How do I get my linux to see my Windows?
Windows is installed on another separate hard drive with NTFS.

I have linux on a separate hard drive but created a windows partition in the mandrake install setup. However, when I try to format that hard drive in Windows, it only gives me the option to do NTFS.

Any ides?

is the ntfs system you're trying to view the first hard drive or on the second hard drive?

to mount an ntfs system you would first create a mount point in /mnt

'mkdir /mnt/windows'

then mount the hard drive to that point

'mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows' ## if its on the first hard drive

'mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows' ## if its on the second hard drive

So I take it that Linux can read both hard drives (linux and windows) with no problem? For some reason I thought that one had to be FAT32 or something. I'll give this mounting a try.

the only problem has with windows drives is this
if a drive is fat16/32 then linux can read and write to it without issue

if a drive is ntfs then linux can read but cannot write to it.

Hmm...
This is kind of complicated to explain...

My windows XP hard drive is NTFS
My linux hard drive is split 60 GB/60 GB (one half being Linux devoted, the other half being Windows devoted)

I tried formatting the hard drive to FAT but in Windows XP, it only gives me the option of NTFS.
My question is: How can I format the windows partition on the linux hard drive ot be FAT32? And if I do that, will Windows XP still be able to recognize the FAT32 hard drive?

nevermind as it turns out that Windows was already there. I just didn't have an icon for it on the desktop.
But if I type in /mnt/windows/ in the konqueror browser, I can view my windows file.
One problem I have though is the slowness of reading the /mnt directory. When I click on it, Mandrake does something for like 5 minutes and reads my CD drives and stuff and then it opens. But it takes forever! Is there any way to speed up this process?

I'm not sure but Mandrake (and redhat) provide a 'supermount' server such that when you try to open say /mnt/cdrom it will automatically try to mount the cd drive. I'm afraid I'm not a redhat / mandrake guy so I don't really know how to speed this up / turn it off.

however as for formatting your 60 Gig windows partition you can use mkfs.

I think the command is something like 'mkfs -type vfat'
but don't quote me on that ... check out mkfs' man page.

jpbarto

STOP!!

Do you want to remove WINDOWS?????

No. I want to be able to use Linux and Windows together.

I want to be able to read/write window files in Linux.

So basically I have 60 GB used for linux and the other half of the hard drive (60 GB) is still unformatted and empty. What should I do with that empty other half to make it work for both linux and windows?

You want to make XP run on FAT32? Without a reinstall? You need Acronis. There may be others, but I know that it will make a self-booting image restore Fat32 CD from NTFS; Then, you just restore it--which will reinstall XP with the Fat32 file system with everything intact. Otherwise you will have to reinstall and choose FAT32, then install all of the updates and patches.

If you want you windows partitions mounted at boot-up make sure that you have the NTFS modules (they are there for RH9), make the directories for them in /mnt and add entries to /etc/fstab. Or you can make the directory in /mnt and add a short-cut on the desktop which contains a script which mounts it on command--which it sounds like you have already.

If you created a windows partition using a linux partition editor for use as another windows drive (example D:\).
1) If is a primary partition in a drive larger than 8G, it should be of type windows95 vfat32 LBA.
2) If the windows partition is going to be a logical partition. Check to make sure that the extended partition is detected as a windows 95 vfat32 LBA type. Make it the first logical drive.
3) Read the entire man page on the partition program, there should be something about using dd if=/dev/zero something something something.
IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WRITTEN ABOVE, read a whole bunch of docs.

Get RIP Recovery Is Possible. You need this. I MEAN IT.

For a newbie, just go to the administator tools menu, pick disk management, delete the partition and recreate it. Then format it choosing FAT32.

The drive device names are:

Primary IDE/IDE-0: Master=/dev/hda, Slave=/dev/hdb.
The first partition on IDE-0--Master=/dev/hda1
The first partition on IDE-0--Slave=/dev/hdb1
If you have a CD-rom as the second device/Slave=/dev/hdb

Secondary IDE/IDE-1 Master=/dev/hdc Slave=/dev/hdd.

Don't take peoples answers as Gospel the answer may be specific to their machine.

Sorry, I was typing while you responded.

NTFS support of writing files in linux is considered "not ready for prime time.

There is no other way but Acronis--that I know of--that will copy the MBR, then the specific boot files for XP (which are not NTFS), then do a file-by-file copy of the Windows partition translated on the fly to a windows FAT32 filesystem. For all I know, that may not be supported by them anymore either.

I re-read your post, My BAD.

Create all of the extra partitions with the Administration tools in XP.

Anything you want available to both linux and XP need to be created and formatted (the window gives you a choice unless you already made extended/logical drives using linux) in FAT32. Linux can safely write, read, and repair FAT32.