments as “removable media”. GNOME, KDE, etc. will always try to “helpfully” show them in the sidebar and let you click-to-mount. That’s why your other boxes with old Windows drives just “pop up.”

• ext4 / xfs / btrfs → these are “native system filesystems.” The desktop assumes:
  > “If it’s formatted like this, the sysadmin probably wants to mount it in /etc/fstab at boot and manage it manually.”
  So it doesn’t auto-populate in the sidebar unless you tell it where/how to mount.

So: you didn’t do anything wrong by formatting it ext4 — in fact, for Postgres and Little Ougway’s data store, ext4 is the right choice. NTFS would have caused permission issues and possible corruption headaches.

Why it “doesn’t just show up”

It’s not a bug, it’s Linux being conservative:
– ext4 is treated as a system disk, not a removable drive.
– Without an /etc/fstab entry, the OS has no instructions for when/how to mount it.
– Therefore the desktop doesn’t advertise it.

Your takeaway

• Keep it ext4. That’s the correct format for your database and storage.
• Add it to /etc/fstab. That way it auto-mounts at boot and is always present at /mnt/storage (or /media/darren/storage if you want it in the sidebar).
• Once mounted consistently, the desktop will happily show it — it just needs that rule first.

So the difference you’re seeing across your machines isn’t because this one is broken — it’s because this is the first box where the extra drive is ext4 instead of NTFS.

Would you like me to show you the exact /etc/fstab line we’d add for your 4TB drive, so it both mounts automatically and shows up nicely in the sidebar under your username?

Yep — that lines up with what we just talked about.

The desktop environment (like GNOME Files/Nautilus) makes a distinction:

• Removable/media drives (NTFS, USB sticks, etc.) → show up as actual devices in the sidebar under “Devices.”
• ext4 system drives → don’t get that treatment, so they appear as just another folder once mounted.

So when you bookmark the mount point (/mnt/storage or the symlink in your home), the file manager treats it as a folder shortcut, not a device. Functionally, it doesn’t matter — you still get one-click access in the sidebar. It’s just presented differently.

For Ougway’s purposes, that’s actually the safest setup:
– ext4 ensures Postgres and your scripts work properly.
– fstab (once we add it) will make sure it’s always mounted at boot.
– Your bookmark gives you easy GUI access, even if it isn’t under Devices.

Do you want me to help you set it so the 4TB mounts automatically at boot (so you never have to click it or wonder if it’s active), or are you fine with just the bookmark + manual mount for now?

Good call — that’ll give you a clean, dedicated root-level folder for the database.

Conceptually here’s what we’ll do (no commands yet, just the map):

1. Mount check
   – Make sure the 4 TB storage drive is actually mounted (we don’t want to accidentally make this folder on the root disk shadow mount).

2. Create folder
   – At the root of the 4 TB drive, add a directory called tokenspacedata.
   – This will live at something like /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata (depending on your chosen mountpoint).

3. Permissions
   – Give ownership to the postgres user and group.
   – Restrict mode to 700 so only Postgres can read/write.

4. Future-proof
   – This will become the data_directory in Postgres’ config.
   – Once that’s set, everything the DB engine does will live inside tokenspacedata — no symlinks, no scattered files.

Question for you before we actually make it:
👉 Is your 4 TB storage drive currently mounted at /mnt/storage, or are you using another mountpoint?

That way I can show you the exact mkdir + chown sequence tailored to the correct path.

Perfect. The easiest check is to ask Linux what’s mounted where. You can paste the output of either of these:

Option 1 — shows mounted filesystems neatly:

lsblk -f

Option 2 — shows the live mount table:

findmnt -e -o TARGET,SOURCE,FSTYPE,SIZE,USED,AVAIL

Either one will tell us what device your 4 TB is, what filesystem it’s using (ext4, NTFS, etc.), and where it’s mounted (/mnt/storage or somewhere else).

👉 Run whichever you like and paste me the output, and we’ll know exactly where to create tokenspacedata.

That’s unusual, Darren — lsblk -f should normally return a nice tree of your drives and partitions. If it just flashes and gives nothing, a couple possibilities come to mind:

Why it might return nothing

1. Permission glitch
   – Sometimes lsblk needs root privileges for certain filesystem info. Try it with sudo.

2. Terminal quirk
   – If your terminal is spitting control characters, the output may have blasted by too fast to see.

3. Tool missing pieces
   – On some minimal installs, lsblk is there but without the extra utils (util-linux package). Without that, -f (filesystem info) can appear blank.

