Can't mount, read or write ntfs drive [solved]

[Guest Peezee]

Ok i got mandriva 07 and Im new at this linux thing and i got a ntfs hard drive with a crap load of mp3's(close to 30 gb of music on it). I can see it in my control center but everytime i try to mount it there is and error (mounting partition hdb1 in directory /mnt/windows failed ) im sure there is a forum that sloves this already and if so im sorry and pls mail me a link to it (i hope its in dumby terms)

 

Thank you everyone

Peezee

Email: peezee802@gmail.com

Mandriva 07

[SoulSe]

It is possible to mount NTFS partitions in Linux, but you will not be able to write to it, only read files, unless you are using experimental drivers such as ntfs-3g (I'm not sure what Mandriva 2007 provides by default).

 

The best would probably be to try and mount it from a terminal. So open up a terminal and do this (the stuff in square brackets are comments):

$ su
Password: [this is your root password]
# cd /mnt/
# mkdir windows
# mount -t ntfs /dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows/

This should mount the NTFS drive to /mnt/windows/ If it does not, then we need to make sure the NTFS kernel module is running. Do:

# modprobe ntfs

If it is not loaded, let us know.

[Guest Peezee]

thank u so much i got it to mount but i can i get it to mount automaticlly when i start up linux. see my plain is to go full linux and delete windows but i just wanna make sure i get my pics and music oh it would nice of me to tell u i got 2 hard drives. 1 full of music and the other with windows xp and linux on it i just dont wanna lose the data till i get the pics and music on the linux side.

[SoulSe]

To have it automatically mount when Linux loads you will have to add it to your fstab file. This file is at /etc/fstab

 

I'm guessing you would have to add something like this:

/dev/hdb1   /mnt/windows/   ntfs   noatime   0 0

If any one knows of a better (or more correct) fstab entry for an NTFS partition, please post.

 

By the way, if you want to go full Linux then you'll obviously want to convert that partition to something like ext3 or reiserfs that is more friendly to Linux. For a media partition vfat is not a bad option because it can be both read and written by Windows and Linux. But if you're getting rid of Windows completely then go for a real file-system ;)

[Scythe]

I think you can set a flag ("user") in the MCC so that normal users can mount it. I don't know if this can leave the filesystem vulnerable to attack, but there you go. If you want details on that, just let me know.

Edited March 21, 2007 by Scythe

[Guest Peezee]

I found how to mount it but the root user has to give permission to the other users to copy or wite. Which means u have to sign in as root user. (if any question pm or email me I'll haelp the best I can)

 

Heres how I did it.

 

1. Go to Mandriva Linux Control Center (enter root password if needed)

 

2. Click on hardware and then on Look at and configure hardware.

 

3. Highlight the hard disk you want to mount and click on Run config tool.(click continue on popup)

 

4. Click on the windows partition and toggle to expert mode.

 

5. Go to options and ONLY check this boxes (otherwise is wont work as far as I know)

 

nosuid

umask=0

user

noexec

nodev

 

6. Click ok and save them then click mount point to make mount ponit (my is /mnt/xp u can make it whatever u want as far as I know) and then mount it.

 

There you go it should be mounted. It took me endless nights to figure this out and is easier than using the terminal/command prompt

 

I wanna thank all of you that helped figure this out without your input i most likely would have gave up on Linux OS

 

Peezee

Mandriva Linux 07

Email: peezee802@gmail.com

Aim: KILLG3NIX

Msn: peezee802@hotmail.com

[Scythe]

Be sure to append the end of this thread's name with [solved] if you've got the answer you're looking for.

 

Good luck :)

[SoulSe]

The check boxes you used are flags in the fstab file. They would result in an entry like this:

/dev/hdb1   /mnt/windows/   ntfs   nosuid,umask=0,user,noexec,nodev  0 0

However, I would advise against the use of noexec and nodev unless you have very good reasons for needing them.

 

Also check out the ntfs-3g project, which allows for writing to NTFS.

[Guest Peezee]

ok if I uncheck them what does that let me do or not do?

[ramfree17]

i think there are more information about them in the mount or fstab man pages but my understanding is that those stand for "no execution" and "no special device" options. the first one is a security option that prevents the users from running binaries from that filesystem (applications, scripts, etc.). nodev is the counterpart for access on special devices on that partition.

 

the first one i can understand the rationale even if the possibility is remote of somebody of placing a tampered binary on your windows partition so that they can wreck havoc on your linux partition. one major use of that bit is if you have a separate /tmp and you want to ensure that crackers wont be able to download malicious source code on /tmp, compile and then execute it. there are other ways of safeguarding against this but the noexec is one good contribution in setting a layered defense.

 

the nodev part, i have absolutely no idea.

 

ciao!

[SoulSe]

Ramfree is right about those flags. You don't need them, all they will do is limit what you can do with that NTFS partition.