Thanks 4 great site....

System: P4 , 2.4 intel , 512 RAm , HDA ---Windows XP Pro ( 80 GIG) NTFS , HDB---SUSE 9.2 , Running KDE and , SWAP (30 GIG)....

My mp3's were on Xp , I needed to reinstall Xp , so went to kde , backed up mp3 's from xp onto kde.....no probs....Reinstalled Xp ...and realised that I cannot move my 29gigs of Mp3's back onto Xp Drive while in KDE....Please kind sir's and madams....explain to little old me ...how to move dem Mp3's back onto HDA XP...I cannot write onto Xp because of permissions , I think.......And everytime I try To use kd3 to burn them to dvd , I keep getting told that my DVD writer is eaither , unavailable or busy...and the burn cannot take place......


thanks
yours in the land of penguins....

namirock..
oops sorry ...hda and hdb are 2 seperate drives....maxtor and wd..

Well you seem to have two problems....your mp3 are on hdb which is a linux partition which WinXP can't see. So copying from hdb while in XP will not work. Your second problem is that Linux can't write to ntfs so copying from hdb to hda while in Linux won't work either. One way to fix is is to repartition hda using qtparted in Linux and creating a FAT partition on hda (Linux can write to FAT32) but since you have 29gigs of mp3 it depends on the size of hda if you are want to do that (XP can be saved using qtparted, it can create a new partition without destroying the existing ones) You might be lucky and have a big extra partition on hda which could be emptied and converted to FAT32 using qtparted in linux or using Partition Magic in Win XP, that would be the easy solution (you haven't mentioned the amount of partitions on hda) . After you have created an 35 gig FAT32 partition on hda (or converted an existing one to FAT32) you can easilly copy your mp3 to hda from linux.

You also mention a K3B writer problem. This is a complete different problem so I would suggest opening a new topic with all the info about what version of K3B and kernel you are using and what errors you get to get that solved.

If you happen to use ext2, ext3 or ReiserFS for your linuxpartitions you could try Explore2fs which makes it possible to read ext2, ext3 and ReiserFS partitions from Windows. That could save you a whole lot of trouble!


Good luck!

Hi !

There is many possible solutions to your problem.
The other poster's solutions will probably work, but they need a lot of your time.
Reformatting a partition takes a lot of time and special tools (like PartitionMagic) which aren't free, and the process is prone to errors. I often lost entire partitions thanks to PartitionMagic (the first times, I didn't have any backups). Which brings me to this... BACKUP your data !
But since we're talking about MP3s and you sound like a honest guy, you probably already have all the originals... right ? :-)

Here's what you can do...

A: You can simply get rid of Windows and never use it again... Problem Solved ! :-)

B: (In Windows) You can use a tool called explore2fs (reads ext3 too) which can be found at http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm. With this tool, you can move/copy back your MP3s on your NTFS partition and ditch the tool when your done (If I remember well, it's only an .exe, no installation required)

C: (In Windows again) Install ext2ifs or ext2fsd. They are drivers which will enable you to use your linux partitions natively in windows (like any other FAT32, FAT or NTFS partition).
ext2ifs can be found on the same site than explore2fs
ext2fsd can be found at http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/

I personnally prefer these solutions because this way, you won't pollute your linux system with useless librairies just for a one time use, it won't take a lot of your time and these tools are free !

Well... I hope it will help !
Good luck !

Thanks for the quick response.....however let me add a few points....main problem , is my Linux drive is ending it's life , all the clicking noises and shudders are occuring , no problem as I've ordered a 200 gb drive for next week , which I hope to partition and install suse and xp on , hopefully with my MP3 's restored.

now me being the newbie I am , I still am not familiar with using terminals etc....so I went the partitionmagic route....I now have the following scenario.

Disc 1 Ntfs 30 gigs Xp Primary

Ext 47 gigs ext Primary
Fat32 47 gigs logical (which is empty , hoping to move mp3's here)

Disc 2 Linux Swap Primary
Linux Ext 2 28,328 Primary....

However if enter KDE and open the Windows icon ( hoping to see the Fat 32 part) , all I get is a reduced 9 Gigs xp ntfs installed primary part....

Oh whoa betide me.....wherefore art my fat32 gone toooo!

Thanks in anticipation

namirock

Ps....my Mp3 collection is legal , it's just audio clips of the wild african coccaaroo bird in it's natural habit during the rainy season as the full moon rises over the balaboonga mountains on the vast great eastern escarpment..... nudge nudge ,, wink wink , say no more.....

Hi !
> now me being the newbie I am , I still am not familiar with using terminals
Oh... poor you... you're missing all the magic ! :-)

> Disc 1 Ntfs 30 gigs Xp Primary
> Ext 47 gigs ext Primary
> Fat32 47 gigs logical (which is empty , hoping to move mp3's here)
> Disc 2 Linux Swap Primary
> Linux Ext 2 28,328 Primary....
> However if enter KDE and open the Windows icon ( hoping to see the Fat 32 part) , all I get is a reduced 9 Gigs xp ntfs installed primary part....

So you have 3 partitions on the disk with one being logical...
Did you ever have a 9 gb partition before ?
It might be some old unupdated information from a previous disk layout !?
When you change your hard-disk partitions layout, you often have to update your /etc/fstab to keep it in sync
Now, I don't know if your "Windows" icon has ben created by Kde, another tool or by yourself. So it's hard for me to tell why your "Windows" icon does not work as expected. If you created it yourself, it's probably that the device represented by the icon points to
another partition because you forgot to update the icon when you changed your partitions layout.
Linux has its way of naming the devices found on the computer. Every devices are represented by a file in /dev.
Hard-disks starts with hd*. Then it gives a different letter for each drive (the first is a, the second b... etc). It also gives a number for each partitions on the drive (first partition 1, second 2... etc). One thing you have to know is that linux considers the logical partition in the numbering scheme. So, by the information you gave me, I would say that your Fat32 partition must be named /dev/hda4 (to be sure, start a terminal and type "fdisk -l" (that's a lower L)
If you look at the properties of your "windows" icon, I'd bet you that it points to another device (probably /dev/hda1).
Try creating another Device icon or simply update your "windows" icon to point to /dev/hda4.
There is a good chance it might work.
If it doesn't, try giving us more information about your system
I wish you good luck !

Thanks to all in the forum 4 your help...

However it is with a sad note that I wish to inform all of the demise of my Linux Drive , she did not make it through the night and now resides on my floor next to my door......

I have however used a nifty tool and have been able to recover all my Mp3's from the original formatted C: drive , so I have managed to save the day. It aint gone until .....it's been burned!

On being a newbie Linux person , I love to learn new stuff and 2morrow when I recieve My 200gig...I will format my old 80 gig just for linux....so expect more posts from me........

Thanks again......and I aint gonna give up on this Linux just yet!!!!!!!!!!

Namirock....Linux in the sand