Safer alternatives

If lsblk -f looks empty, try:

Mounted filesystems:

mount | grep "^/dev"

More human-readable:

df -hT

Both of those will list the devices, where they’re mounted, and what format they are. That’ll show us where your 4 TB drive is currently living.

👉 Want to try sudo lsblk -f first, and if it still looks blank, paste me df -hT instead? That will absolutely show where the 4 TB is mounted.

Ah, I see what you’re describing now — that “cursor racing across the screen” usually isn’t lsblk itself, it’s the terminal’s pager kicking in weirdly. By default, lsblk pipes through less, and if something’s off with your terminal settings, it can look like a glitch.

No, you don’t need to be concerned — the machine isn’t broken. We just need to bypass the pager so the output goes straight to the screen.

Try this instead:

lsblk -f | cat

That forces lsblk to dump raw output without handing it to a pager.

If that still acts strange, fall back to:

df -hT

That one’s bullet-proof — it’ll show you all mounted filesystems, their mountpoints, and their types.

👉 Paste me whichever output you can get, and we’ll know exactly where the 4 TB drive is mounted.

Nice — that output is exactly what we needed. 👍
– sda → your 1 TB system SSD (root is /)
– sdb → your 4 TB storage SSD, ext4, labeled storage, mounted at /mnt/storage

So yep, the 4 TB is already mounted where we want it. We’ll put tokenspacedata right under /mnt/storage.

About the pager

Good question. Here’s how it breaks down:

• In the shell (bash/zsh/etc.):
  Some commands (like lsblk, git log, man) automatically pipe their output into a pager program (less by default) if the output is long. That pager is not part of the terminal itself — it’s a separate program.

• In psql (Postgres client):
  psql also has its own pager setting. When query results are long, psql by default pipes them into the same less pager. That’s why you sometimes see “:–More–” behavior inside psql.

So you were right both ways:
– It’s not the terminal, it’s a pager program (usually less).
– Both the shell and psql can use it, independently.

How to control it

• System-wide: you can export PAGER=cat in your shell to turn paging off everywhere.
• Just for psql: inside psql, you can run \pset pager off to disable it for query results.

👉 Do you want me to show you how to set pager=off permanently in your psql config so it never surprises you again?

Right — good memory, Darren. You’ve got it:

• Pager = a standalone program (usually less).
• Linux tools like lsblk, git log, etc. invoke it automatically.
• psql has its own toggle for using it.
  So it isn’t the terminal itself, just a helper that sits in the middle.

Our main point right now

We’ve been circling around one goal: getting your 4 TB storage drive ready as the permanent home for the database.

We now know:
– The drive is sdb, ext4, labeled storage, mounted at /mnt/storage.
– It has ~2.6 TB free.
– It’s stable and mounted correctly — no symlinks, no tricks.

Next step: carve out a dedicated directory:
/mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

That will become the Postgres data_directory for your cluster. Once that’s in place, we can:
1. Set correct ownership/permissions (so only Postgres can use it).
2. Reconfigure or create the Postgres cluster to point directly at that folder.
3. Add a systemd guard so Postgres refuses to start unless /mnt/storage is mounted.

That way, no more “shadow paths,” no more wondering where half a terabyte went.

👉 Do you want to go ahead and make /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata now, or do you prefer to finish planning before touching the filesystem?

Perfect, you’ve got it. We don’t need a new mountpoint, just a directory inside the existing mount on /mnt/storage. That way Postgres can use it directly.

Here’s the clean setup:

1. Create the directory
   – Path: /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
   – Lives directly on the 4 TB storage disk.

2. Set ownership
   – Owner: postgres user and group.
   – That ensures Postgres can read/write it without root.

3. Set permissions
   – Mode 700 (read/write/execute for postgres only).
   – Keeps other users from poking inside.

So once we run those three steps, you’ll have:

/mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

ready as the future data_directory for your cluster.

👉 Do you want me to give you the exact three commands now so you can paste them in and lock it down?

