Need help mounting a Windows hard drive in Linux
 

First, dhamsaic, I tried what you posted for me in the New Uber Box thread...sadly, it didn't work for me.
Ok, I'm running Debian 2.2r4 (Potato) and the lastest 2.2 kernel. I compiled vfat support into the kernel, mount is at the standard Potato level.

Here's my fstab. Sorry about the formatting here.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/hda1 /windows vfat defaults,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdb2 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hdb1 none swap sw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy auto defaults,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noauto 0 0
So, when I go to mount /dev/hda1 (or what dhamsaic suggested) I get the following error:
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1, or too many mounted file systems.

Based on my fstab, I doubt I have too many mounted file systems. I doubt I have the wrong fs type or a bad option. I'm willing to check if I have a superblock, but don't believe I do. I believe I checked once before and it was ok. Let me know what the command is and I will check it again.

I hope someone might be able to help me.

Thanks!

some kind of ntfs misread type of hting mabye?
stab in the dark

I used to get that error. When I get home I'll look for docs on it and what I did to fix it. Needless to say, I don't get that error any more :) but it wasn't that I had too many devices mounted. Though you could try unmounting something (like the cdrom) and then try mounting the hard drive.

also, /windows does exist, right?

what version of windows are you running?

Oops, sorry. I'm running Windows 98, FAT 32 filesystem. /windows does exist. I'll try unmounting my cd-rom and mounting the hard drive and let you know what happens.

<pre>(dave@syphon)(pts/5):~$ cat /etc/fstab
/dev/hdb6 / ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda1 /dave ext2 defaults
/dev/hdb1 /boot ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,ro 0 0
/dev/hdb5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy ext2 noauto,owner 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0
/dev/hdc1 /mnt/seagate vfat user

(dave@syphon)(pts/5):~$</pre>

that's mine. i'm not sure why i tabbed over that last one an extra spot, but i did :) i did a lot of this one by hand, and it seems to work. try what i've done there for my home directory. add that line to fstab, but replace /dave with /windows... and ext2 with vfat, obviously... it *should* work...

The weirdness continues...

My default setup does not have much mounted. Just /dev/hdb2 and proc. I really don't want to go unmounting any of those. :)

I tried using your /dev/hda1 line, switching /dave with /windows and ext2 with vfat, but I still get the same error message. I tried retyping the line different ways (just in case) but still no luck.

Next I decided to try to use the -v switch when mounting to see if I could get any useful information, but only got the same old error message. Next I used both -v and -f and I get the message /dev/hda1 on /windows type vfat (rw)

mount -t vfat gives me that same message. When I umount /dev/hda1 I get that /dev/hda1 is not found and that /windows is not mounted. Doing mount -t vfat from here shows nothing. And yes, /dev/hda1 is detected when Linux boots up.

If nothing else, it looks like I can conclude that the problem is happening during the system call (based on the documentation for -f).

Any other suggestions? I'd rather not make another windows partition, but would leave that as a last resort.

Thanks!

Just for grins, what does

ls /dev/hd*

show?

Oh, and in case you'd like to see /etc/fstab from a system with a working, mounted Windows partition, here's the one from my lifepartner's machine I just sshed over to:
<code>
LABEL=/ / ext2 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/hdd6 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/drivec vfat defaults 0 0
none /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0
</code>

I wonder if there's some arcane reason why the mount point for a FAT can't be in the file system root?

I don't think that's the case. I know you can symlink - I have all my mounts in /mnt just for ease of use. But I have them all symlink'd - /cdrom, /oldmp3, etc.

Anyway, he definitely should try mounting it under /mnt/windows just to make sure - if that works, wahoo! If not... well, another thing ruled out.

I hope I don't need to ask if there are any *native* files in /windows. I don't think you can put files in a directory that's serving as a mount point, can you?

Nope. Not theoretically, anyway. Never tried it, but you shouldn't be able to. But yeah - Sperlock, did you fudge it and put a file in there?

Re: ls /dev/hd* - a large number of directories from /hda to /hdh20 (yes, hda1 is there).

Re: /mnt/windows - nope, didn't work

There are no files in /windows.

Sperlock -

Do me a favor. Put the line in fstab for windows at the END of the file. It could be that it's trying to mount in to a mount point that doesn't exist yet.

Also - if that doesn't work, set up a shell account for me on your machine and I *will* fix the problem. I'll probably need root, so make it a dummy password that you can change later. Email me and we'll set it up - dave | gaveup | org. first pipe@, second is a dot. I will, of course, keep a log of everything that I do so that you can go over it and see that I did nothing. And I'll explain what I did to fix it and why it worked.

that has to be the msot obscure way i've ever seen am e-mail put. most people stop as xx@xxx.IHATESPAM.xxx

heh. i did a little research on this. allow me to present my findings.

there is software that scours the web for email addresses.

i put one on slashdot as "fscked@NOSPAM.md.prestige.net" for an address of... well, @md.prestige.net. Guess what?

Spammed. Every day I get spam there.

Either a human grabbed it, or their scouring software is getting smarter.

If it's the former, there's not much we can do about it. If it's the latter, then the more obscure, the better. they won't recognize pipes, so my email addy is safe :)