Okay - You have loaded linux along with MS Windows
as a dual boot system and and now you wish to access al those MP3
files on the MS Windows partions. Perhaps the installer neglected to
do this automatically and if it did do it you have no idea of how to
use it. This PET is how to get access to all those files.
1.
Look at the file
/etc/fstab. This file is responsbile for
automating the mounting of different files systems, it handles file
systems on the local hard dirves and networked filesystems. Here is
an example:
Code:
/dev/hdb1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/hda5
/backup ext3 defaults 1 2 /dev/hda1 /c vfat
noauto,defaults 0 0 none /dev/pts devpts
gid=5,mode=620 0 0 /dev/hdb3 /home ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdb4 /mp3s ext3 defaults 1 2 none /proc
proc defaults 0 0 none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb2 /usr/local ext3 defaults 1 2 /dev/hda6
swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660
noauto,owner,kudzu,ro,user 0 0 /dev/cdrom1
/mnt/cdrom1 iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro,user 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu,user 0
0 sparches:/tmp /net/stmp nfs rw,hard,intr,noauto 0
0 pookie:/tmp /net/tmp nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0
//sparches/c /net/sparches smbfs
username=pbharris,password=thisisabadpassword,noauto 0 0
| |
Now
this has networked drives from other linux machines and a SMB share
(i.e. a MS Windows network shared drive) which it can mount. It also
has the ability to mount an MS Windows FAT32 (also know as vfat)
based drive. It is mounted at boot time and can be unmounted with
the command
umount /c and remounted with the command
mount
/c. The
/etc/fstab file knows this is a FAT32 drive and
mounts it (i.e. makes it accessible) accordingly. If there is no
entry for
vfat or
ntfs then you will need to create
one, if there is and
vfat or
ntfs entry in the
3rd
column then it should be as simple as typing
mount
/<mountpoint> where mount point is the directory listed in
the
2nd column next to the line which had the entry for
vfat or
ntfs. An example of this is seen above.
2. If you don't have an entry for vfat or ntfs then you can
create one or simply mount the partition. You need to know what
paritition the vfat or ntfs file system is on, you should know this
from when you set up you hard drive(s). nine times out of ten this
will be /dev/hda1, the first partition on the master hardrive
connected to the primary hard drive controller. The rest of this PET
will assume it is there.
3. Create a mount point, i.e. an
empty directory which will be the point at what which files can be
accessed. Lets call this
dos. to do this open a terminal and
type
mkdir /dos.
4. Edit the file
/etc/fstab
and add a line which looks like this:
For a Fat32 partition:
Code:
/dev/hda1 /dos vfat noauto,defaults 0 0
| |
And
for a ntfs partition:
Code:
/dev/hda1 /dos ntfs noauto,defaults 0 0
| |
Mounting
a MS Windows NT/2000/XP drive so that all users can access it.
If you wish for all users to be able access the NT
partion add the
umask and
group id to the fstab entry
as shown in the example below.
Code:
/dev/hda1 /dos ntfs
defaults,user,ro,umask=002,gid=100 0 0
| |
Save
the file and type
mount /dos. You should now be done, you can
browse to this directory with you favorite file manager. In this
example the MS Windows partition is not mounted automatcally, to
have it get mounted automatically at bootup remote the
noauto
word.
A note on ntfs filesystems:
You may not have
support for NTFS in your kernel, if this is the case, check out kernel
compiling and this artilcle.
http://www.getlinuxonline.com/omp/distro/RedHat/ompntfs.htm
Also note, NTFS support under linux is
*READONLY*.
Good Luck.