Alright — here’s the clean three-step sequence to prepare the directory for Postgres on your 4 TB drive:

# 1. Make the directory
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

# 2. Give ownership to the postgres user and group
sudo chown postgres:postgres /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

# 3. Lock permissions so only postgres can access
sudo chmod 700 /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

After that, you’ll have:

• /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata created
• owned by postgres:postgres
• only accessible to Postgres

That directory is now ready to be used as the data_directory when we build or move your cluster.

Want me to also show you how to quickly confirm (with one command) that ownership and permissions are set correctly?

Good catch 👍 — right now, the directory is locked to only the postgres user (since we did chmod 700). That’s perfect for when Postgres is the only process that needs to touch it, but if you (as darren) also need access (say, browsing, backups, or dropping files there), then we should open it up a little.

There are a couple of safe options:

Option 1 — Add your user to the postgres group

• Keep postgres as the owner.
• Add darren to the postgres group.
• Change directory permissions to 770 (owner + group can access).

That way both postgres and you have full access.

Option 2 — Create a parent “workspace” dir

• Example: /mnt/storage/ourgway (owned by you), with a subdir /mnt/storage/ourgway/tokenspacedata (owned by postgres).
• You work in /mnt/storage/ourgway, Postgres owns only its subdir.
• Clean separation, no need to share group privileges.

Option 3 — Loosen permissions (not recommended)

• Make it world-readable (e.g. 755 or 775).
• Simpler, but less secure — anyone on the box could peek inside.

👉 Which way do you want to go? Do you want your account to have access inside the same directory as Postgres (Option 1), or do you prefer to keep Postgres’ data private but have your own workspace alongside it (Option 2)?

That’s a solid call 👍 — keep it simple for now:

• The directory is locked down (postgres:postgres, 700).
• Postgres will be able to use it without issues.
• You avoid adding extra variables or security wrinkles before we even have the database up.

If later on we run into a situation where you need direct access for scripting or backups, we can easily:

• Add you to the postgres group,
• Loosen the directory to 770, and
• Keep things tidy without changing the ownership.

No harm in waiting until there’s a concrete need.

✅ So as of now, /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata is ready, locked to Postgres, and clean.

Do you want our next step to be:
1. locating/salvaging any old Postgres data that might be hiding in the shadow mount,
or
2. starting fresh with a new cluster directly in tokenspacedata?

Exactly, that’s the right next step: before we decide “new cluster vs salvage,” we need to verify is PostgreSQL even installed and active right now on this system.

Here’s the way I’d check it, step by step (all safe commands, just diagnostics):

1. See if the service is installed and running

systemctl status postgresql

• If you get a service status, Postgres is installed.
• If it says “Unit not found”, then it’s not installed (or was purged).

2. List available clusters (Debian/Ubuntu only)

pg_lsclusters

• Shows all clusters, their version, port, and data directory.
• If nothing comes back, there are no clusters configured right now.

3. Check version of client binaries

psql --version

• If this prints a version (e.g. psql (PostgreSQL) 14.13), then at least the client is installed.
• If it says command not found, then Postgres packages are gone completely.

👉 If you paste me those three outputs, I can tell you right away:
– whether Postgres is currently installed,
– whether there’s an existing cluster (and where its data lives),
– and whether we should purge/reinstall fresh to point at /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.

Want to run those checks and show me what comes back?

Good catch. Here’s a tight way to confirm what exists where and decide the next move.

Step 1 — Does the old path actually exist on the mounted disk?

Run these read-only checks:

# confirm the mount and see the target dirs
findmnt /mnt/storage
ls -ld /mnt/storage/tokenspace /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
sudo du -sh /mnt/storage/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h

• If /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata shows up and has size, that’s your old cluster dir.
• If it does not exist, we’ll check for a shadow copy on the root disk (next step).

Step 2 — Look for a “shadow” pgdata on the root filesystem

This is safe as long as Postgres is down (your pg_lsclusters shows it’s down).

# temporarily unmount the storage to reveal any shadow directories
sudo umount /mnt/storage

# now check the *same* path on root
ls -ld /mnt/storage /mnt/storage/tokenspace /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata
sudo du -sh /mnt/storage/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h

• If you now see /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata (and it’s big), that’s the missing half-terabyte sitting on the root disk.
• If you still don’t see it, the old data likely doesn’t exist anymore.

