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June 30, 2004

NTFS blocks Linux

When you're stuck and don't have enough space, it's a drag to be reminded that Microsoft does what it can to keep Linux developers out of the game. The NTFS module on my JDS install can only read, not write to, the Windows system partition, which has 4.5 GB of therefore unusable free space:

lethe:~/redhat # df -h 
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda8             8.4G  4.5G  3.9G  54% /
/dev/hda6             7.6M  6.5M  790K  90% /boot
/dev/hda1             7.5G  3.1G  4.5G  41% /windows/C
/dev/hda2             2.0G  914M  1.2G  45% /windows/D
shmfs                 489M     0  489M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda3              53G   27G   24G  53% /mnt/redhat
lethe:~/redhat # mkdir /windows/C/redhat
mkdir: cannot create directory `/windows/C/redhat': Read-only file system
lethe:~/redhat # 

I'm not going to mount it read-write yet, without Googling around to see what I'd be getting into. It's not that I care about the Windows stuff. I just don't want to lose my backup files now.

Maybe the new modules let you write safely. Maybe Sun can now get this straightened out given our new relationship with Microsoft. In any case, I don't want to go on a wild goose chase today.

I had it to be able to work on FrameMaker, for which we don't have a Linux version, only Windows and Solaris. Maybe I should try installing Solaris x86. Whenever I get out of this current mess.

Posted by Mark at June 30, 2004 06:52 AM