mounting a windows format hard drive?

cynergysystems · 10-16-2004, 04:00 PM

I have a lot of data, mainly mp3's on a hard drive using a dos compatible format. I'm running RedHat 9 kernel build 2.4.20-31.9 on my primary drive which is fully formatted for linux. Is there any way to access the data on that drive in linux?

Peacedog · 10-16-2004, 06:58 PM

Is it fat32, or ntfs? In that order.

mount -t vfat /dev/hdx /mnt/mountpoint

mount -t ntfs /dev/hdx /mnt/mountpoint

Where /dev/hdx is the partition recognized by your system, and /mnt/mountpoint is an empty directory. Keep in mind if the file system is ntfs, write access is still experimental afaik. There are some write solutions for ntfs, I've never used them so I cannot vouch for them.
good luck.

Steel_J · 10-16-2004, 07:33 PM

If you look in your / directory in /MNT you should see directories corresponding to all your NTFS or FAT32 partitons if those partitions where connected when you installed Linux.

Otherwise the last post about mounting is the way to go.

If they are NTFS, yo'll be able to read and copy from them over to your Linux partitions but you won't be able to write to them.

cynergysystems · 10-18-2004, 12:49 PM

Thank you very much for your help. The drive is mounted and I can access all my files!

Just one more question: Is there any way to mount the drive automatically on bootup?

Peacedog · 10-18-2004, 01:11 PM

Yes edit your /etc/fstab.

/dev/hdx /mnt/mountpoint defaults,umask=000 0 0

There are other options to use in place of defaults, a quick forum search should produce results.
good luck.

Steel_J · 10-18-2004, 04:47 PM

Read this short and to the point laymen's terms guide to the fstab file here:

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/fstab.html#what

After that you will knoe exactly what needs to be done to automount your drives.

aje · 10-18-2004, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PEACEDOG
Yes edit your /etc/fstab.

/dev/hdx /mnt/mountpoint defaults,umask=000 0 0

There are other options to use in place of defaults, a quick forum search should produce results.
good luck.

Do I add this line? or edit an existing one?

cynergysystems · 10-18-2004, 11:00 PM

Thanks quys,
Everything is ship shape! I appreciate all the help. It's not easy being a newbie. I'm glad you can be patient.

Steel_J · 10-19-2004, 12:59 AM

Usually if you mounted your partition manually your fstab file doen't know about it, so you need to add a new line.

If you read the guide I posted earlier you'll understand.