Chapter 5. File Systems and Disk Management

ntfs-3g-2014.2.15

Introduction to Ntfs-3g

The Ntfs-3g package contains a stable, read-write open source driver for NTFS partitions. NTFS partitions are used by newer Microsoft operating systems. Ntfs-3g enables you to mount NTFS partitions in read-write mode from your Linux system. It uses the FUSE kernel module to be able to implement NTFS support in user space.
This package contains both the NTFS-3g driver itself and various utilities useful for manipulating NTFS partitions.
This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.6 platform.

Package Information

• Download (HTTP): http://tuxera.com/opensource/ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs-2014.2.15.tgz
  
• Download MD5 sum: f11d563816249d730a00498983485f3a
  
• Download size: 1.1 MB
  
• Estimated disk space required: 24 MB
  
• Estimated build time: 0.4 SBU
  

Ntfs-3g Dependencies

Optional

Fuse-2.9.3.

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/ntfs-3g

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

File systems  --->
  [*] FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) support

Installation of Ntfs-3g

Install Ntfs-3g by running the following commands:

./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.
Now, as the root user:

make install &&
ln -sv ../bin/ntfs-3g /sbin/mount.ntfs &&
ln -sv /usr/share/man/man8/{ntfs-3g,mount.ntfs}.8

If you want ordinary users to be able to mount NTFS partitions you'll need to set mount.ntfs with the root user ID. Note: it is probably unsafe to do this on a computer that needs to be secure (like a server). As the root user:

chmod -v 4755 /sbin/mount.ntfs

Command Explanations

--disable-static: This switch prevents installation of static versions of the libraries.
--with-fuse=external: Ntfs-3g comes with a version of Fuse which it statically compiles into lowntfs-3g and ntfs-3g. If you have installed Fuse-2.9.3 use this option to dynamically link lowntfs-3g and ntfs-3g to libfuse.
--disable-ntfsprogs: Disables installation of various utilities used to manipulate NTFS partitions.
ln -sv ../bin/ntfs-3g /sbin/mount.ntfs: Creating /sbin/mount.ntfs makes mount default to using Ntfs-3g to mount NTFS partitions.
chmod -v 4755 /sbin/mount.ntfs: Making mount.ntfs setuid root allows non root users to mount NTFS partitions.

Using Ntfs-3g

To mount a Windows partition at boot time, put a line like this in /etc/fstab:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/windows auto defaults 0 0

To allow users to mount a usb stick with an NTFS filesystem on it, put a line similar this (change sdc1 to whatever a usb stick would be on your system) in /etc/fstab:

/dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb auto user,noauto,umask=0,utf8 0 0

For a user to be able to mount the usb stick they will need to be able to write to /mnt/usb, so as the root user:

chmod -v 777 /mnt/usb

Contents

Installed Programs: lowntfs-3g, mkfs.ntfs, mkntfs, mount.lowntfs-3g, mount.ntfs, mount.ntfs-3g, ntfs-3g, ntfs-3g.probe, ntfs-3g.secaudit, ntfs-3g.usermap, ntfscat, ntfsclone, ntfscluster, ntfscmp, ntfscp, ntfsfix, ntfsinfo, ntfslabel, ntfsls, ntfsresize and ntfsundelete

Installed Library: libntfs-3g.so

Installed Directories: /usr/include/ntfs-3g and /usr/share/doc/ntfs-3g

Short Descriptions

lowntfs-3g	is similar to ntfs-3g but uses the Fuse low-level interface.
mkfs.ntfs	is a symlink to mkntfs.
mkntfs	creates an NTFS file system.
mount.lowntfs-3g	is a symlink to lowntfs-3g.
mount.ntfs	mounts an NTFS filesystem.
mount.ntfs-3g	is a symbolic link to ntfs-3g.
ntfs-3g	is an NTFS driver, which can create, remove, rename, move files, directories, hard links, and streams; it can read and write files, including streams, sparse files and transparently compressed files; it can handle special files like symbolic links, devices, and FIFOs; moreover it provides standard management of file ownership and permissions, including POSIX ACLs.
ntfs-3g.probe	tests if an NTFS volume is mountable read only or read-write, and exits with a status value accordingly. The volume can be a block device or image file.
ntfs-3g.secaudit	audits NTFS Security Data.
ntfs-3g.usermap	creates the file defining the mapping of Windows accounts to Linux logins for users who owns files which should be visible from both Windows and Linux.
ntfscluster	identifies files in a specified region of an NTFS volume
ntfscp	copies a file to an NTFS volume.
ntfsfix	fixes common errors and forces Windows to check an NTFS partition.
ntfsls	lists directory contents on an NTFS filesystem.
ntfscat	prints NTFS files and streams on the standard output.
ntfsclone	clones an NTFS filesystem.
ntfscmp	compares two NTFS filesystems and tells the differences.
ntfsinfo	dumps a file's attributes.
ntfslabel	displays or changes the label on an ntfs file system.
ntfsresize	resizes an NTFS filesystem without data loss.
ntfsundelete	recovers a deleted file from an NTFS volume.
libntfs-3g.so	contains the Ntfs-3g API functions.