# Why is my ntfs hard drive is read only?

## doro1211

I have enabled ntfs write support in the kernel (2.6.7).  However, I cannot write to my ntfs partition, not even with root.  The mount directory is chmod 777.  What else could be causing this?

My /etc/fstab is as follows:

/dev/hda1               /windowsc       ntfs    noatime,umask=000       0 0

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## monkey89

The NTFS write support built into the kernel is the safe write support.  If you read the help section for it in "make menuconfig", it says that you can only overwrite existing files with files of the same exact size.  There is no creation of anything.

-Monkey

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## Deathwing00

Moved from Installing Gentoo.

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## doro1211

So is there no way to actually have full write support in ntfs?

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## Deathwing00

 *doro1211 wrote:*   

> So is there no way to actually have full write support in ntfs?

 

Ask microsoft...

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## giuseppe

Hi!

I don't know if this work, but you could try:

http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

Bye.

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## bungernut

put gid and uid into your fstab. I got root to write no problem and gave up and reformatted it to fat to make my life easier, still i am proof that it can be done.

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## JudgeNik

Isn't there a max. size limit on the FAT filesystem though?

What FS is writable with Windows and Linux on a 200GB drive?

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## veezi

Hi ..

To my knowledge only vfat is common between windows and linux, and max partition size is 4GB (I might be wrong though!).

Back to NTFS, the only reliable read/write driver for linux that I know of is at http://www.ntfs-linux.com/, but it's not free!

Another option is to use the current write mechanism in the ntfs driver. Since it can only modify a file (keeping sam size) I find it usefull to create filesystem images on NTFS partitions and mount them on loop devices under linux. Actually, this was the exact use scenario that ntfs driver developers had in mind when enabling the write option!

Cheers,

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## idunno246

 *Quote:*   

> To my knowledge only vfat is common between windows and linux, and max partition size is 4GB (I might be wrong though!).
> 
> 

 

i have a 150gb fat partition

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## guitardan311

i am trying to do this also, but only with my music folder really, so if i set up a partition for my music what filesystem should i use (that can read/write in windows and gentoo)? it will probibly be between 12Gb - 20Gb.

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## bungernut

i believe both fat32 and ntfs are write in both and both are limited in the terabyte of pentabite range, should be no prob

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## jdong

It seems like mass confusion here.

THE SCOOP ON NTFS WRITE:

The NTFS drivers built into the kernel support LIMITED WRITING. You must NOT change the size of files written, nor can you create new files or mess with files <500bytes. This driver is only useful for loopback Linux distros, like TopologiLinux.

The captive NTFS drivers linked in a previous post support FULL READ WRITE to NTFS. It works by using WINE and REACTOS to emulate Windows's ntfs.sys driver. I've used it quite a bit; it's safe, EXCEPT for writing to the root folder (where it may bump the NTLDR off the primary allocation table. DONT WRITE TO THE ROOT FOLDER OF A BOOTABLE NTFS PARTITION!!!!!!!)

There's a few downsides to captive NTFS:

(1) You're using bits of Windows from Linux -- you need to provide Captive with these files. I'm no lawyer, so I won't even try to explain the legal terms of doing this. Basically, you need to have a licensed copy of WinNT, 2k , or XP to do this.

(2) You're emulating the Windows API (WINE) and cloning Windows (ReactOS). Needless to say, Captive is VERY VERY slow -- it's not for copying large files (100MB takes about 10-20minutes to transfer).

(3) The above warning about writing to the root folder. I've trashed two separate installs of XP doing it. Just innocent editing of boot.ini, and Captive bumps NTLDR off to the secondary allocation table. You get the dreaded NTLDR NOT FOUND error booting Windows, and there's NO METHOD of recovery except a reformat of the volume. This kind of bug really worries me about what else Captive could do to a drive.

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## veezi

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  *Quote:*   
> 
> To my knowledge only vfat is common between windows and linux, and max partition size is 4GB (I might be wrong though!). 
> ...

 

Ok .. I was wrong about the size. 4GB is the max limit for FAT not FAT32. 

idunno246,

How did you create 150GB fat partition??!! My windows xp allows me max 4GB for FAT partitions and max 32GB for FAT32 partitions, anything higher can only be NTFS!  :Rolling Eyes: 

Are you using a special tool?? 

Cheers,

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## idunno246

i sized my partitions using fdisk, and then formatted in windows, cant remember how, maybe partition magic.  my windows dir is still ntfs though.

