How come I have five Linux distributions mounting/reading/writing my NTFS partition on re-boot, maybe I have a "special" type of NTFS?

BTW: Go to ntfs-3g web site and read how to set up fstab with their product before telling people otherwise. the crazy cow

And for anybody setting up ntfs-3g and "adding" a line in fstab as suggested on ntfs-3g site, make sure not to add if you already have one for the partition/or drive, make changes to the original or comment it out, you will get boot errors having two entries for one partition in fstab.

okay... i did the whole procedure again as mentioned by juniorHacker and again the same result. The message at boot time that i get is


Mounting local filesystems: BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000038.......................................................

and somewhere during all the dump it also mentions


DWARF2 unwinder stuck at fuse_init+0x54/0x160[fuse]


Any suggestions...???
I am using kernel 2.6.18.8-1mdv.. Could that be a problem??

I did not install that particular kernel, the one I updated to is 2.6.17.11mdv-1-1mdv2007...
Is that kernel available via updates or did you compile from source?.

I'm wondering if you should just skip the fuse source and try just installing ntfs-3g from source, but if you deleted that fuse.ko.gz you may be in a pinch. I had a backup stored elsewhere just in case. I originally did not include the "--enable-kernel-module" option and got an error doing the initial mount following the instructions from ntfs-3g, but left it and added the line in fstab and re-booted. It was only when I stopped and read the error when I re-built Mandriva on my desktop that I learned about that option when I followed the web link info. presented in the error. But I had read/write without the fuse from source, still had to go through all the steps in setting up fuse though before ntfs-3g would work.
The only difference is that the ntfs-3g and fuse people say there is a bad version prior to the one that's out now and the new "stable" ntfs-3g-1.0 has to have fuse-2.6.0 and up. And you could experience data loss, which can be over exaggerated, but I guess they have to protect themselves. But I was still able to read/write without enabling fuse module to be built.

Just to be sure, these are the steps I use in order.

1: Install kernel-source matching current running kernel
2: remove fuse.ko.gz from /lib/modules/uname -r/kernel/fs/fuse (for Mandriva & PC Linux only)
3: Untar the fuse package and change directory into it via command line
4: #./configure --enable-kernel-module
5: #make
6: #make install
7: #modprobe fuse
8: #cd ..
9: untar ntfs-3g package and change directory into it
10: #./configure
11: #make
12: #make install
13: #umount /mnt/data (unmount my data NTFS partition)
14: #mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/data (mount it with ntfs-3g)
Write a little note with kwrite and save it to data and verify it's good.
15: #vim /etc/fstab (make change to /dev/sda3 line)
/dev/sda3 /mnt/data ntfs-3g defaults 0 0

Now I kind of forget how it's done with Mandriva, but usually when editing fstab, you have to "Tab" from one entry to the next, not use the spacebar. (Depending on the editor/editing method being used) EXAMPLE: write "/dev/sda3" then hit "Tab" on the keyboard, (some fstabs require hitting "Tab" twice), then type "/mnt/data", then hit "Tab", then type "ntfs-3g", then hit "Tab" and so on. I think Mandriva did not require using "Tab" but you should try it first and if it does not resemble other entries, then use the spacebar. But the entries should line up with other lines more or less.

So if these are the same steps you used, you should join the mailing list at ntfs-3g and get answers from the spokesperson who answers "beefs" there. And maybe that kernel is related.

It is also possible that if you compiled that kernel, you did not enable fuse support in the kernel.

this is the output i got after the current attempt.

and yes i do have the backup of the original fuse file. i moved it to my backup folder before deleting it.
The kernel that i am using i upgraded to it using urpmi, and its an official release by mandriva and i did not compile it.

You mentioned in your earlier posts that you are using kernel *.20 so may be i would try that but since there is no mandriva release for it yet, i had not used it. But now i think i would give it a try.

Also, i think may be something else is broken that keeps on causing this problem. i would try to do a reinstall of the kernel and follow the whole procedure again.

As far as you last comment, well i downloaded the kernel and installed both using URPMI, so may be thats the problem that fuse support is not enabled....

can you please suggest how could that be done...???
i did use that kernel update option that you gave with the fuse...

Thank you very much for your help.


This is the output i get when i use the mount command

**********************************output********************

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: Oops: 0000 [#1]

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: CPU: 0

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: EIP is at register_filesystem+0x10/0x4d

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: eax: 00000024 ebx: 00000024 ecx: c01175df edx: 00000000

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: esi: ffffffea edi: d57f9d34 ebp: c1fbfeb8 esp: c1fbfeb0

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0068

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: Process modprobe (pid: 9282, ti=c1fbe000 task=c2930aa0 task.ti=c1fbe000)

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: Stack: e0823180 e0823180 c1fbffb4 e075d0d4 e0822ee0 e08200df 00000008 e0823180

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: e0823180 d57f9d34 e0823180 c013212a 0000813e 000003c0 c1725984 00001480

