accessing windows hdd

[krgoldfinger]

how do i access a windows partion in linux?
thx

[yowwww]

it depends on whether you are using fat32 or ntfs.
either way, see my guide - look on the helpful tips page. Post back here if you have any further questions.
what distro are you using btw?

[andutt]

Look at the mount command or search on it here on the forum. It depends on which type of filesystem your windows drive is..

like this...

mount -t vfat /dev/hdd /mnt/windows
mount -t ntfs /dev/hdd /mnt/windows

Of coure you have to change /dev/hdd to you actual drive path and make sure that /mnt/windows directory exists otherwise you have to create it.

Regards

[yowwww]

that won't give you read/write access, see my guide for more details.

[andutt]

jiises can you stop advertising your guide and help people here instead....

Sorry this wolud do the trick

mount -t vfat /mnt/windows user,uid=500,gid=500 0 0
mount -t ntfs /mnt/windows user,uid=500,gid=500 0 0

Regards

[Dolda2000]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have seen yowwww's guide help many people. It's a concentration of knowledge; why re-answer something that already has been answered, after all?

[andutt]

OK....but then vi can cancel this forum then!!... almost all things we answering people about are well documented on other sites,documentation-forums and howtos...

Its no fun for the poster or reader to be relinked to another location when he or her can get the answer right away when its 2lines long...but maybe thats me.

[krgoldfinger]

thx andutt

[andutt]

Your welcome...hope it goes well!

Regards

[yowwww]

thanks for the disdain, but actually it was WELL OVER TWO LINES:

How to Access and Write to your Windows FAT32 partitions -
Step 1 - When in Linux, create a directory wherever you like, called whatever you like. For example - /home/user/windows
Step 2 - To test it out, log in as root in the terminal (type su, then press enter, then enter your root password then press enter) Then type (I'm using the sample created directory above) mount /dev/hda1 /home/user/windows
This should allow you to see all of your windows files in that created directory. (I used hda1 because my windows is on the first partition of my first drive, you need to adjust yours as necessary - ie: hdb1 is the first partition of the second drive) I also mount my first partition on my second drive because that's where I keep all my mp3's, so I create another directory - /home/user/winmusic and therefore to mount that drive again as root in the terminal type:  mount /dev/hdb1 /home.
Step 3 - If you want to have linux automatically mount these drives, you need to edit your /etc/fstab file as root. In my case, I use the terminal and I use pico as a text editor, but if you like using point and click you can do that too. If you are used to using text editors or like pico, you can do it like this:
in terminal as root type:
cd /etc
pico fstab
press control and O and then add .backup to the filename which creates a backup for you.
then press control X
then type pico fstab
then you will see your fstab file open again - use the arrow keys to move things around
scroll down to the bottom and add these lines
*using the above directories as examples:
/dev/hda1       /home/user/windows
/dev/hdb1       /home/user/winmusic
*this will allow you to see the windows files as user, but you have to be logged in as root to add file or write to those directories.
*if you want to be able to add files and write to your windows fat32 directories as user, then you can do this:

This next part was contributed by Eric London - much thanks!
/dev/hda1       /home/user/windows   vfat user,uid=500,gid=500 0 0
/dev/hdb1       /home/user/winmusic  vfat user,uid=500,gid=500 0 0
*this will allow you to write to those directories. All you need to do in either case is save this as your new fstab file.

For ntfs file support see these sites:
ntfs
ntfs

it also provides links for ntfs and gives credit to another person who helped come up with the read and write access part.

I do refer to my guide quite a bit, but that is where I put most of all the solutions I find. It is not someone else's guide, it is mine and therefore when I post it, I don't take the RTFM manual approach, if someone needs clarification, they can email me, message me or or reply in the forum.

You may not know this, but I spend a lot of time helping people with linux (not that I know everything, but I offer what I can). It is beyond me, why you would condemn a reference to a guide especially when the person is capable of following up on it.

One thing I love about linux is the community, but sometimes people really bring it down.