Comments on: Communicating With the Other Half: NTFS Support in Linux http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/ Open Source, Open Standards Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:50:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: fjgaude http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5224 fjgaude Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5224 Gosh, this is pretty old stuff. Gosh, this is pretty old stuff.

]]> By: cuetzpallin http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5225 cuetzpallin Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5225 Probably, but it is very interesting and very important for new users.<br /> <br /> Good article Probably, but it is very interesting and very important for new users.

Good article

]]> By: shina01 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5226 shina01 Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5226 All news is good news for newbies and for oldies with memory loss. Yes, this is old stuff, but id forgotten it and i suddenly needed it. Thanks, Linux-Mag people! All news is good news for newbies and for oldies with memory loss. Yes, this is old stuff, but id forgotten it and i suddenly needed it. Thanks, Linux-Mag people!

]]> By: sm411 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5227 sm411 Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5227 Great. No can i use a NTFS harddrive on both win and linux. Great. No can i use a NTFS harddrive on both win and linux.

]]> By: nucleartower http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5228 nucleartower Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5228 NTFS saved me a lot of trouble after I decided to completely stop using windows (I have 600gigs of used space on NTFS and dreaded conversion). All useful information, and I never knew about the ntfs tools like ntfscat, ntfsundelete, etc. Good article. Thanks! NTFS saved me a lot of trouble after I decided to completely stop using windows (I have 600gigs of used space on NTFS and dreaded conversion). All useful information, and I never knew about the ntfs tools like ntfscat, ntfsundelete, etc. Good article. Thanks!

]]> By: yesman http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5229 yesman Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5229 great time-less article ... great time-less article …

]]> By: macruzq http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5230 macruzq Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5230 This column is a MUST! Essential information is provided for those who have a multiboot computer. This column is a MUST! Essential information is provided for those who have a multiboot computer.

]]> By: graemeharrison http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5231 graemeharrison Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/5523/#comment-5231 Linux is getting far better at handling all sorts of media... BUT I suggest that with plain ordinary desktop Ubuntu etc (ie the solution for the masses not the sysadmins), we need to have it simpler and more robust.<br /> <br /> Presently, on dual boot, or USB drives moved between systems, if the WinXP session which last accessed your NTFS drive did not shut down properly, it left a flag to indicated 'NTFS not closed'. Then when Ubuntu etc uses NTFS-3g to open those drives, it simply fails reporting that you do not have the rights to open, or that the NTFS was flagged as 'in use'. But let's remember that these are almost all single user drives, so it is not as if something else is currently accessing the drive, so the distro interface should prompt the user:<br /> "Do you want to force an OPEN of the NTFS drive (Y/N)?" and wait for some time (eg 30secs) before moving on.<br /> This would be far friendlier way of handling the situation. Giving advice that you can edit FSTAB etc is NOT the same. You've just migrated to a nice GUI easy-to-install OS and with the first glitch, it directs you to edit a critical file with a complex command adding a force option etc in what looks like hieroglyphics with the example parameters (eg 'sda') not being the same as yours. Far better to trap this error when it occurs (and it does occur) and optionally do the force at boot. Linux is getting far better at handling all sorts of media… BUT I suggest that with plain ordinary desktop Ubuntu etc (ie the solution for the masses not the sysadmins), we need to have it simpler and more robust.

Presently, on dual boot, or USB drives moved between systems, if the WinXP session which last accessed your NTFS drive did not shut down properly, it left a flag to indicated ‘NTFS not closed’. Then when Ubuntu etc uses NTFS-3g to open those drives, it simply fails reporting that you do not have the rights to open, or that the NTFS was flagged as ‘in use’. But let’s remember that these are almost all single user drives, so it is not as if something else is currently accessing the drive, so the distro interface should prompt the user:
“Do you want to force an OPEN of the NTFS drive (Y/N)?” and wait for some time (eg 30secs) before moving on.
This would be far friendlier way of handling the situation. Giving advice that you can edit FSTAB etc is NOT the same. You’ve just migrated to a nice GUI easy-to-install OS and with the first glitch, it directs you to edit a critical file with a complex command adding a force option etc in what looks like hieroglyphics with the example parameters (eg ‘sda’) not being the same as yours. Far better to trap this error when it occurs (and it does occur) and optionally do the force at boot.

]]>