Warning: ntfs-3g is still in beta. You should not use it on production machines.

This HowTo will allow you to install the latest ntfs-3g, and so it will require you to install non official packages from a non official repository

Introduction

Support for reading and writing to NTFS partitions under Linux has always been a problem; most existing projects are experimental and often buggy. However, a new project called ntfs-3g is capable of unlimited file creation and deletion. Note that although many people have had success using this driver, it is still in beta stage. Make sure you back up all valuable data before using it!

Based off givre's excellent guide, which can be found [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=217009 here].

Installation

1. First you will need to add one of the following [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu#head-155b53308911d4d3869b3650856a41550f57f891 repositories]:

For DAPPER :

deb http://givre.cabspace.com/ubuntu/ dapper main main-all
#   or
deb http://ntfs-3g.sitesweetsite.info/ubuntu/ dapper main main-all
#   or
deb http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ dapper main main-all

For EDGY :

deb http://givre.cabspace.com/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all
#   or
deb http://ntfs-3g.sitesweetsite.info/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all
#   or
deb http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all

The main channel contains the ntfs-3g package and an up to date fuse package.

The main-all channel contains modified and unofficial version of pmount and hal (only for dapper) to have a better integration of ntfs-3g in the desktop, and to be able to use ntfs-3g with external device. It also provide a configuration tool : ntfs-config. If you want to configure your system manually and don't need integration in gnome or kde, you can disable this channel.

Packages are authenticated with a gpg key. To use it, you should execute one of the following command :

wget http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/givre_key.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
#   or
wget http://givre.cabspace.com/ubuntu/givre_key.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Be sure to reload the package configuration and update your system before continuing.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

If you use dapper, it's better to reboot now, so the hal change can take effect.

Configuration

Now you have the choice between an automatic configuration via [http://givre.cabspace.com/ntfs-config ntfs-config] or a manual configuration.

The automatic way

[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto#head-9a2bcc5a697205e980d6b8b3cac02f799e1bd5f0 install] the ntfs-config package which is in the repo.

sudo apt-get install ntfs-config

Now it's all easy. Just launch ntfs-config from the menu (should be in system tools) or via the terminal :

sudo ntfs-config

If your NTFS partitions are not yet configure, it will ask you to choose a name that will be use as mount point. Just put the name you want. Then just enable write support for internal and/or external device, and that's all.

The manual way

[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto#head-9a2bcc5a697205e980d6b8b3cac02f799e1bd5f0 install] the ntfs-3g package for drivers and other tools.

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g

Find the name of your NTFS drive. In a terminal, type

sudo fdisk -l | grep NTFS | awk '{print $1}'

The name of the drive should be something like /dev/hda1.

You will now need to edit your partition list, namely /etc/fstab. Make sure to save a backup first, and then open it:

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
gksu gedit /etc/fstab

After entering your password, find the line that matches the drive name you just found. Change it to read:

/dev/<your partition> /media/<mount point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0

Replace <mount point> with the location you would like the drive to be mounted, such as Documents. You will also need to make this directory, by running:

sudo mkdir -p /media/<mount point>

Note: you can change your locale option (for example locale=fr_FR.utf8). Execute 'locale -a' in a terminal to know which ones are supported.

Now remount all your drive

sudo umount /dev/<your partition>
sudo mount -a

or simply reboot.

If you have a problem

If you want to revert to your previous configuration :

sudo mv /etc/fstab.bak /etc/fstab
sudo umount /media/<mount point>

and uninstall the ntfs-3g package.

Notes

• If you compiled your own kernel, you probably won't have fuse installed. You can get the source with

sudo apt-get install fuse-source

and have a look at /usr/share/doc/fuse-source/README.Debian for instructions on how to compile it.

Known Issues

The present limitations of this driver are

• access to encrypted files
• writing compressed files
• change file ownership and access right

News

21 January 2007 : * Update to the latest ntfs-3g 0.20070118-BETA, and the latest fuse 2.6.1 in the main repo. For the full ChangeLog, have a look here : http://ntfs-3g.org/releases.html

22 september 2006 : New upstream release : ntfs-3g-20070920-BETA

• fix: file creation at disk-full may lead to i/o errors
• fix: statistic of inodes and free inodes was incorrect (df -i)
• fix: the 'umask' option wasn't always parsed as an octal number
• fix: "too long filename" handling wasn't posix compliant
• fix: mount failed if $MFTMirr had unused garbage at the file end

10 September 2006 : New upstream release : ntfs-3g-20070910-BETA

• fix: rename was always denied if the target file or directory existed

• fix: renaming like 'foo' -> 'FOO' was denied in the WIN32 namespace

• fix: fuse kernel module is automatically loaded, no need for config
• fix: verbose mount error messages with hints for solutions
• fix: compilation failed with gcc 2.96
• change: top request: full read-write access to everybody by default
• change: file lookups are always case-sensitive