hi friend.

cant mount my 2 ntfs partition.
here are a few outputs to show you the picture:
linux-hsob:~ # mount -a
mount: special device /dev/hda1 does not exist
mount: special device /dev/hda5 does not exist
---------------------------------------------------------------
linux-hsob:~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 5805 46628631 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 5806 10011 33784695 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 5806 10011 33784663+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 97 779121 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdb2 98 2009 15358140 83 Linux
/dev/hdb3 2010 4865 22940820 83 Linux
--------------------------------------------------------------
linux-hsob:~ # cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

3 0 80418240 hda
3 64 39082680 hdb
3 65 779121 hdb1
3 66 15358140 hdb2
3 67 22940820 hdb3
---------------------------------------------------------------
linux-hsob:~ # cat /etc/fstab
/dev/hdb2 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/hdb3 /home reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 2
/dev/hda1 /windows/C ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0
/dev/hda5 /windows/D ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0
/dev/hdb1 swap swap defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto noauto,user,sync 0 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
there are no /dev/hda1, /dev/hda5 files/blocks

thanks for the help.
Gal

I don't know why the device files for hda1, hda2 and hda5 are not being generated; it's probably some kind of timing issue since /dev/hda is being generated. You can try creating them manually with the mknod command. As root run:

# mknod -m 666 /dev/hda1 b 3 1
# mknod -m 666 /dev/hda2 b 3 2
# mknod -m 666 /dev/hda5 b 3 5

Then try mounting hda1 or hda5. If it works, you will have to run the mknod commands after every reboot. To avoid that problem, you can edit one of your init scripts to run the necessary mknod commands automatically on every boot. You would normally do that by editing /etc/rc.d/rc.local but not all distros have an rc.local.

Besides the possible problem noticed by kilgoretrout it could also happen that you aren't loading the proper NTFS support/module, check the loaded modules with lsmod, though kilgoretrout's solution should work AFAIK

I did all 3 mknod and got:
linux-hsob:~ # mount -a
mount: /dev/hda1 is not a valid block device
mount: /dev/hda5 is not a valid block device

anything else I can do?

Did you check to see if the ntfs module is loaded? Also, fedora/RH does not have ntfs support built into their kernels by default. RH refuses to include ntfs support because of potential patent issues with MS. There's an rpm package you can get to give you ntfs support, however. That error message is what you usually get if you try to mount an unsupported file system.

what is th correct module to load Raska, and how do I change if needed?
lsmod gives a bunch of lines, one of them is:
ntfs 190356 0
oh.. I am using SUSE's 10.1 linux

thanks.

The ntfs module appears to be loaded. Suse has ntfs read support enabled by default. Try manually mounting hda1 with:

# mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /windows/C

i did the 3 mknod like u said:
# mknod -m 666 /dev/hda1 b 3 1.... (same for hda2 and hda5 with 2 and 5 in the minor)
then I did:
# mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /windows/C
and got:
mount: /dev/hda1 is not a valid block device

any ideas?

I'm really stumped. Can you pick up hda1 and hda5 with a livecd like knoppix or kanotix? Also, check your bios setup and make sure the drive that corresponds to hda is being properly reported as primary master. If your motherboard has raid, make sure it's disabled as you don't seem to be using it.

as a noob, I ask knoppix? kanofix? where? how?

the BIOS is ok, and, if u look on the fdisk -l output that I posted in the beginning of the thread u will see that all hda device are there... I will see if I can change the file system on hda to fat32, don't know of a software that can do that, but I will try... I'll keep u all posted

thanks for the help,
let's keep trying, if u have any ideas keep'em comming.

update:
the converting is a NO NO NO, will not happend... have to find another way.

again... if u got an idea keep it coming

thanx

Knoppix and kanotix are linux livecds, i.e. full linux systems that run entirely off a bootable cd. You can download knoppix and kanotix here:

http://www.knoppix.org/
http://kanotix.com/index.php?&newlang=eng

A smaller download is slax, a livecd based on slackware:

http://www.slax.org/

Livecds are frequently used in troubleshooting and rescue as you can access an installed linux distro's filesystem through a livecd. If you can detect and mount the partitions in a livecd, that may indicate some quirk in the suse kernel as the problem.
However, I suspect that your problem is either hardware related, thus the request to check your bios setup, or some problem in linux with the hda partition table or ntfs filesystem integrity. In that case you would probably have trouble from the livcds as well.

I am using Feisty.

Here is what I made work by trial and error after for some unknown reason ALL of my /dev/hd* disappeared:

/dev# ls hd*
/dev/hpet
/dev#
/dev# ls s*
scd0 sda1 sda3 sda6 sequencer sg0 snapshot sr0 stdin
sda sda2 sda5 sda7 sequencer2 sg1 sndstat stderr stdout

shm:

snd:
controlC0 pcmC0D0p pcmC0D2c pcmC0D4p timer
pcmC0D0c pcmC0D1c pcmC0D3c seq

/dev# mount /dev/sda2 -t ntfs /media/WIN_XP ____(C: drive)
/dev# mount /dev/sda5 -t ntfs /media/APPs _______(D: drive)
===========================

This is not proper coding, but it works for me! I have not made /etc/fstab entries as I do not think this is the ultimate solution. Comments are welcomed.

~Kilpat
===========================