When using the Yast partitioner to partition a USB stick, I noticed there was no option for the ntfs format, but has the fat option. Is this a missing functionality/lib or by design? I have all of the ntfs stuff installed. I used to use gparted for this, but decided to make my self use the Yast tools. I like to keep them in ntfs format to get around the 4GB data transfer limit and have them readable by Linux and Windows.
In openSUSE 11.2 you can mount and edit an existing NTFS partition, but you can not create one anew. I just switch to Windows and do the deed when required and then switch back. It is not like you are formatting NTFS partitions everyday.
Thank You,
That’s not it. Even with an unpartitioned drive, the Yast partitioner doesn’t include a ntfs option. Can anyone confirm this?
What do you mean?
“That’s not it. Even with an unpartitioned drive, the Yast partitioner doesn’t include a ntfs option. Can anyone confirm this?”
You can not format or create a NTFS partition with the YaST partitioner. Its not there, you can’t find it. You can edit a NTFS partition, resize or mount as required, but just not create one from scratch. What do you want to do and can’t you find a Windows machine to do it on? I am just trying to help and I did not program what the YaST partitioner can do.
Thank You,
It is not there. By design I guess.
I use Parted Magic
No matter which distro I’m using, Gparted gets installed as part of my distro setup routine because of things like the NTFS issue.
IMO Gparted is also the most intuitive partitioner out there.
Le 26/04/2010 04:56, caf4926 a écrit :
>
> It is not there. By design I guess.
not completely true. When you open a already NTFS partitionned
partition, you have the option to partition it again in NTFS (in the
list NTFS is just above rieserfs). However, I can’t test if it’s
really formatted, I have data on it 
notice also that I created a ntfs partition with mkfs.ntfs and filled
it with data, but couldn’t open it with windows (not tested more)
jdd
Le 26/04/2010 11:46, markcynt a écrit :
>
> No matter which distro I’m using, Gparted gets installed as part of my
> distro setup routine because of things like the NTFS issue.
>
> IMO Gparted is also the most intuitive partitioner out there.
>
>
but don’t works in some circonstances :-(. Fdisk (util-linux fdisk)
works always
jdd
Sorry, I miss read your first post. I was wanting to know if the Yast partitioner had the capability, or if it was just my setup. You actually did answer my question. I read the email reply very early this morning, and just now sat down to read it again. I’ll just keep using gparted. I will try to find out on the mailing list as to why this isn’t an option. Thanks for the info.
No problem 67GTA, I understand about how early morning and late night computer work can go. It looks like the consensus is to use Gparted which you can add to your installation in SuSE from the packman or contrib repositories and is associated with GNOME. You can get the LiveCD from the following Link:
GParted LiveCD - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
I have used Gparted before, but a couple of times I still got an error message from the openSUSE installation about some problem with the NTFS partition, but not all of the time. Since I do have dual boot computers, I just start Windows and let it do its thing and all is happy. Good luck in what ever you need to do.
Thank You,
The problem is most likely Patents. ie a legal rather then a technical problem. gparted is a non-commercial distro and not worth MS’s time. I’m sure MS would love to jump on Novell however.
NTFS is proprietary M$ format as is their NT4 NFS which it replaced. During the install process, the partitioner can create a blank partition and mark it as type ntfs but it does not format it that way. You must still go into a Valid Windows machine to physically create the NTFS partition.
YAST- partitioner only deals with mounting / unmounting NTFS that are already existing. It can try to make FAT32 but the rule of thumb is to use Winblows to actually create the partition then freely use Linux to read/write to it.
Before you are tempted to complain , openSUSE will not break the Law for you by including copyrighted & proprietary things. It is presumed that if you are using NTFS that you have a legal copy which then entitles you to use NTFS.
Le 27/04/2010 03:26, gogalthorp a écrit :
>
> The problem is most likely Patents. ie a legal rather then a technical
> problem. gparted is a non-commercial distro and not worth MS’s time. I’m
> sure MS would love to jump on Novell however.
>
>
what does this mean?
http://linux.die.net/man/8/mkfs.ntfs
works. However my only test end wrong 
- but it was on usb key, may
be too small to fit ntfs
jdd
Le 27/04/2010 09:16, jdd a écrit :
> Le 27/04/2010 03:26, gogalthorp a écrit :
>>
>> The problem is most likely Patents. ie a legal rather then a technical
>> problem. gparted is a non-commercial distro and not worth MS’s time. I’m
>> sure MS would love to jump on Novell however.
>>
>>
> what does this mean?
>
> http://linux.die.net/man/8/mkfs.ntfs
>
> works. However my only test end wrong - but it was on usb key, may
> be too small to fit ntfs
>
> jdd
“mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdc1
Cluster size has been automatically set to 4096 bytes.
Initializing device with zeroes: 100% - Done.
Creating NTFS volume structures.
mkntfs completed successfully. Have a nice day.”
however, this USB key (in fact 4Gb micro sd in an usb device) don’t
works with ntfs: impossible to mount it neiteher in Linux nor in windows.
to format to ntfs with windows, one have to change the usb device
property (in windows XP) to "speed (http://www.ntfs.com/quest22.htm)
to be able to format to ntfs the usb device.
But it’s impossible to format the key reliably on openSUSE, neither
with mkfsntfs nor with gparted (tha uses ‘mkntfs -Q -v -L “”
/dev/sdc1’). You can format, but the result is not readable.
sorry
jdd
mkntfs is an attempt to make it possible to create an ntfs filesystem without infringing on copyrights, patents, and proprietary works, but it is not fully functional yet. It allows you to set different cluster sizes, sector sizes, & heads
Windows only supports a cluster size of 4096bytes on drives below 32TB, any other value will prevent windows from using the drive.
By current defaults the sector size is 512bytes
Heads must be 63 when dealing with drives > 4GB
Le 27/04/2010 13:36, techwiz03 a écrit :
> Windows only supports a cluster size of 4096bytes on drives below 32TB,
it’s the value used
> any other value will prevent windows from using the drive.
> By current defaults the sector size is 512bytes
> Heads must be 63 when dealing with drives > 4GB
>
>
we have to wait mkfsntfs to be better working
jdd