Make a mount point & auto mount Windows partitions

[belovedmonster]

This is the method I use to be able to auto mount my windows partitions, no command line skills needed.

1. Open Synaptic Package Manager
2. Search for 'NTFS Config'
3. Right Click on it and select "Mark for Installation. Then click the Apply icon on the toolbar to do this.
4. Now run the newly installed NTFS Config, it is found under Administration on the Mint ("Start") menu.
5. It should show any partitions available to mount. eg. /dev/sda1
6. Tick the drive and then click where it wants you to give it a name and call it 'Windows' or something
7. When asked, click the 'enable write support' so you can write files to the other partition as well as load them.

Bobs your uncle, now everytime you boot up your computer the windows partition should be mounted and ready to use. (If you ever need to unmount the partition you will need to have root permissions, just right clicking on the drive and clicking unmount won't work, but we will assume you don't want to unmount it for now.)

If for whatever reason the Windows partition doesn't show up when you load NTFS Config (No /dev/sda1 type thing shows up) then the easiest solution is just to restart your computer and try it again. (There is probably a less intrusive way to make the partition show up rather than having to restart the whole computer, but restarting has fixed it for me in the past that's what I'm suggesting. )

If you are confused, or need screenshots here is a tutorial for Ubuntu which covers much the same information.

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/widows-ntfs-p ... eisty.html

[Husse]

ever need to unmount the partition you need to be logged in as root.

Not logged in I hope - gksu should be enough - or?
I've not used NTFS Config - from the start I preferred the command line method - I actually used the command line quite a bit in XP too

[belovedmonster]

I've changed the wording about the root thing. I never know what the proper terminology is when it comes to that stuff. You can tell I'm not a command line sorta person. Which is why I wrote this guide. I was sick of seeing people post a bunch of code when ever a newbie wanted to do any partition mounting. These days there is a GUI app for just about everything you can imagine, no command stuff should ever be needed.

[Husse]

no command stuff should ever be needed.

I disagree - at times the terminal is a very powerful tool and the only one
but
there should be a GUI tool as far as possible and the non existence of that for mounting disks is embarrassing
Can you use this to mount other kinds of partitions too?

[belovedmonster]

Just NTFS ones.

[ManicD]

hi sounds just what i need but can't find it any thoughts

[ManicD]

sorry found it is there anything of the like for mounting network drives?

cheers md

[n0body_special]

very helpful thanks.

It is a problem though, that you have to be root to unmount the drives. It's a part of linux i never really liked, this obsession about being root in order to mount / unmount. Mounting / unmounting is one of the most common things to do in everyday's work, it shouldnt be that way.

My question is: is there a way to bypass this problem? Some setting that i can edit maybe? I would like to always be considered as root when mounting / unmounting devices. Any help?

[Husse]

this is mainly for internal disks and they are mounted from fstab which is a file in /etc
At least I guess that it ends up there with ntfs-config
Unmounting a disk mounted this way is something that never really should be done
An USB disk is mounted in user land so no need to be root

[rodrigo666]

Doesn't Pysdm does it all with a easy gui?

In a terminal:

sudo apt-get install pysdm

Then:

sudo pysdm

The gui is easier to follow than all this tread.

[DrHu]

Doesn't Pysdm does it all with a easy gui?

Seems so, apart from some editing for ntfs disks..
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=872197
http://pysdm.sourceforge.net/

• PySDM is a Storage Device Manager that allows full customization of hard disk mountpoints without manually access to fstab.
  It also allows the creation of udev rules for dynamic configuration of storage devices

--the advertorial description..

[SpudGun]

no command stuff should ever be needed.

I disagree - at times the terminal is a very powerful tool and the only one
but
there should be a GUI tool as far as possible and the non existence of that for mounting disks is embarrassing
Can you use this to mount other kinds of partitions too?

Why has mintDisc not been resurrected for the main mint, it clearly seems like its needed.

Doesn't Pysdm does it all with a easy gui?

Seems so, apart from some editing for ntfs disks..
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=872197
http://pysdm.sourceforge.net/

• PySDM is a Storage Device Manager that allows full customization of hard disk mountpoints without manually access to fstab.
  It also allows the creation of udev rules for dynamic configuration of storage devices

--the advertorial description..

Didn't this used to be part of ubuntu at one time? it seems very familiar.

[altair4]

I don't want to start a war but can you all tell me what's wrong with doing this:

sudo mkdir /mnt/Windows
sudo su
echo "/dev/sdxx /mnt/Windows ntfs defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0 0" >> /etc/fstab

It will produce a partition that has owner:group = root:plugdev and read / write permissions to everyone in group plugdev ( and that's every login user ). It's true that you'll need to be root to unmount it but why are you unmounting it?

Now what follows is clearly just a personal opinion but I installed pysdm to see what all the fuss was about and I think that looks like one dangerous utility. Rather than make it a default install in Mint as some others have suggested I recommend keeping it optional only.