Troubleshooting - Mapping Windows directories to the Ubuntu filesystem

[stevenswall]

Problem:

Tried to mount (without shortcuts) Windows 'Documents' directory to Ubuntu 'Documents' directory, Windows 'Pictures' to Ubuntu 'Pictures' etc. all using fstab.

Details:

-Windows 7 partition auto-mounts at boot to /media/sda1
-Windows 7 partition is located at /dev/sda1
-Day old installation Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit

Fstab:
<FSTAB01>
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 errors=remount-ro,user_xattr 0 1
/dev/sda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g rw 0 0

#MAPS WINDOWS 7 DIRECTORIES TO UBUNTU FILESYSTEM

/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Documents /home/taylor/Documents ntfs-3g rw 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Downloads /home/taylor/Downloads ntfs-3g rw 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Dropbox /home/taylor/Dropbox ntfs-3g rw 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Music /home/taylor/Music ntfs-3g rw 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Pictures /home/taylor/Pictures ntfs-3g rw 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Videos /home/taylor/Videos ntfs-3g rw 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Ubuntu\040One /home/taylor/Ubuntu\040One ntfs-3g rw 0 0
<END FSTAB01>

<FSTAB02>
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 errors=remount-ro,user_xattr 0 1
/dev/sda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g rw 0 0

#MAPS WINDOWS 7 DIRECTORIES TO UBUNTU FILESYSTEM

mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Documents ~/Documents
mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Downloads ~/Downloads
mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Dropbox ~/Dropbox
mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Music ~/Music
mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Pictures ~/Pictures
mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Videos ~/Videos
mount --bind /media/sda1/Users/taylor/Ubuntu\040One ~/Ubuntu\040One
<ENDFSTAB02>

Ideal Solution:

Correctly edit Fstab so that the NTFS directories are mounted within the /home/taylor/(docs, pics, etc.) directory on bootup.

[stevenswall]

Solution:

Used the 'bind' command to link directories in an auto-mounted NTFS partition (/dev/sda1 to /media/sda1) to their respective Ubuntu counterparts.

<FINAL FSTAB> (access using sudo gedit /etc/fstab)

# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 errors=remount-ro,user_xattr 0 1
/dev/sda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g rw 0 0

#MAPS WINDOWS 7 DIRECTORIES TO UBUNTU FILESYSTEM

/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Documents /home/taylor/Documents none bind 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Downloads /home/taylor/Download none bind 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Dropbox /home/taylor/Dropbox none bind 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Music /home/taylor/Music none bind 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Pictures /home/taylor/Pictures none bind 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Videos /home/taylor/Videos none bind 0 0
/media/sda1/Users/taylor/Ubuntu\040One /home/taylor/Ubuntu\040One none bind 0 0


<END FSTAB>

Notes:
-Use "\040" to insert a space when mounting directories whose names contain a space.
-The final mounted partition should be used (/media/sda1) rather than the device location (/dev/sda1)
-When tabbing to the next option (<file system> <mount point... etc) it is permissible to align text, rather than to merely tab once for each option.

Sources:
Blazemore's Blog
<http://www.blazemore.net/2010/12/mirror-files-across-dual-boot.html>
Community Fstab Documentation
<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab>

Conclusion:
This information was overly difficult to find, and proved to be immensely helpful when dual booting with Windows 7. Perhaps a future version of Ubuntu could map these directories during the installation, rather than importing data (thereby creating duplicates and wasting HDD space.) This solution avoids sync issues, and streamlines production between the two OS environments.