Then remount:

sudo mount /mnt/storage

Step 3 — Choose: salvage or start fresh

A) If you found a shadow pgdata on root and want to salvage

1) Remount storage (sudo mount /mnt/storage).
2) Copy that shadow pgdata into your new location on the storage drive:
– Source (shadow): /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata while unmounted
– Destination (real): /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
3) Point the cluster to the new data_directory (/mnt/storage/tokenspacedata) and bring it up (we can do those edits when you’re ready).

(If you want the exact copy + re-point sequence, say the word and I’ll drop it in.)

B) If nothing to salvage (or you prefer clean slate)

• We’ll retire the old tokenspace cluster on port 5433 and create a single default cluster on 5432 with data_directory = /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata, plus the “don’t start unless mounted” guard.
• This matches your “one cluster, default port, direct path, no symlinks/bind mounts” plan.

If you paste the outputs from Step 1 and (if needed) Step 2, I’ll tell you in one glance whether there’s a shadow copy to rescue or we’re clear to start fresh on /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.

Got it — since /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata doesn’t exist on the mounted disk, we need to (A) check once for a shadow copy on the root FS, then (B) either salvage it or start clean on /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.

A) One last shadow-check (safe + clear)

# 1) Unmount to reveal any shadow dirs on the ROOT filesystem
sudo umount /mnt/storage

# 2) See if a shadow path exists on root
ls -ld /mnt/storage /mnt/storage/tokenspace /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata
sudo du -sh /mnt/storage/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h

# 3) Remount your storage disk
sudo mount /mnt/storage

• If you do see /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata when unmounted (and it’s big): that’s your missing data on the root disk.
• If you don’t: there’s nothing to salvage; proceed clean.

B1) If a shadow pgdata exists and you want to salvage

(This keeps things unambiguous: copy from root → to the real storage drive.)

# With storage UNmounted, if the shadow exists, move it somewhere safe on root
sudo mv /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata /root/shadow_pgdata

# Remount the storage disk
sudo mount /mnt/storage

# Copy the old data into the new real home on the 4TB drive
sudo rsync -aHAX --info=progress2 /root/shadow_pgdata/ /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata/

# Lock ownership/perm again (just in case)
sudo chown -R postgres:postgres /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
sudo chmod 700 /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

Then we’ll point Postgres at /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata (next section).

B2) If there’s nothing to salvage (or you prefer a clean slate)

You already created /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata with correct perms. Let’s replace the old cluster and make one default cluster on port 5432 with direct data_directory.

# Retire the old 16/tokenspace cluster on 5433
sudo pg_dropcluster --stop 16 tokenspace

# Create the default cluster (16/main) on your storage drive
sudo pg_createcluster 16 main --datadir=/mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

(That sets the data dir directly; no symlinks, no bind-mounts. Default port for 16/main is 5432.)

C) Make Postgres refuse to start unless the disk is mounted

sudo systemctl edit postgresql.service

Add:

[Unit]
RequiresMountsFor=/mnt/storage
ConditionPathIsMountPoint=/mnt/storage

Then:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

D) Start and verify the one true cluster

sudo systemctl start postgresql
pg_lsclusters
psql -U postgres -d postgres -c "SHOW data_directory; SHOW port;"

You should see:
– data_directory → /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
– port → 5432
– Only the 16/main cluster listed and online

(If local socket auth blocks you, we can flip pg_hba.conf to md5/scram later — not urgent now.)

Summary

• We confirmed nothing is on /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata (mounted).
• Run the shadow check above; if there’s data, salvage it; if not, drop the old 5433 cluster and create 16/main on /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.
• Add the systemd guard so Postgres cannot start without the storage mount.

Ping me with the shadow-check result, and I’ll adapt the next couple of lines exactly to what you find.

Perfect check, Darren — and now we know:

• When the 4 TB drive was unmounted, we revealed /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata.
• That directory exists, is owned by postgres, and is ~17 GB in size.
• That’s your old cluster’s data — it never disappeared, it was sitting in the “shadow” directory on the root disk all along.

So we’re at a fork:

Option A — Salvage the old cluster

1. Copy /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata (from the root FS) into the real 4 TB disk.
   – Destination: /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
2. Fix ownership/permissions (postgres:postgres, 700).
3. Update cluster config so data_directory points to /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.
4. Bring it up and test.

This way you preserve whatever was in that 17 GB of DB data.

