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Idea #4994: Easily mount not cleanly unmounted NTFS disks

Written by virkang the 18 Mar 08 at 08:11. Related project: Gnome. Status: New
Rationale
When an external NTFS hard disk is not cleanly unmounted because you unplugged it wildly on Windows, or because of a Windows crash, there is an error when you try to plug it on ubuntu, explaining what to do on the command line.

There should be an easy way to mount the volume anyway, by giving the choice to the user to mount it anyway, or not to mount it. A clear dialog box should do the trick.

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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #4994
Written by virkang the 18 Mar 08 at 08:11.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #4994 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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blindvic wrote on the 18 Mar 08 at 14:34
I use a desktop, not a laptop. Instead of shutting down, I hibernate Windows. After this Ubuntu cannot mount my ntfs volumes. I tried to edit '/etc/fstab' file, adding option to remount the volumes as read-only in case of errors:

# /dev/sda1
UUID=CAD851F2D851DCEF /media/sda1 ntfs defaults,umask=007,gid=46,errors=remount-ro 0 1

But it didn't work

sebsauvage wrote on the 18 Mar 08 at 15:11
I think this is linked to the ntfs-3g drivers which refuses to mount "unclean" NTFS partition.
I will only mount the volumes once Windows has checked the filesystem (chkdsk), then mounted them once.

This is done as a safety measure to prevent data loss dues to incorrect filesystem structure.

sf_007 wrote on the 18 Mar 08 at 17:24
yeah, sometimes I boot ubuntu Live CD to rescue some files because of windows failure/problem, but since windows failed, the drive not usually properly unmounted!
If ubuntu detects that the filesystem is "unclean", it should say: "There is a problem is the filesystem! it is unsafe to mount, because data mey be lost! do you want ubuntu to correct the filesystem?" if clicked yes, then automatically run some script/program to "repair" the filesystem and mount it...

flip314 wrote on the 18 Mar 08 at 18:17
you should NOT EVER hibernate one OS and then start another one. hibernation can leave the file system in an unclean state (since it just dumps RAM to disk, which may include cached writes that haven't been committed yet). That's why you can't mount your NTFS volumes, and it's really for your own protection.

oliver@schinagl.nl wrote on the 18 Mar 08 at 23:43
p.s. you can also add the -force option to mount them anyway. But as flip said, do not ever mount a partition from a hibernated OS. You'll screw up your files on it.

K-Man wrote on the 19 Mar 08 at 03:51
I have the same problem often - when hibernating. Since I have several Windows partitions with lots of data, I would very much appreciate a "mount as read-only" possibility. That should be safe to do, no?
It would sometimes even help just to be able to read the directories on the Windows partitions to check file names and versions.
I support the suggestion (READ-ONLY).

wanchai wrote on the 19 Mar 08 at 06:27
I have this problem regularly with USB thumb drives that I share with colleagues. Comment from them: "In XP you don't have to disconnect the drive before removing it."

blindvic wrote on the 19 Mar 08 at 07:05
> you should NOT EVER hibernate one OS and then start another one. hibernation can leave the file system in an unclean state (since it just dumps RAM to disk, which may include cached writes that haven't been committed yet). That's why you can't mount your NTFS volumes, and it's really for your own protection.

Actually a can mount. An I mount my ntfs volumes as read-only. It's just annoying to do this manually.

JoeLeKiffeur wrote on the 19 Mar 08 at 07:20
I confirm this inconvenient.

flip314 wrote on the 19 Mar 08 at 15:16
@wanchai: It's uncommon to have NTFS formatted USB thumb drives. Have a look at http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/689/ for a (likely) more relevant idea to your problem.

@K-Man,blindvic: Read only may be safe (I don't know for sure), but it can still leave files in a state that the users won't expect them to be in. ie, edit a file in windows, hibernate, open file in linux, wonder why your changes weren't saved, restart to windows, wonder why the changes ARE there. I'm not sure this is good default behaviour, it's better not to mount these partitions by default in any way.

steve196 wrote on the 21 Mar 08 at 22:08
But that should be readonly, or there may be data destruction.

sciurus wrote on the 23 Mar 08 at 00:48
"automatically run some script/program to "repair" the filesystem and mount it... "

@sf_007: I think the problem is that there is no such program for linux.

flip314 wrote on the 31 Mar 08 at 06:35
the trouble is even a read only mount on an inconsistent file system can lead to unpredictable results. the filesystem should be checked and fixed before mounting.

however, in the case of a hibernated drive running a checkdisk on the filesystem could have catastrophic effects when going back into the OS that you hibernated from.

I'm not sure what's best to do here.

cornbread wrote on the 14 May 08 at 19:35
this is a duplicate of my idea. #689

cornbread wrote on the 16 Jul 08 at 01:18
if Idea #5978 is a duplicate of this then this idea is a duplicate of #689! who moderates this stuff? they should have to explain why something is a dup and not a dup.

jmjohn wrote on the 25 Aug 08 at 19:52
Hey all,

> you should NOT EVER hibernate one OS and then start another one. hibernation can leave the file system in an unclean state (since it just dumps RAM to disk, which may include cached writes that haven't been committed yet). That's why you can't mount your NTFS volumes, and it's really for your own protection.

First, my USB 500 GB drive is NTFS (I recently switched to Linux). I want to have the option, clickable rather than command line, to mount the drive. Whether this is unsafe or not is the user's business. If it is unsafe, warn them and then let them mount it. Otherwise, the system seems broken rather than protective.

-glass.dimly

jeroen001 wrote on the 2 Nov 08 at 13:53

External drivers and pendrives should have a "force" button in the dialog box. There's a fairly slim chance of a hybernation session beeing written on an external drive, is there?

I dont't like typing commands in a terminal when my freinds are waiting for me to copy some stuff on there drives ;-
)


ronj wrote on the 12 Nov 08 at 18:16
Hello,

There is a corresponding bug on Launchpad: bug #175503.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ntfs-3g/+bug/175503

Cheers,
Ronan

eNz1m3 (Idea reviewer) wrote on the 4 Jan 09 at 14:16
Well, I created an idea for this, didn't find this one...

I've already reported it to be a duplicate of this one.

The difference is I offer a better solution, IMO.

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/17020/

SzabolcsSzakacsits wrote on the 13 Feb 09 at 15:38
NTFS-3G solved this issue from version 2009.2.1: http://ntfs-3g.org/releases.html


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