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: 0807136e e0823180 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: Call Trace:

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: Code: 8d 50 14 8b 02 85 c0 75 d9 b8 a0 8f 30 c0 e8 56 8f 13 00 b8 ea ff ff ff 5b 5d c3 55 85 c0 89 e5 56 be ea ff ff ff 53 89 c3 74 37 <83> 78 14 00 66 be f0 ff 75 2d 8d 40 18 89 43 18 89 40 04 b8 a0

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: EIP: [register_filesystem+16/77] register_filesystem+0x10/0x4d SS:ESP 0068:c1fbfeb0

Message from syslogd@localhost at Tue Mar 27 14:28:06 2007 ...
localhost kernel: EIP: [<c01727b5>] register_filesystem+0x10/0x4d SS:ESP 0068:c1fbfeb0

If you got it from Mandriva repositories it should have fuse support, I'm going to have to check that kernel out, maybe today since I booted Mandriva. I sure would like to go to 2.6.20 and up also but just like you, not crazy about the idea of compiling from source, but I'm sure allot of Mandriva's customizing we can do without.

Allot of those error messages appear to relate to memory addressing problems. Note sure about the third last one, kernel code.
Only my Fedora has a kernel in the 2.6.20 range as the last two kernel updates have been in that range, I think my Debian is 2.6.18, Mandriva is 2.6.17, Mandrake is 2.6.11. So in Fedora, I still had to go through all four steps with the fuse package, just did not put the option to build the module, (--enable-kernel-module). But for Mandrake and Mandriva in both laptop and desktop I used that option because without the fuse from source, ntfs-3g reported a problem saying the Mandriva fuse was deficient. When I first used fuse and ntfs-3g from source was with Mandrake 10.2 32bit in my laptop and I accepted that "deficient fuse message" and did not re-configure using that option. Then I downloaded Mandriva 2007 DVD into my NTFS data partition without problems.
Debian Etch had ntfs-3g-1.0 in repositories as a .deb file so I installed it from there with synaptic, the line in fstab is a little different as I followed a guide I found on-line to install ntfs-3g on Etch.

Here is what it says in MCC about that kernel:
Fuse is third party

Ohhh..... should have read about that kernel first then i could have avoided wasting all that time of yours....

Thanx any way.
hmm if i am going to have to recompile the kernel, i think i would look into that 2.6.20 kernel and see if i can figure out how to patch it properly. In case it does not work out, i do have a copy of the old kernel 2.6.17 installed as well so i would go back to it and redo the whole procedure. Lets hope then things work out.
wish me luck.. and again thanks a lot for your time.

Good luck!

I fully predicted you would choose this route, I knew you were interested in going 2.6.20 because of what I read in another post, a moderator responded implying you should do so.
And you did not waste my time, I'm here to help you just like you'll help me in the future when I decide to upgrade my kernel. (if I gather the balls).

Just for verifying it ran this command


modprobe -l |grep fuse |wc -l

Now if the kernel does not support fuse, it should give 0, but the output i got is 1 saying kernel does support
fuse.. It just seems to dislike me... i guess i should try and get one of my friends to try the same thing and see what happens on their systems...lol

Cest la vie

along similar lines- what would I need to do to "automagically" mount a usb ntfs drive?

my gut was to reformat it fat32, but I'm occasionally handling larger files than it supports, and I can't go ext2/3 since it does connect to windows systems on a equal basis.


..or am I just screwed?

Using mandriva 2007.1 spring one, the bootable iso. I tried this yesterday, and my problem is that when logged in as guest, I am unable to read ntfs partitions. I have tried using the parition tool and checked the user option, then told it to save fstab settings. This allowed me to mount the partition, but I am still unable to read. Is there a way to allow me to read ntfs paritions without changing the permissions in every file on that partition? And, naturally I dont think I would be able to reboot since the changes wouldnt be saved. Perhaps there is an option when booting fron cd that I am missing.

griz

Since I have been seeing so many people having trouble with read/write to ntfs partition, I put XP on a partition and set up to read / write to it using ntfs-3g on Mandriva 2007.1 (Spring). I found an easy way to make it work .

Open the software installer System > Configuration > Packaging > Install, remove & update software in the menu system).

Search for ntfs in names

Select ntfs-3g-1.516-1mdv2007.1.i586 and ntfs-config-0.5.5-2mdv2007.1.i586.

Install the packages and any dependencies the package manager adds.

When installation is complete, set up the mount point in MCC using the Partition Manager (no special options needed). Do not mount the partition yet.

Open the NTFS-config tool (System > Configuration > Hardware > NTFS Configuration Tool in the menu system).

Select the partition, and give it a name (two fields).

Add a check mark for Enable write support for internal device.

The configuration tool will set up ntfs-3g, modify your fstab configuration, and mount the partition, then close.

Since setting this up, I have been able to save a file to the Documents and Settings/All Users/Documents directory in the XP partition from Linux, then modify the file and save my changes as a regular user.

HTH,