NTFS Fix??

[TLM]

I've been messing with various Linux distros, and have found Vector to be absolutely fantastic and the fastest bootup too. I migrated to Vector after messing with BackTrack 3, and I went looking for a Slackware based distro that was more suited for everyday computing. Currently tri-booting SOHO 5.9 Deluxe with Windows XP and Windows 7. I wanted to be able to access my documents and photos in Windows from Vector, however Vector cannot mount nor open my NTFS partitions. So I have set up a FAT32 partition for my data that can be read by all 3 operating systems. Given the fact that BackTrack can read and write to NTFS, as well as some Fedora distros that I have tried, it seems like it would be easy to make Vector read and write to NTFS without a lot of command line work. I am not a packager, or a coder, but is anyone working on a patch for this? Or am I missing something? Thanks for any input.

[newt]

I'm able to mount (read/write) to xp ntfs partitions using VL6. I generally just mount when needed so your final setup will be different than mine, but the following example is what I would use to mount the partition for read/write access.

ex)
as root, 'mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/win'

sda1 is first sata drive, first partition - you'll need to adjust accordingly
/mnt/win is the place I mount the partition, but if you plan on making a permanent rule to mount the drive then creating a new mount point might be a good thing.

Hope this helps!

Edit:
I overlooked that you are using 5.9.1. However, ntfs-3g support was present in that release so mounting an XP partition should be the same.  I *assume* mounting a win7 ntfs partition would be the same as XP, but cannot say for certain.

[TLM]

Thank you for the input. I have not yet tried VL6 yet. However I have XP and Win 7 each on primary partitions, and VL SOHO 5.91 on 3 logical drives within and extended partition. All of this is on one hard drive. VL sees my NTFS partitions, however it will not mount either of them. I have tried both HAL and VLHOT. It keeps saying: "TODO: have to rething extra options." I have studied the matter further, and from what I have read, it is safer to keep my documents on a FAT32 partition like I am doing, and leave the NTFS partitions alone while in Linux.

[MikeCindi]

I have used VL for a few years (since 4.x) and dual booted with XP, Vista and for a month or so with Win7. The "error" that you are getting happened with VL5.9 for some and mostly (only?) with USB mounted devices. While the FAT32 partition is an option it can be cumbersome. Have you tried to add a line to your /etc/fstab to mount the NTFS partitions?

[TLM]

I do not have the know how to manually edit the etc/fstab, however I did see an option to automount partitions at bootup in the Vector Control Center. I had to set my FAT32 partition here to automount at bootup, so I did not have to manually mount it each time. I have not tried setting the NTFS partitions to automount yet. Is using this feature of the control center accomplishing the same end as editing the etc/fstab? Still learning a LOT about Linux!

[MikeCindi]

The control center adds a line to fstab for you. While I'm not at my VL machine right now the syntax for such a line would be in the following pattern:

Code:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/win ntfs-3g umask=0 0 0

where /dev/sda1 is the ntfs partition you want to mount and /mnt/win is the directory you want to mount it to. If you want the partition to be read-only then:

Code:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/win ntfs-3g ro,umask=0 0 0

BTW, to edit fstab you will need to be logged in as root.

[GrannyGeek]

Sharing files on a FAT32 partition is tried and true and very safe. For a long time, writing to an NTFS partition was risky, but in the past couple of years ntfs-3g has made it much safer.

Nevertheless, I prefer to use FAT32 for Windows/Linux file sharing. In fact, my three dual-boot Windows XP or Vista and VectorLinux computers all have FAT32 partitions for file sharing. I do mount NTFS partitions and write to them infrequently and haven't had problems. I do NOT automount NTFS partitions at startup. I mount them only when I need them and once I've done what I need to do, I unmount the NTFS partitions.

I've never used or even seen VL SOHO 5.9.1, so I have no idea what complications you may be encountering. Here is a line from my /etc/fstab on an XP computer that allows mounting an NTFS partition:

Code:

/dev/sda2   /mnt/win-c  ntfs-3g  defaults,allow_other,umask=0,users,nls=utf8,noexec,noauto 0 0

You can adapt this for your computer. /dev/sda2 is the partition for Drive C on my computer. /mnt/win-c is the mount point in the /mnt directory. ntfs-3g is the file system that allows both reading and writing files to the partition. defaults,allow_other,umask=0,nls=utf8,noexec was automatically added by VectorLinux. users means users other than root can unmount the drive. (In VL6 ntfs-3g drives have to be mounted by root.) noauto means the drive is not automounted. If you want the drive to be automounted, leave out noauto.  0 0 means Linux should not do any file checking when it mounts the drive. If the drive needs to have the file system checked, you should boot to XP and run chkdsk.

You do not need to log in as root, ever. Instead, log in as user and when you need to be root to do something, open a terminal and type su at the prompt. Then type your password. You will now be able to do root things. As root, to edit /etc/fstab, open a text editor such as Kwrite or mcedit (NOT a word processor) and load the /etc/fstab file. Copy the line above as I wrote it, paste it into /etc/fstab (putting it at the end of the file is okay), then make changes as needed. /dev/sdax (x meaning a number) is for SATA and SCSI drives; /dev/hdax is for the first IDE drive. If you're not using VASM to mount your NTFS partition, you'll have to be sure you've created the mount point directory. Save the file. You'll have to mount the partition with a
mount /mnt/win-c
command (adapted to your proper mount point) the first time and every time IF you're not automounting it. When you finish editing /etc/fstab, type
exit
at the terminal prompt. That will take you back to your user account and you won't be working as root.

As for whether you should bother with your NTFS partitions, I'd say "no" unless you need access to them. If you need or want access, try editing /etc/fstab as described above. Let us know if you're successful.

By the way, I think it's a lot easier to use a file manager than an ls command. I don't know what's on 5.9 SOHO besides konqueror and Midnight Commander (type mc at a terminal prompt).
--GrannyGeek

[TLM]

Thanks everyone for the input. I have decided to just stick with my FAT32 partition, since I already have it set up. I use SeaMonkey Composer in Linux, and the Windows version KompoZer, and I needed to be able to access my web files from either OS. While I am was at it, I also moved all of my word documents and photos to the FAT32 partition so I can access those as well. Occasionally I need to hack a Windows file or something without the actual OS being loaded, so in those instances I will use my BackTrack livecd, since it will read and write to NTFS. New to Linux; been "modifying" and customizing Windows to my liking for years!!