Access NTFS Partitions on Fedora Core (5 and above)

This article is referenced here

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.

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.

1. Install NTFS Support

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

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

[user@localhost ~]$ 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.

[user@localhost ~]$ cd /media/
[user@localhost 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 NTFS-3G, we can mount the NTFS partition read-write, however it is recommended for novices as read-only. The following mounts and sets the permissions so all users can read the contents of each partition.

[user@localhost ~]$ sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[user@localhost ~]$ sudo mount /dev/hda2 /media/d_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[user@localhost ~]$ 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:

[user@localhost ~]$ 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)

[user@localhost ~]$ 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:

[user@localhost ~]$ 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.