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

[TheRealEdwin]

I tried reading and searching through as many pages as possible but I could have missed the solution to this.

I have two NTFS drives that I would like to auto-mount on boot but only one works at a time. I can manually mount one or the other but neither both at the same time. Ideas?

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
#  -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config -- 
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=01d74329-edc0-4281-bb50-b599f084f401 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=d4b3a2d6-610a-4fe6-8de0-c6a747f778a8 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sdc1 /media/windows ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /media/windows ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       18666   149934613+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2           18667       19457     6353707+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           18667       19457     6353676   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               2       24792   199133707+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb5               2       24792   199133676    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           1       36482   293041633+   7  HPFS/NTFS

[givré]

/dev/sdc1 /media/windows ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /media/windows ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0

You can't use the same mount point for two different partitions.
Remove those two lines and run ntfs-config.
Or just replace one of the /media/windows by something else and don't forget to create the directory before mounting them : sudo mkdir /media/*

[TheRealEdwin]

Much appreciated. I knew it was something stupid. Thanks for the prompt response.

[Furao]

Hey worked great for me. Just thought I should mention though, that if you shut down your windows partition by hibernation, the mounting for writing doesn't seem to work. I could still view files, but couldn't modify. Any suggestions to get around this? I don't always like to shut down everything i had running on my windows partion. Unfortunately i still have to do a lot of work i can only do on windows

[ashrack]

Hey worked great for me. Just thought I should mention though, that if you shut down your windows partition by hibernation, the mounting for writing doesn't seem to work. I could still view files, but couldn't modify. Any suggestions to get around this? I don't always like to shut down everything i had running on my windows partion. Unfortunately i still have to do a lot of work i can only do on windows

This is a known bug, and I have no idea when/if it will be fixed. ATM SZAKA is more concentrating into stabilizing NTFS-3g, as it is already in RC stage and no more features will be added.
I already asked SZAKA about this feature and I'm awaiting reply.

ps. Why not use WMWARE and do your work there?

[m94mni]

Hey worked great for me. Just thought I should mention though, that if you shut down your windows partition by hibernation, the mounting for writing doesn't seem to work. I could still view files, but couldn't modify. Any suggestions to get around this? I don't always like to shut down everything i had running on my windows partion. Unfortunately i still have to do a lot of work i can only do on windows

D-O-N-T!

Be glad you cannot. I have done a similar thing with a FAT32 partition, and it predictably corrupts your file system...

This is not a bug that can be worked around at all. Think about it - from Windows' point of view, it goes to sleep and returns back a few hours later, still with all datastructures, file system caches etc in memory. BUT suddenly a number of the on-disk data structures have changed, as if there is a small insect running around on the harddrive modifying things. Thus - inconsistencies, crashes, file system corruption etc.

*if* Windows unmounted the partition before hibernating, and then remounted it, things would work. But it does not. You can do the same the other way - hibernate a Linux system, boot windows and mount the Linux root partition using an ext3 tool in windows. Move some files around, delete and add stuff, then boot back into Linux and watch your file system being destroyed....

Or do the same using a virtualization system - boot your running linux image a second time using qemu, and watch the mayhem.

The rule is - only one OS can have a partition mounted at one point in time. Anything else WILL lead to corruption. There is nothing ntfs-3g can do about it.

[Furao]

Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate the explanations. A couple of questions (although this may be the wrong place to be asking these questions.)

"*if* Windows unmounted the partition before hibernating, and then remounted it, things would work. "

is there any way to force windows to dismount a drive? I have my harddrive partitioned into 3 right now, The one that I'm interested in writing to through Ubuntu is not the OS partition. So when leaving windows, if I could just unmount that drive (I don't use it for any of my work stuff) that would be perfect.

"ps. Why not use WMWARE and do your work there?"

Thanks for the suggestion, I 'll look around and see what this is. (I am a noob...sorry)

[ashrack]

"ps. Why not use WMWARE and do your work there?"

Thanks for the suggestion, I 'll look around and see what this is. (I am a noob...sorry)

Here I even got U a link:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=183209

[delta99]

Worked great for me too! I am new to linux and managed the manual way.

I can now write files to ntfs windows partition! Thanks Man

[xyz]

Hi all,
Trying to install the 2 latest updates and I get this:

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/fuse-utils_2.6.3-0givre1_i386.deb: there is no script in the new version of the package - giving up
E: /var/cache/apt/archives/libfuse2_2.6.3-0givre1_i386.deb: conflicting packages - not installing libfuse2

Thank you for your help.