HOWTO: NTFS with read/write support using ntfs-3g (easy method)

[givré]

New version of ntfs-3g-nautilus-tools, 0.5 :
* Add ntfs-3g-monitor to fix hal bug.
This will create/delete an icon in the desktop
When an ntfs-3g device is mount/unmont.
This is just a fix.This is not the final solution.
* Remove this feature from the other script.

ntfs-3g-monitor is a fix to the hal bug, but it certainly not the better fix. It will create/delete icon on the desktop but you will not be able to browse them from place.
To install it, see point 4 on the first post.
All feedback are welcome

[ronoc]

I am trying to mount a firewire lacie external ntfs drive. Up until now dapper is able to automatically mount the drive to sdb1 -> /media/lacie. I have followed the instructions but the when I try to mount the drive using the nautilus script it returns with an error "unable to mount drive" then the drive itself disappears from the desktop. If i try this from the media folder the same error is returned by the drive does not disappear from the desktop.
I have tried manually adding the sdb1 entry to the fstab as the instructions say for an internal drive. but when i try this when i insert the firewire cable the computer freezes a little and the drive does not get mounted at all!
When i remove the line from the fstab file the drive is mounted fine but i am back to the original problem. I really think this is a total oversight on the part of ubuntu not to handle proper read/write for NTFS.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thx,
C

[MyBigToe]

Im brand new to linux, but when i type
sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g after updating, it cant find the package.

Am i doing something wrong?
also, the source.list file was previously empty before i added the lines needed, is that normal too?

Edit: Added the repositories via synaptic, and that worked.

[adds2one]

I think that source.list in the original post should have been sources.list. Correct me if I am wrong.

[domino]

I've run the update fo almost 8hrs now. It works fine as usual. Now how do I remove the drive icons from my desktop . I run Ubuntu System Panel, so I don't find the need to have them always visible.

[RRS]

I think that source.list in the original post should have been sources.list. Correct me if I am wrong.

No, you're correct. I also seem to recall another minor error or glich when I installed and ran the script a couple weeks ago.

Sorry, I can't believe I failed to post them at the time before I forgot the details. I do seem to recall the second item was in the recommended fstab entry.

Otherwise everything worked great for me and I have full write access to my windows partition, including downloading with Ubuntu and creating a folder in windows to place them in.

I'll see if I can find/remember the other item and post back.

[RRS]

Here's the items I had to change:

Instead of;

gksu gedit /etc/apt/source.list

I used;

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Instead of;

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

I used;

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

I also altered my fstab entry to;

/dev/hda1 /media/windows ntfs-3g  silent,locale=en_US.utf8,umask=000,uid=1000,gid=1000  0  0

This allowed me (sole user of the machine) ownership of the partition.

I don't recall why I changed gksu to sudo in the first two commands but I do recall it making a difference. I seem to remember it was creating a new empty file instead of opening the existing one.

Also, not sure why it didn't seem to work with the suggested fstab entry but I think it gave ownership and permissions to root and for me that was the easiest way to change permissions. I may have been getting some sort of error with chown.

Hope this helps anyone with similar problems, it was stupid of me not to post right away, sorry.

Now for a new problem. Did a system update this evening and the new version of ntfs-3g seems to have mounting problems. Also upgraded to 2.6.15-26-386 kernel. Any clues?

[adds2one]

I had to use sudo instead of gksu as well. gksu just wouldn't work for me. Gave me some sort of error and then spat me out of whatever I was trying to do. Sudo worked fine.

[bluntu]

When you say that this ntfs-3g is not 100% stable do you mean that it can corrupts files?

I have a 50gig hdd with very important data and would like to organize it by moving/deleting files. If something went wrong would it corrupts my data?

[mgsfan]

yep new version removed it from my desktop computer also..everything was fine with old version..update ah with step 4 on the 1st page I now get the icon on the desktop and can go into it. still nothing showing up in computer