Question

Sharing data on a dualboot (XP and Linux) laptop

Asked by: fea

My laptop is running on Linux (Mandriva) and XP. The 100Gb disk is partitioned as follow: 20Gb for XP ("C"), 25 Gb formated with XP (NTFS, "D") where I intent to locate all the data and the rest for the various Linux partitions (including a root of 37Gb).

How to manage the permissions to allow me to read and write on the "Data" (the 25Gb, "D" for XP) partition from both XP and Linux?

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Asked On
2007-06-16 at 04:22:32ID22638184
Tags

data

,

linux

,

xp

,

laptop

,

share

Topics

Windows XP Operating System

,

Linux Setup

,

Computer Hard Drives

Participating Experts
2
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125
Comments
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Answers

 

by: ndarkoPosted on 2007-06-16 at 05:41:18ID: 19297920

I will guess that the partitions in the linux are ext3.
If you want to write from the windows to the linux partitions you can use EXT2 IFS for windows (http://www.fs-driver.org/)

In order to access the ntfs partitions from Linux you need an Linux kernel module for the ntfs and as far as I am informed there are a couple of solutions and no one of them is good enough. The native Linux kernel driver for ntfs is still in dev/test phase and supports reading of ntfs partitions and partially writing (in some cases it can corupt files like appending to file - last time I red on that subject). If you choose to go this way the kernel module must be compiled with write support (depends on version of distribution - you might need to recompile the kernel), and then mount the partition with options -o rw.


There is also an wrapper for the original windows ntfs drivers which is relatively easy to install, but then there is a very big performance hit when you use that partition.

The way I still use mu Linux is to have an second partition (like your D partition) formated in Fat32 and then you have no problems accessing the files from linux.

 

by: slow1000Posted on 2007-06-16 at 08:14:40ID: 19298435

http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ is supposedly stable, BUT if you don't have a good backup plan for your data, you should stick with fat32 as ndarko suggested.  

 

by: feaPosted on 2007-06-17 at 04:27:56ID: 19302020

Thanks to both of you. I re-formated into FAT32 from XP but cannot read it from Linux (while I could read the NTFS). Shall I format that "D" partition with Linux? Or take some action on Linux to have the partition recognized?

 

by: ndarkoPosted on 2007-06-17 at 15:21:47ID: 19303664

try opening an terminal an mounting the partition manually

mount -t vfat /dev/hdXX /mnt/some_dir -o rw

/dev/hdXX is a file pointing to your real partition. If you do not know whitch one it is you cen do
fdisk /dev/hda or fdisk/dev/hdb o fdisk /dev/sda depending on which bus/channel your HDD is connected, and see the partition table (remember to exit fdisk with q! so not to make any changes to the hdd)

After mounting you should be able to access the partition                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

if that works edit your /et/fstab file to make the partition auto mount each restart.

 

by: feaPosted on 2007-06-19 at 02:39:13ID: 19314382

ndarko,

Thanks for this, but I am afraid it is way beyond my capabilities... :-(  Since that partition was NTFS when I set up Linux, I guess I have to change the mounting point for Linux to recognise what became a Fat32 partition. What should be the new mounting point? I will use the Linux Control Centre to do it...

 

by: ndarkoPosted on 2007-06-19 at 02:42:20ID: 19314403

you can set it where ever is convinient for you.
mounting points usually go in to /mnt

 

by: feaPosted on 2007-06-19 at 09:56:53ID: 19317738

Done. I can see the partition now but can't write nor change the access rights... I tried through the  konsol with root rights. Could do it there but that was not reflected in practice...

 

by: feaPosted on 2007-06-19 at 13:38:35ID: 19319647

If I re-format fat32 from Linux, will I be able to read and write from XP?

 

by: ndarkoPosted on 2007-06-19 at 17:23:02ID: 19321245

yes. But be carefull not to format your windows patrtition.

 

by: feaPosted on 2007-06-20 at 16:34:02ID: 19329261

This was the solution, guys: on fstab:
/dev/hda5 /mnt/win_d vfat umask=0,rw,user,defaults 0 0
The key element is umask=0

 

by: ndarkoPosted on 2007-06-21 at 02:47:14ID: 19331628

nice to hear that you have solved the problem :)

 

by: slow1000Posted on 2007-06-21 at 21:16:57ID: 19339001

So it was fat32 to begin with (not NTFS), you just needed to make it accessible to non-root users.  Glad you figured it out.

 

by: feaPosted on 2007-06-21 at 22:35:30ID: 19339183

slow1000

It was NTFS when I started this thread. Then I was suggested to change it into Fat32 and did it (fourth post in this thread).

 

by: slow1000Posted on 2007-06-22 at 20:55:34ID: 19346351

Sorry, I misread it.  I need to stop skimming.

 

by: slow1000Posted on 2007-06-26 at 18:43:10ID: 19369141

ndarko recommended fat32 (which did solve the problem):
"Then I was suggested to change it into Fat32 and did it (fourth post in this thread)."

Fea solved a consequent question (how to mount the partition in fstab with non-root access) himself.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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