What does it mean, in linux, to mount or unmount a drive? Where does this terminology come from?

Question

I guess I'd also like to know what is going on behind the scenes to make the drive available.

Answer 1

In the beginning was tape :)So to use tape you have to ask OS to open mmmm let say connection and wait until you, phisicaly go to back storage (room :)) find there and put it in device for reading, i.e. mount the tape :):)After that a new type of device was introduced - hard disk drive. To use hard disk drive you must open disk drive, put inside packet with spindle of disks :):) hehe it was sooo heavy , and pres ready buton. Disk drive was with refrigerator size :):)So until you press ready OS must waith for device. After that life become easier but old words still exist :))
So in general you use mount command to show to OS where exactly is your data, what type is and if its it for read or write or both, so the OS can use it and give access to you :):) Nowadays only **nix use it :):)
Best Luck

Answer 2

Google search for: mount drive in Linux