[nmglug] mount read write ntfs

Andres Paglayan andres at paglayan.com
Fri Jan 28 12:05:19 PST 2005


Mounting an NTFS partition with full Read-Write support

12.1    Introduction
NTFS (New Technology File System) is a very powerful file system 
provided with NT versions of Windows (Windows-NT, Windows-2000, 
\Vindows-XP). Even if Windows still supports FAT. the Windows system 
disk is often formatted in the NTFS format.
The current version of the Linux kernel is able to read NTFS without any 
problem, but it cannot he mounted read-write as FAT or linux partitions. 
The Captive-Ntfs project allows mounting NTFS partitions with a full 
Read/Write support. This projects uses the NTFS supports from the 
Windows kernel itself. These drivers have to he copied from an installed 
Windows XP system. You can't get these files from Windows NT4 or Windows 
2000. But once you get the drivers from XP. you can mount any NTFS version.
This chapter explains how to use the Captive-Ntfs support from 
SystemRescue Cd.


12.2    Getting the Windows drivers
We cannot distribute the Windows drivers because these files are 
distributed under a Microsoft license. Then you have to get these files 
yourself from the Windows system partition first. You have to copy these 
files inside the linux system:

o    step-Ui: Mount the Windows system partition
Here is an example about how to mount the Windows-XP partition, supposed 
to he ~de\hda1.

40
*    nikdir mint/win
*    mount -o ro -t ntf a /dev/hdal lint/win

o    step-02: Copy the drivers files
Windows is supposed to be installed in C:fWINDOWS. Sometimes, the user 
can choose another directhry~ such as C:/WINNT.

*    cp /nint/win/WINDOWS/ayatem32/drivera/ntf a . aya /var/lib/captive
*    cp /nint/win/WINDOWS/ayatem32/ntoakrn]. .exe /var/lib/captive

Ifaflleoradirectorydoesnotexists,trytochangetheCase("System32" instead 
of "system32" for example). You can find these files on an Windows NT4 
or Windows 2000 system, but only Windows XP files wifi work with Captive 
Ntfs.

o    step-03: Umount the Windows partition


*    Cd / ; umount lint/win


12.3    Mounting NTFS with full support
Now the drivers are copied, you can mount any NTFS partition, even if it 
does not have windows installed on:

*    mount . captive-ntf a /dev/hdal lint/win

Now, you must be able to write file on the mounted partition:

*    Cd lint/win
*    touch creating-an-empty-file
*    cp -a /path/to/a/directory lint/win

Of course, you will have to unmount this partition when finished to work on:

*    Cd / ; umount lint/win





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