Why can't I mount my Windows hard drive from Linux?

axess_denied · 06-09-2004, 11:12 AM

I have a lot of media files on my Windows hard drive and would like to retrieve this data for either storage or play back on my Linux hard drive. However, I don't know how to mount this drive and make it work? The device assignment is hdb1 can anyone help? Also, running GRUB boot loader, I cannot boot to my Windows drive. It starts the boot and then stops in the middle of it, Windows is fully installed and had no problem booting it from GRUB the first time I tried it.... Any suggestions?

JaseP · 06-09-2004, 12:49 PM

bring up a console terminal and type:

mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows

at the prompt.

You might need some additional parameters in there, but since I'm not at one of my Linux boxes right now, I can't manpage or get help regarding those...

axess_denied · 06-09-2004, 01:05 PM

mount: fs type ntfs not supported by kernel

That is the response I get from trying to mount the drive. What do I do now?

linmix · 06-09-2004, 01:31 PM

You could go back to your Windoz and create a FAT32 partition for your files and then copy them from there to Linux, or simply leave them there and access the files from that drive through the corresponding mount point

iZvi · 06-09-2004, 01:41 PM

You dont have the driver for the NTFS file system compiled in your kernel. There is a chance to have it as a module.
Try:
# modprobe ntfs
If this doesnt return errors you should be able to mount your NTFS partition in Linux. If it return something like <<Cant locate module ntfs>> you will have to recompile your kernel with built-in NTFS support or with NTFS as a module.

axess_denied · 06-09-2004, 01:48 PM

I can't go back to my Windows drive because it won't let me boot it from GRUB. Also it is XP Pro and defaults to NTFS, I have seen no way to change the partition to FAT 32 without formating and reinstalling the OS... thus deleting all of my media, no?

Also, tried # modprobe ntfs
got this:
FATAL: Module ntfs not found.

How do I modify the kernel?

linmix · 06-09-2004, 02:02 PM

If you manage to get into XP you can use Partition MAgic or similar to resize a partition, then create a new FAT32 partition. When that's done you can copy cour files in XP

axess_denied · 06-09-2004, 02:04 PM

Partition Magic, I didn't think of that, can anyone help with the boot problem?

iZvi · 06-09-2004, 02:19 PM

Why dont you recompile your kernel with support for NTFS? It isnt so hard and you will be running an optimised kernel with only this what you need. And also you will learn more about Linux. There are many threads here describing how to do this. They are sticky so easy to find.

andrewdodsworth · 06-09-2004, 02:21 PM

If you have a Windows rescue disk that you can boot from you can then do fdisk /mbr from it which will restore the hard disks master boot record. That will then allow you to boot XP. Once you've done that and sorted out the windows side of it then you'll have to boot a linux install or recovery disk to either reinstall linux or sort out the dual boot issue.

dukeinlondon · 06-09-2004, 02:34 PM

Do you use fedora core2 ? I would not have imagined that ntfs would not be supported in the default kernel....

MS3FGX · 06-09-2004, 02:59 PM

That does seem odd that NTFS support was not included. I was under the impression that all distros had NTFS support by default.

At any rate, it would be much better to compile in NTFS support than mess around with the partitions and make a FAT32 partition just to share files from.

linmix · 06-10-2004, 01:11 PM

Stumbled across this tutorial on how to make a FAT32 partitin under Linux. Thought you might like to know

michaelk · 06-10-2004, 01:20 PM

FYI RH does not include NTFS support in their stock kernel. However, you do not need to recompile the kernel.
http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/rpm/redhat9.html

or see this:
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

axess_denied · 06-10-2004, 01:34 PM

I am running FC2, I like it a lot too. I have already gone into the kernel config and edited the
# CONFIG_NTFS_* is not set
to
CONFIG_NTFS_*=m

I need to make modules now, but when I type in

make modules_install

I get this in return:
[me@me /]# make modules_install
make: *** No rule to make target `modules_install'. Stop.

Still stuck I have no idea what to do?