Hi,

this is on Ubuntu Dapper. - There is an NTFS partition which I would like to resize and format. GParted is installed.
In fstab, I changed this line:
to:
I've remounted all partitions by stating:
After that, "mount" returns:
However, still, when I try to set "write" permissions to that partition in the file manager, I cannot do that as there is the message:
How can I mount that NTFS partition in a writable mode?

Thanks indeed

You can not. NTFS writeing is not supported. There are some experimental drivers available, but at this time they are just that. If you value your NTFS partiton, don't use linux to resize it.

If you want to resize, I would recomment you do that with something like Partition Magic under windoze control.

Thanks. I'd doubt resizing NTFS partitions using Linux cannot work. If I remember well, I did that with a SuSE distribution several years ago (afterwards the Windows system still worked).

Nevertheless, formatting that NTFS partition and making it available (writable) to the Linux system would suffice for the moment. The question is, how to mount it in a way so I can format it.

Thanks again

You do not need to mount it to format it. The only format that will work for both win and linux is fat32. Still think you need to do it from windoze, unless you want to wipe windoze and use the partition for linux only, then you could use any linux supported file system.

Emerson,

Thank-you! I find everyday there is a new and better way to do things using linux.

Hi there and thanks.

Actually, I do not want to keep that Windows partition (I could reinstall Windows lateron). I'd just like to create some writable disk space to use with my Linux system.

Still, that partition has been mounted read-only, and I think I need to mount it writable so I can erase it and make some other partitions out of it.

- How can I format this partition (to any file system type, and then, resize it)?

No need to mount a partition to reformat or resize.

Use fdisk or cfdisk to change the partition label to linux and then use mkfs to create a filesystem of your choice.

Thanks. I looked at fdisk etc. but decided not to use it because of my lack of knowledge. (Q.E.D. )

Instead, I managed to unmount the NTFS partition, and it's available to GParted now. However - is it safe to erase it? - That's the partition that contains the MBR!

You mean - how to reformat the partition with another type of filesystem like reiserfs or ext3 ? One thing worth knowing - hde would refer refer to the entire disk and writing to hde would might erase the MBR, hde1 would be the first partition and hde2 the second and so on... When you delete/reformat any partition like hde1, hde2, hde3... you reformat/delete only the partition and not the MBR since, the MBR is the first sector on the disk and no partition includes the MBR.

If you think you wouldn't need hde1, you can safely delete it without worrying about MBR.

If you are really keen about using/writing to NTFS partitions, I'd like to suggest captive NTFS driver for that. I personally use it and find it reliable and it works. Anything that can be done in Windoz, can be done using captive - viz. writing, appending, deleting, moving...

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

Thanks. I've done that now (using GParted). After that, I'd updated /etc/fstab and remounted all partitions.
- Is there any way to make sure the boot sector still points to fstab before rebooting?!?
I'll check that driver on my other PC. This one is "clean" now .

Did you have lilo or grub install on the MBR? ( with a working config). If yes, you shold be O.K.

If not, you can install it from your Linux install CD.

GRUB is installed. - What do you mean by
?
Thanks

For the records: Booting worked. Thanks all!