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LFCS · Question #820

Which of the following is correct when talking about mount points?

The correct answer is A. Every existing directory can be used as a mount point. Any existing directory can serve as a mount point for a filesystem; existing content within that directory is temporarily hidden until the filesystem is unmounted, but not deleted.

Submitted by wei.xz· Apr 18, 2026Storage Management

Question

Which of the following is correct when talking about mount points?

Options

  • AEvery existing directory can be used as a mount point.
  • BOnly empty directories can be used as a mount point.
  • CDirectories need to have the SetUID flag set to be used as a mount point.
  • DFiles within a directory are deleted when the directory is used as a mount point.

How the community answered

(20 responses)
  • A
    95% (19)
  • B
    5% (1)

Why each option

Any existing directory can serve as a mount point for a filesystem; existing content within that directory is temporarily hidden until the filesystem is unmounted, but not deleted.

AEvery existing directory can be used as a mount point.Correct

Any existing directory within the filesystem hierarchy can be designated as a mount point for another filesystem. If the directory contains files, those files are not deleted but become temporarily inaccessible until the mounted filesystem is unmounted.

BOnly empty directories can be used as a mount point.

While it is common practice to use empty directories as mount points for clarity, it is not a technical requirement; non-empty directories can also be used, though their original contents will be hidden.

CDirectories need to have the SetUID flag set to be used as a mount point.

Directories do not need to have the SetUID flag set to be used as a mount point; the SetUID flag is related to user execution permissions for executables, not mounting.

DFiles within a directory are deleted when the directory is used as a mount point.

Files within a directory used as a mount point are not deleted; they become temporarily obscured by the newly mounted filesystem and reappear once the filesystem is unmounted.

Concept tested: Understanding mount points

Source: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html

Topics

#Mount points#Filesystem mounting#Storage management basics

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