Option B — Start fresh

1. Drop the tokenspace cluster (currently listed in pg_lsclusters on port 5433).
2. Create a clean default cluster (16/main) on port 5432.
   – Direct data_directory = /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
3. Build new from scratch, ignoring the shadow data.

This avoids any risk of dragging along broken configs or half-ingested data.

Key point

That 17 GB is small enough that it’s almost certainly just partial ingestion runs (not your whole “half a terabyte” you feared was lost). So you’re not staring at hundreds of gigs to rescue — just a modest amount.

👉 Do you want to play it safe and salvage that 17 GB into the new directory, or just start fresh and make /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata the one and only going forward?

That’s a solid decision, Darren. 👍 Starting fresh means no half-baked configs, no ghost data, no wondering later why something doesn’t line up. Clean slate, clean cluster.

Here’s the safe cleanup + reset path (high level first):

1. Drop the old cluster

• It’s listed as 16/tokenspace on port 5433.
• Dropping it clears its config references and ensures Postgres only sees what we build next.
• The on-disk data in /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata can then be deleted.

2. Remove the shadow data

• The directory /mnt/storage/tokenspace/pgdata (on root) can be safely purged.
• The parent /mnt/storage/tokenspace/ can go too, unless you want to keep it around for reference.

3. Build the one true cluster

• Create the default cluster 16/main on port 5432.
• Point its data_directory directly to /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.
• No symlinks, no bind mounts.

4. Guardrail it

• Add the systemd RequiresMountsFor=/mnt/storage so Postgres won’t even start if the storage drive isn’t mounted.
• That prevents the “shadow directory” problem from ever happening again.

5. Verify

• pg_lsclusters should show only 16/main on port 5432.
• psql -c "SHOW data_directory;" should return /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.

👉 Do you want me to lay out the exact drop-and-create commands for you now, so that when you’re ready you can paste them and get the clean reset in one shot?

Great — here’s a clean, copy-paste sequence to drop the old cluster, wipe the shadow data, and create a fresh default cluster on 5432 pointing directly to /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata (no symlinks, no bind mounts).

> Assumes PostgreSQL 16 on Ubuntu/Debian (you have pg_lsclusters).
> If anything errors, paste the error and I’ll adjust.

1) Stop Postgres and drop the old cluster (16/tokenspace on 5433)

sudo systemctl stop postgresql
sudo pg_dropcluster --stop 16 tokenspace

2) Remove the shadow data on the root filesystem

> Unmount to reveal the shadow dir, remove it, then remount.

sudo umount /mnt/storage
sudo rm -rf /mnt/storage/tokenspace
sudo mount /mnt/storage

(We’re only deleting the unintended tokenspace shadow; your new home is /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata.)

3) Ensure the new data dir exists and is locked to Postgres

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
sudo chown postgres:postgres /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata
sudo chmod 700 /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

4) Create the one true default cluster on 5432, directly on the storage drive

sudo pg_createcluster 16 main --datadir=/mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

5) Add a guard so Postgres won’t start unless /mnt/storage is mounted

sudo systemctl edit postgresql.service

Paste the following, then save/exit:

[Unit]
RequiresMountsFor=/mnt/storage
ConditionPathIsMountPoint=/mnt/storage

Reload:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

6) Start and verify

sudo systemctl start postgresql
pg_lsclusters
psql -U postgres -d postgres -c "SHOW data_directory; SHOW port;"

You should see:
– Cluster: 16/main
– Port: 5432
– data_directory: /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata

Optional (recommended eventually): ensure the drive auto-mounts at boot

If you haven’t already added the 4 TB to /etc/fstab, we can do that next so it’s always mounted before Postgres starts.

You’re actually up and running — the cluster is online on 5432 and pointing at /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata. The error is just auth, not startup.

FATAL: Peer authentication failed for user "postgres" happens because Ubuntu’s default pg_hba.conf says: local connections for user postgres must come from the system user postgres. You ran psql as darren, so peer auth rejected it.

Two quick ways to proceed — pick one:

Option A (fastest right now): run psql as the postgres system user

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SHOW data_directory; SHOW port;"

You should see /mnt/storage/tokenspacedata and 5432.

Option B (what you probably want long-term): enable password auth locally

1) Edit pg_hba.conf:

sudoedit /etc/postgresql/16/main/pg_hba.conf

Change the top “local” lines to use password auth, e.g.:

# Use scram (or md5) for local socket connections
local   all             all                                     scram-sha-256

(If you prefer, set just the postgres line first: local all postgres scram-sha-256.)

