Problems formatting NTFS partition
 

Hi,

I'm trying to convert my NTFS partition to ext3. However I'm having some problems doing so. I use fdisk to delete the old partition, create a new one in its stead, make it Linux(83) and write the partition table. Should be a cakewalk right? Well, when i reboot the machine and mount the partition, it won't accept ext3, it wants to be mounted as NTFS! Furthermore, all data is still on it. Really weird, because when I enter windooze(yes, I dual boot, and I'm ashamed :)), it cant see the partition!

Here my partition table using fdisk:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 2550 20482843+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 2551 16770 114222150 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3 16771 18620 14860125 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 18621 19928 10506510 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 2551 16708 113724103+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6 16709 16770 497983+ 82 Linux swap


And when writing the partition table I get some strange message:


The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.


Perhaps this has something to do with it??

Please help! :confused:

Did you reformat the partition? Unmount it first then

mkfs.ext3 /dev/hda(you didn't say which partition it is)

I am not an expert on this issue, but could it be that you need to create the filesystem first (like formating the partition)?

I think what you have done using fdisk has just changed the filesystem flag in your partition table, but the structure is still NTFS. You may need to run mkfs.ext3 to create the new filesystem.

You also need to unmount the partition first. That may has caused the "Device or resource busy" message.

Thanks ppl, I just didn't know how to build the file system, but now it's cool!

Thx alot :D