Hi, i want to convert my NTFS partition to a linux readable and writeable format like ReiserFS (any other format!).

I have an 80GB hard drive which cannot be converted to Fat32 so i came up with this idea, but a google search didn't help me

At the moment Windows XP is installed on it, but when (and if) i convert it i will delete it and keep just my Archive of stuff., I'm running mandrake at the moment off my second hard disk 10GB, and my third hard disk is almost full 20GB, Even if my 2nd and 3rd disks were free i couldn't save my stuff

Funny thing is i messed up windows and the internet no longer works on it so i'm working on mandrake, i can do everything i want in linux i want to so i'm switching to it

Its mandrake 10.1, i'm getting rid of it as soon as Fedora Core 4 downloads so i can get rid of it too I can install any OS, if i can perform the install that is, don't ask me to install gentoo or anything unless it can read and write to NTFS.

So i want a linux tool that can do it, or a windows tool, i guess i could install Windows on the Mandrake hard disk to do the conversion and then install Fedora on it.

You will not be able to convert the filesystem like this. Just make sure you have a recent backup, change the filesystem then restore the data.

But why?

The reason i wanted to do this was i couldn't back it up

Hey i found something to help me write to NTFS in linux, i'll guess i'll try that then

Its here
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

The filesystems are different and nobody has written a program to convert it. I suppose in theory it could be done.

i havent seen anything that could to a 1:1 conversion. like that atleast. i would suggest you consider the fact that you cant...

you could build ntfs-tools for youre system and access them in that manner, or use React-OS.

Perhaps the best you could do if the filesystem is less than 50% full is to resize it in half and the format the empty space using the reiserfs.
Then copy the contents to the new partition. Delete the NTFS partition. Next, move the Reiserfs partition to the beginning and resize it.

A backup would be a better idea. You only need to save the data you need, and having a backup anyway is desirable.

Sorry, off topic..

But, that is a Easy answer. Its because of 2 things.. 1. "Distri" just Looks and sounds Odd, and 2. "Distribution" is commonly Mispronounced "Distrobution" Causing a Misconception of the Abbreviation.

Resurrected thread. Look at the original date.