OK, this is the question asked ALOT, but I can't find the 1-2-3 solution that should be available for this common question. I do apologize for the repeat question...but telling me to read the documentation, reference material, or FAQ won't help because I have tried. (And yes, I am kind of slow...OK, stupid, I admit it)

I have a secondary drive on my new RedHat Linux computer and I want to make it permanently accessible from the RedHat system that is now running on the computer.

It is an old Windows NTFS drive that was a secondary drive when this was a Windows machine.

What do I need to do to, and how do I do it:
1) Format it into a format that Linux uses.
2) After it is formatted correctly, permanently mount it so it will always be accessible
3) After it is successfully formatted and mounted, how do I access it? (For example, to add a new ascii text file to it via 'cp')

Thanks,
Matt

how name of disk? fdisk -l
1. mkfs.ext4 partition. likely, should be changed partition table before.
2. mount partition mount_point; echo "partition mount_point ext4 default 1 2" >> /etc/fstab
3. partition is in mount_point. for example in /mnt/disk. cp file /mnt/disk/file

Also, a mount point is directory. So, mkdir /path/to/mount/point.

Create a new directory on an existing drive, for example "/home/user-name/more_space".


Now it's all done as root.

Find your disk

will show you all your disks
Which one is the old windows disk ? Well, you can see which one has a windows format in the list that fdisk just showed you.
Example output:
Notice there are no windows drives in that output.
If you wanted to work on this disk you would enter
in the next section.

Prepare your disk

will allow you to work on that disk you found in the section above. Usually <device-name> is /dev/hdX or /dev/sdX. Ignore the numbers after the letters. The numbers are partitions. X stands for the letter you found in the last section.
sdX is for SATA or scsi disks. hdX is for ide or PATA disks.

Once in fdisk, there are several commands :

p print the partition table

n create a new partition

d delete a partition

q quit without saving changes

w write the new partition table and exit

So choose p to see what partitions there are on the disk. Then use d to delete the first partition you found on that disk.
Choose d until all partitions on that disk are gone.
Then choose n then p and create one primary partition (enter 1 when asked).
Make it the default size which is the whole of the disk (just hit enter)

Then enter w to save your changes, and q to quit fdisk.

Format your disk

(or /dev/sdX1 depending on what the device is called above)
will format the drive as ext3. ext4 is fairly new so stick to what works.

Mount your disk

edit /etc/fstab

add a line like :

(the spaces above are actually tabs except between 1 1)
Save the file and restart your computer. Done
You should be able to access and write to the new drive by writing to /home/user-name/more_space

It will show up in your file manager.

except that putting the mount point in your user's home directory limits the contents to that user, ok if only you use that machine
personally i would make a mount point under /media or /mnt

@frieza

Yes but it's a bit early to be getting into permissions, don't you think ?
He can always mount it somewhere else later.

smoker,
Many thanks. This is exactly what I needed.

Just a quick couple of follow-ups if you would be patient with me!

I may have gotten off track with the fdisk d (delete) option.
See - you couldn't hold my hand completely!
I did delete number 1.

After trying to delete others I moved on to the mke2fs command.
Here's what I get (and a follow up with fdisk -l):

/ : [162]

mke2fs -j /dev/hda
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
/dev/hda is entire device, not just one partition!
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
/dev/hda is apparently in use by the system; will not make a filesystem here!


/ : [164]

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda2 14 38913 312464250 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/hdb: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 9726 78124063+ 8e Linux LVM

/ : [165]

Do you have any idea what's up?

Again, thanks for your help.
Matt

Firstly, you have linux using part of that drive you are trying to wipe. Is that really what you want to do ?
I believe I covered that in Find your disk.

Secondly, you skipped the whole "making a new partition" part
So open fdisk again and create a new primary partition where the old one was, following the instructions above. You don't need to delete anything this time.

When you've done that, go on to the mke2fs part but the command will be
(as I said it would be)

Once that's done, you are back on track. Carry on from Mount your disk.

As stated your NTFS disk is not being recognized or is it actually dev/hdb.

Typically two partitions are created with a default install i.e. /boot and LVM which will contain your / and swap. If you deleted hda1 then you have deleted your /boot. If you recreate the partition exactly like it was all of the files should still be intact.

Why is hdb1 showing as bootable ?
I know linux can't boot from an LVM...
A 23GB boot partition ?

It does not matter since linux does not use the boot flag.

That doesn't explain a 23GB boot partition. But of course I don't know what the OP deleted. I would have thought it was unlikely that RH put the boot on an NTFS drive, and the OP was instructed to only delete non-linux partitions.

But I'm not there, so I don't know for sure.

hda1 appeared to be about 100MB which is typical for /boot. How did you calculate 23GB?

Disk /dev/hda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda2 14 38913 312464250 8e Linux LVM


Start is at 14
End is at 38913

38899 * 8225280 bytes = ~ 297 GB

On a 320 GB drive that leaves about 23 GB ?

My calculator:

38899 * 8225280 bytes = ~ 319 GB

or

14 * 8.22MB = ~106MB