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## Wolfpack98

 *vzeidat wrote:*   

> 
> 
> idunno246,
> 
> How did you create 150GB fat partition??!! My windows xp allows me max 4GB for FAT partitions and max 32GB for FAT32 partitions, anything higher can only be NTFS! 
> ...

 

Huh.  weird.

FAT32 has an upper limit well past 32GB.. I think we've formatted Windows 2000/Windows XP systems here at work with 40 to 60 G Drives in them...

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## nightm4re

just a thought.. you could go the other way, make an ext2/3 file system, and use a program in windows to access it.  I'm not sure how that works though.  Here is the link:

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm

could be more useful than dealing with ntfs/fat... idunno though.  haven't tried yet.

*EDIT*

whoops, just found out it's read only.  nevermind!  but I know i saw a similar project somewhere else...

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## cwt137

 *vzeidat wrote:*   

>  *Quote:*   
> 
>  *Quote:*   
> 
> To my knowledge only vfat is common between windows and linux, and max partition size is 4GB (I might be wrong though!). 
> ...

 

I think the max file size on a fat fs is 4gb without performing some tricks. I forget what the max partiton size is but it is less than 60gb because I have a 60gb drive and xp installer wouldn't let me allocate the whole drive for one fat32 partition.

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## veezi

Here's a comparison of FAT, FAT32, and NTFS from MS Docs:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> NTFS: Recommended minimum volume size is approximately 10 megabytes (MB). Volumes much larger than 2 terabytes (TB) are possible. Cannot be used on floppy disks. File size limited only by size of volume. 
> 
> FAT: Volumes from floppy disk size up to 4 gigabytes (GB). Does not support domains. Maximum file size is 2 GB.
> ...

 

So, I guess the 32GB limitation is only when creating it through Windows XP. 

The suggestion to use ext2/3 and find a driver for windows, in my opinion, isn't a good one. I've tried that and couldn't find any decent driver that's mature and easy to use.

So, I think your best bet is to go with FAT32. Anyone know a way to create one that's >32GB??  :Rolling Eyes: 

Cheers,

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## Maffuster

Get a win98 bootdisk (www.bootdisk.com)

Fdisk the drive, and set up a partition as big as you want.

then format.

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## freelight

 *giuseppe wrote:*   

> Hi!
> 
> I don't know if this work, but you could try:
> 
> http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/
> ...

 

I can vouch for this. The captive-ntfs driver works flawlessly (since it uses Microsoft's own ntfs.sys file), and is very much free (assuming you already own a copy of Windows to get the ntfs.sys file from).

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## jdong

 *vzeidat wrote:*   

> 
> 
> So, I think your best bet is to go with FAT32. Anyone know a way to create one that's >32GB?? 
> 
> Cheers,

 

Come on, LINUX!!!

mkfs.vfat  -F 32 /dev/hda10

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## revertex

i'm not have time enough to install captive in my box, but works perfect, at least with knoppix.

i can read write ntfs partitions with the captive drives shipped with knoppix, i've used it to clean some xp box infected by viruses an work flawlessly.

the funny thing is that xp box are unbootable, and only using linux i can repair it.

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## drescherjm

 *Quote:*   

> So, I guess the 32GB limitation is only when creating it through Windows XP. 

 

Yes, exactly. If you create a larger fat32 partition (with some other tool, PQMagic, fdisk, ...) win2k+ will use it without any problems. The reason for the limitation is that MSFT wants to force everyone to use NTFS.

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## veezi

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  *Quote:*   
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> vzeidat wrote: 
> ...

 

I could swear I checked if that command exists before posting that note  :Embarassed:   :Embarassed:   :Embarassed: 

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## hydroxides

 *cwt137 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> I think the max file size on a fat fs is 4gb without performing some tricks. I forget what the max partiton size is but it is less than 60gb because I have a 60gb drive and xp installer wouldn't let me allocate the whole drive for one fat32 partition.

 

Hmm, maybe that was specific to the edition of XP you were using. Even so, the last off the shelf PC I bought came with a 80Gig FAT32 partition and that was XP Home. So it's certainly possible to use 60Gb+ FAT32 partitions.

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## veezi

 *Quote:*   

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> ...

 

Ok .. I now know what's seriously wrong with me  :Very Happy:  ! I didn't emerge sys-fs/dosfstools. That's why I didn't have mkfs.vfat !!   :Rolling Eyes: 

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