Mount NTFS Partitions

Mount NTFS Partitions

18 January 2007

Windows uses a different filesystem (NTFS) to store files. In order for Fedora to read that filesystem, you require NTFS support in your kernel. You can either recompile your kernel for NTFS read support -OR- obtain the proper kernel module.

NOTE: For users who upgraded from FC5 please first read the known bugs and problems.

To setup NTFS access you must (1) install NTFS support, (2) check how many partitions you have, (3) create mount points, (4) mount partitions, and (5) update fstab to mount at next boot.

NOTE: Previously Livna was recommended. However that solution has been known to be problematic in that it may update your kernel, which is normal behaviour. It is recommended to use NTFS-3G instead as it is supported in Fedora Extras and does NOT require kernel updates/upgrades. NTFS-3G also provides safe read-write access. (However SELinux may cause some problems for NTFS-3G.)

1. Install NTFS Support

For yum users:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install fuse fuse-libs ntfs-3g ntfsprogs ntfsprogs-gnomevfs

Users without yum, download fuse, fuse-lib and ntfs-3g (ntfsprogs and ntfsprogs-gnomevfs are optional) from Fedora Extras. Save them to a separate directory (ntfs). They are less than 1MB download.

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ cd ntfs
[mirandam@charon ntfs]$ sudo rpm -ivh fuse* ntfs*

No kernel version checking is required, so long as you are using a FC6 kernel.

2. Check Your Partitions

Use fdisk to list partitions. Most ATA hard drives will be /dev/hda. Drives may also show up as /dev/hdb, /dev/sda depending on your configuration.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /sbin/fdisk -lu /dev/hda | grep NTFS
/dev/hda1   *          63    33559784    16779861    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2        33559785    67119569    16779892+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda3        67119570   100679354    16779892+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Usually the first will be a drive "letter": C drive, next D, etc. Hence /dev/hda1 is my C:/ drive used by Windows.

3. Create Mount Points

For every partition in step 2 that you wish to access, you will need a "mount point". A mount point is just a directory. Common directories are: /media/ and /mnt/. Use whichever, but be consistent.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ cd /media/
[mirandam@charon media]$ sudo mkdir c_drive d_drive e_drive

You do not have to use these names, if you prefer to create folders such as movies, documents, or winxp, any name will work (without spaces).

4. Mount Partitions

Using the above kernel module, we can only mount the NTFS partition read-only and we set the permissions so all users can read the contents of each partition.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/hda2 /media/d_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/hda3 /media/e_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222

Read/Write Access: The above is for read-only access. In order to mount read/write, you must use the -rw -o umask=0000. Example:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -rw -o umask=0000

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Please run man mount to understand what umask= does.

5. Update /etc/fstab

Every time Fedora boots, the partitions must be mounted. To automatically mount, you must edit /etc/fstab.

Open /etc/fstab in an editor: (use nano instead of gedit if you do not have a GUI)

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add these lines to the END of the file:

/dev/hda1   /media/c_drive     ntfs-3g    ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/hda2   /media/d_drive     ntfs-3g    ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/hda3   /media/e_drive     ntfs-3g    ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0

Read/Write Access: The above is for read-only access. In order to mount read/write, you must use the rw,defaults,umask=0000. Example:

/dev/hda1   /media/c_drive     ntfs-3g    rw,defaults,umask=0000 0 0

Done!

NOTE: SELinux Problems

Users of SELinux will fix Fedora blocks the automounting of ntfs partitions when using NTFS-3G. This is a Fedora/SELinux bug, not NTFS-3G. Some support can be found on the NTFS-3G support page.. However for now users can mount everything when they log in by running:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount -a

NOTE for FAT32 users

If you have FAT32 or FAT16 partitions, instead of ntfs-3g above you can use vfat to mount your partitions. No extra modules or downloads are required, this is built into the kernel. Just replace vfat for every place we have ntfs-3g when mounting and when editting /etc/fstab.

FAT32/FAT16 read and write is supported. If you wish to mount read/write, then use: '-rw' for Step 4. Mounting Partitions, and 'rw,defaults,umask=0000 0 0' for Step 5. Updating /etc/fstab.

NOTE for Livna NTFS Modules

The Livna NTFS modules are read-only access. I do not recommend using them due to the kernel dependancy. If you require them or NTFS-3G will not work then first setup the Livna repository. Then you can install them:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install kmod-ntfs

For all the above changes you should use ntfs instead of ntfs-3g.