NEVER85 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hey Linux gurus. Sorry for this noobish topic, but I can't seem to mount a newly created FAT32 partition within Ubuntu. I created the partition on my spare 200 GB hard drive using gparted, but I can't mount it. I tried using sudo mount /dev/hdd1 as that's what gparted said was the path of the partition, but it says it can't be found in /etc/fstab, so I opened that and indeed it is not there. I only created a FAT32 partition because I have to completely reformat my primary hard drive, which has Ubuntu on a 100 GB ext3 partition, and all my files on a 200 GB NTFS partition. I tried reinstalling Windows prior to installing Ubuntu but kept getting "A disk read error occurred, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart" messages, whether I tried installing XP or Vista. I plan to completely wipe this hard drive and reinstall Windows, and as far as I know, FAT32 is the only filesystem that both Windows and Linux can safely read and write to, so that's why I need to transfer 140 GB worth of files from my NTFS partition to the newly created FAT32 partition on my spare hard drive. I already looked around Ubuntu Forums but none of the solutions I've seen for mounting FAT32 have worked for me. I hope somebody can help. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyro Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 have you tried mounting by command line? what command have you used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEVER85 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 have you tried mounting by command line? what command have you used? I tried in Terminal, using sudo mount /dev/hdd1, which didn't work. I didn't try in the command line outside of the GUI (CTRL+ALT+F1) if that's what you mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foub Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Have you tried 'Storage Device Manager' in the Add/Remove section of Ubuntu's menu? It'll appear in the System/Adminstrator sub-menu after installing. BTW, Ubuntu 7.10 can now fully access (Read AND Write) NTFS partitions as well as it is already built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEVER85 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 I installed Storage Device Manager, but I can't do anything with that partition (labeled as hdd). It shows up, but nothing happens if I click on it. The primary hard drive (labeled as sda) I can change the settings on, but not hdd. Also, I'm not on Ubuntu 7.10 as I couldn't get that to even run due to issues with X. I tried installing Ubuntu 7.04 instead and for some reason that let me run off the CD so I could change the X server settings using sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. Would it help if I upgraded to 7.10 from within 7.04? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foub Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I installed Storage Device Manager, but I can't do anything with that partition (labeled as hdd). It shows up, but nothing happens if I click on it. The primary hard drive (labeled as sda) I can change the settings on, but not hdd. Did you try reading the help file? I never had trouble moving stuff from my Windows partition to my Linux Partition and I used NTFS for Windows and ext3 for Linux. Now I'm only using Linux and have completely dumped Windows. I just thought of something. When was the last time you defragged your Windows partition? Sometimes Linux won't mount a drive if it needs to be defragged, even if it is a non-Linux one. Also, I'm not on Ubuntu 7.10 as I couldn't get that to even run due to issues with X. I tried installing Ubuntu 7.04 instead and for some reason that let me run off the CD so I could change the X server settings using sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. Would it help if I upgraded to 7.10 from within 7.04? 7.10 IS a big improvement over 7.04. 7.04 only had reading NTFS partitions built in and you had to install a separate utility to write to it, now 7.10 has both built in. I usually just do a clean instead when I upgrade like this, but you can upgrade from within. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEVER85 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 That's just it, I don't have a Windows partition. Windows is nowhere on my system. There's just the NTFS partition which is spare files, and the FAT32 partition (which is on a 2nd hard drive) which I want to move the files to. I wanted to reinstall Windows but I keep getting disk read errors as a result of my primary hard drive being partitioned, which is why I want to transfer the files from the NTFS partition to the FAT32 one, so I can completely wipe the primary hard drive, install Windows clean on the entire drive, and still be able to access my files once they're on the 2nd hard drive which is the FAT32 one. Sorry if I'm not being as articulate as I need to be, it's kinda hard to explain the whole story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted March 13, 2008 MVC Share Posted March 13, 2008 how many disks you have If it's hdd Can you post the output of df Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borbus Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 To mount a filesystem that is not in fstab you have to provide a place for it to be mounted. First make a directory for it: sudo mkdir /mnt/storage Then you can mount it like this: sudo mount /dev/hdd1 /mnt/storage Or you can just put a line in your fstab to have it mounted automatically. I'm not sure which options you should use for a FAT32 partition, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foub Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 That's just it, I don't have a Windows partition. Windows is nowhere on my system. There's just the NTFS partition which is spare files, and the FAT32 partition (which is on a 2nd hard drive) which I want to move the files to. I wanted to reinstall Windows but I keep getting disk read errors as a result of my primary hard drive being partitioned, which is why I want to transfer the files from the NTFS partition to the FAT32 one, so I can completely wipe the primary hard drive, install Windows clean on the entire drive, and still be able to access my files once they're on the 2nd hard drive which is the FAT32 one. Sorry if I'm not being as articulate as I need to be, it's kinda hard to explain the whole story. If its got files on it and its NTFS than its a Windows Partition. Have you tried something like Bart Disk to boot up in a Windows Live Environment and then back up the files you want? Have you tried asking this over at the Windows sections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted March 13, 2008 Veteran Share Posted March 13, 2008 Might I ask a quick question? You said you created the partition from within gparted. Did you also create a filesystem on that partition? (Microsoft calls this 'formatting', in Linux it is mkfs) It sounds like you might have a partition defined, but no actual filesystem there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch00 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Borbus is right. It's pretty obvious what the problem is. He didn't specify where to mount the partition to, nor is it defined in fstab. Use the command Borbus gave, and it'll work. By the way, NTFS support on *nix is pretty solid these days. I'd say you're better off formatting as NTFS rather than Fat32, as if you're moving some large files (if you're doing a complete backup, which it looks like you are) you're bound to come across some files > 4gb. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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