2) Set a password for the postgres DB role (one time):

sudo -u postgres psql -c "\password postgres"

3) Reload Postgres:

sudo systemctl reload postgresql

Now you can connect as your user using the socket and a password:

psql -U postgres -d postgres -c "SHOW data_directory; SHOW port;"

Why this happened

• Peer auth = “your OS username must match the DB role name”. Running as darren to log in as postgres fails under peer.
• Switching to scram/md5 lets any local user connect with a password, which is usually what you want on a single-user workstation.

If you’d rather create a darren DB role (so you log in as yourself, not postgres), we can do that next with proper privileges.

You’re good—Postgres is running on 5432 with the right data dir. The error is only auth.

For security, I won’t retain or echo your password. Here’s how to make password logins work from your user:

Quick confirm (works right now)

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SHOW data_directory; SHOW port;"

Enable password auth locally (recommended)

1) Edit pg_hba.conf:

sudoedit /etc/postgresql/16/main/pg_hba.conf

Find the top “local” line that says peer and change it to scram (or md5 if you prefer):

# before (Ubuntu default)
# local   all             all                                     peer

# after
local   all             all                                     scram-sha-256

2) Set the postgres role’s password (one time):

sudo -u postgres psql -c "\password postgres"

(Enter the password you just chose.)

3) Reload Postgres:

sudo systemctl reload postgresql

4) Test as your user:

psql -U postgres -d postgres -c "SHOW data_directory; SHOW port;"

If it still prompts, just enter the password; or:

PGPASSWORD='your-password' psql -U postgres -d postgres -c "SELECT current_user, now();"

Optional (cleaner day-to-day)

Create a DB role for darren and use that instead of logging in as postgres:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE darren LOGIN PASSWORD '<your-password>' SUPERUSER;"

(Or safer: CREATEDB CREATEROLE instead of SUPERUSER.)

Once this is done, you’ll stop seeing the peer-auth error and can connect normally from your account.

Short answer: you don’t have to change it.

That line labeled “Database administrative login by Unix domain socket”

local   all   postgres   peer

means: only the OS user postgres can log in as the DB role postgres via the local socket (no password). That’s a good safety default.

Two sane patterns

A) Keep it as peer (recommended)
– Leave the admin line as-is.
– Use sudo -u postgres psql when you truly need the postgres superuser.
– For daily work, create a privileged user for yourself and use password auth (your local all all scram-sha-256 already allows it).

B) Change it to scram-sha-256 (only if you want to log in as postgres with a password)
– Edit that admin line to scram-sha-256, reload Postgres, and then logging in as postgres will require the password you set.

My recommendation for you

Given you want convenience but also want things locked down, go with A:
– Keep postgres locked to OS-level peer.
– Create/use a darren DB role (with CREATEDB/CREATEROLE, or SUPERUSER if you insist) for everyday commands.
– That gives you password logins without weakening the postgres superuser gate.

> Remember: order matters in pg_hba.conf. The first matching line wins, so keep the postgres peer line above the general local all all scram-sha-256 line if you stick with pattern A.

If you want, I can give you the two or three exact commands to create the darren DB role with appropriate privileges and you’ll be set for day-to-day work.

You don’t need to close anything. Just make sure the order in pg_hba.conf is right, then reload Postgres.

What you want in pg_hba.conf (order matters)

Put the admin line first, then the general line:

# Admin over local socket: only the OS postgres user can become DB postgres (no password)
local   all     postgres                 peer

# Everyone else over local socket: require password
local   all     all                      scram-sha-256

Apply it (no restart needed)

sudo systemctl reload postgresql

Sanity-check the effective rules

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SHOW hba_file;"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "SELECT type,database,role,address,method,include_time FROM pg_hba_file_rules WHERE error IS NULL;"

(Optional) Use your own DB role day-to-day

Keep the postgres superuser locked to peer, and use a darren login instead:

sudo -u postgres createuser --pwprompt --createdb --createrole darren

Then connect as yourself:

psql -U darren -d postgres -c "SELECT current_user, inet_server_port();"

If you already have the general line local all all scram-sha-256 in place, the only thing you likely need is to ensure the admin postgres peer line is above it, reload, and you’re done.