Can't open windows hard drive

English Hardware
#1

Hi, I just installed SUSE 11.1 and I wanted to open my windows HD. When I open up My Computer, I can see my other drives there, and I can open them, but I can’t open the one that has Vista installed on it. I thought it was a permission problem so I logged in as root and I still couldnt get it. Do I have to set permissions or share something from vista before I can access it in SUSE? Thanks. :sarcastic:

#2

Probably you need to edit /etc/fstab
FSTAB - Editing Manually - openSUSE Forums

HowTo Mount NTFS Filesystem Partition Read Write Access in openSUSE 10, 11

#3

If you can’t figure it - give us some detail and the result of

cat /etc/fstab
#4

Here is my FSTAB:

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22A8B0_WD-WCASY2676177-part5 swap     swap       defaults              0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22A8B0_WD-WCASY2676177-part6 /     ext3       acl,user_xattr        1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22A8B0_WD-WCASY2676177-part7 /home     ext3       acl,user_xattr        1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22A8B0_WD-WCASY2676177-part1 /windows/C     ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22YFA0_WD-WCAS86865779-part1 /windows/D     ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0

It doesnt make sense because the Windows/C drive settings are exactly like the Windows/D drive. Only I can’t open the D drive, only the C.

O_o

#5

If it’s these two
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22A8B0_WD-WCASY2676177-part1 /windows/C ntfs-3g users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22YFA0_WD-WCAS86865779-part1 /windows/D ntfs-3g users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0

Change to

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22A8B0_WD-WCASY2676177-part1 /windows/C ntfs-3g defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAJS-22YFA0_WD-WCAS86865779-part1 /windows/D ntfs-3g defaults 0 0

Reboot

#6

Did that, still nothing.

I checked to make sure the settings stuck. I also checked /media/Windows D. Its a blank folder.

I just booted up to vista so I know the files are still here. Any other suggestions?

#7

This problem is often related to an unplanned shutdown of the NTFS drives. You probably need to do one of the following:
reboot into windows and alllow it to run chkdsk or run it yourself
or add the option “force” into the mount command in fstab so it looks like this:

......etc etc..........part1 /windows/C ntfs-3g defaults,force 0 0

For more on resetting the so-called “dirty” bit see this tutorial:
HowTo Mount NTFS Filesystem Partition Read Write Access in openSUSE 10, 11
in particular look at the sections: The Force Option and Failed Mounts – Resetting the “dirty” bit

#8

Booting in to windows and doing the check seemed to work. Should I add the “force” in the file just in case it happens again? Or will it be okay now do you think?

Thanks for the help Swerdna, you’re as always a valuble asset.

#9

I would leave it out – it’s better to use microsoft’s method for clearing the “dirty” bit, and the “force” parameter as a last resort. IIRC the force parameter will not be available in the ntfs-3g driver that comes in openSUSE 11.2 because it has been replaced by something else (can’t remember what)

Thanks for the help Swerdna, you’re as always a valuble asset.
It’s my pleasure – and thanks for the compliment.