Ntfs -> fat 32

[oldskooladdict]

I have a new portable HDD which is NTFS formatted, however, I want to use it with my Acer Aspire One - which is Linux based, as such it does not recognise NTFS.

I seem to recall some app which converts from NTFS back to FAT 32 but I can't seem to locate it now - it was something really simple and cheap.

There's no data on the drive, so that's not an issue

[directhex]

ehm... what's using linux got to do with not supporting ntfs? linux supports ntfs fine, via ntfs-3g (included by default on most distributions)

and if you're positive that you want to do it, then plug it into your laptop & run "mkfs.vfat /dev/sdX1" where X is the letter assigned to the drive (check "dmesg"). or use the clicky gui qtparted/gparted

[oldskooladdict]

well i plugged it in and it said 'failed to mount new volume' unknown file system 'ntfs'

It's Linipus or something hehe

[oldskooladdict]

How would I install ntfs-3g or activate it? (bear in mind i am a linux newbie - ive used it for about half an hour!)

[peterb]

this is the ntfs-3g home page

http://www.ntfs-3g.org/

If your distro is directly supported (what distro is it) you may be able to download the binary, otherwise you will have to download the source code and compile it. It isn't difficult provided you have a compiler and the support tools installed (most distros off that either as an option or built in)

Does your distro support a package manager (apt, yum ipkg etc)? If so the ntfs-3g package may be available that way.

[TAKTAK]

well acer is using linpus on it IIRC so the package manager by default would in theory be Yum...
(if i'm right in thinking linpus is based on fedora?)

edit:so use (in a terminal window [alt+f2 IIRC]): sudo yum install fuse fuse-libs ntfs-3g

from here: http://forums.techguy.org/unix-linux...lite-help.html


edit2: do you need to issue an update command with yum? like with apt-get you have apt-get update etc

[peterb]

similar

yum update

with optional packages if you only want to update certain ones

yum install ntfs-3g should install the ntfs drivers if available

[Prufrock]

I use a little free program called fat32format. Do a google search for it. I would post a link, but I don't have enough posts to do so.

[oldskooladdict]

Sorted - I got the ntfs-3g thing installed and it recognises my HDD perfectly - which is nice

Thanks people