Cross drive data reading SOLVED

[cliffcoggin]

My computer is dual boot, dual drive, with Mint18.3 on one SSD and Win7 on the other. Until now I had assumed the two drives could never communicate with each other because only one runs at a time, but lately I began to wonder if it is possible. The reason for asking is that I have an essential application on the Windows drive, (for which there is no Linux equivalent, nor does it work with Wine), however the files for that application are stored on the Mint drive, so when I want to use the application once per month I have to go through this tedious process:
copy the files from Mint to a USB stick,
boot to the Windows drive,
paste the files from the USB stick into the application,
print the graphs I require from the application,
delete the files from the USB stick and the application,
boot back to Mint.

Is there a way for the Windows application to directly read the files from the Mint drive without compromising the security of the Mint system, and without allowing Windows to connect to the internet? I have heard of Samba but I believe that uses an internet connection which I do not allow Windows to do. Perhaps I should also add that I am reluctant to store the files on the Windows drive because they are grouped with associated non-Windows files and folders in Mint, which makes backups are so much easier if left in their current location.

The way I do things at the moment is inconvenient but not a major problem so I am not inclined to go to any major expense to solve it. For the same reason I don't want to involve the experts here in a lot of time and effort, but in my ignorance I may have missed an obvious solution. What say you?

[Pierre]

you should be able to directly paste those files into the Windows partition,,
& without using your usb stick, at all - - the Linux System will read / write to the NTFS file system.
- - the windows system will need an extra driver, if you do wish to use the windows system, to move those files.

once you've moved / copied those files, by using the Linux System to do that,
& then re-boot back into the windows system, in order to use that particilar windows program.
then, once you've done with that windows program, then boot back into the Linux System,
and copy / move those files back to the Linux Partition, once again.

[philotux]

Linux has built-in support for Windows NTFS partitions, but Windows can’t read Linux partitions without third-party software.

You might want to do some research into the alternatives presented in the article below:
https://www.howtogeek.com/112888/3-ways ... m-windows/

[cliffcoggin]

you should be able to directly paste those files into the Windows partition,,
& without using your usb stick, at all - - the Linux System will read / write to the NTFS file system.
- - the windows system will need an extra driver, if you do wish to use the windows system, to move those files.

once you've moved / copied those files, by using the Linux System to do that,
& then re-boot back into the windows system, in order to use that particilar windows program.
then, once you've done with that windows program, then boot back into the Linux System,
and copy / move those files back to the Linux Partition, once again.

Many thanks Pierre, that worked. It took me a while to identify which of the two identical SSDs in the computer was the Windows drive, and even longer to find the correct route through the bewildering and incomprehensible file structure of Windows, but eventually I managed to copy a folder to the Windows desktop and access it from my application. Before I mark the topic as solved, is there a way to avoid having a sticky note on the computer with the route written on it that I have to manually follow each time?

[cliffcoggin]

Linux has built-in support for Windows NTFS partitions, but Windows can’t read Linux partitions without third-party software.

You might want to do some research into the alternatives presented in the article below:
https://www.howtogeek.com/112888/3-ways ... m-windows/

Thanks Philotux. I did not realise a separate drive in the computer could be treated as just another partition in the machine. In any case I prefer not to add any programmes to Windows as I have deleted as much as I can from the OS, leaving only enough to operate the two applications I use.

[philotux]

In any case I prefer not to add any programmes to Windows as I have deleted as much as I can from the OS, leaving only enough to operate the two applications I use.

Fair enough. Glad you found a solution that works for you.

greetings
philotux

[leo-tech]

You can also run both operating systems simultaneously, one as Host OS (Linux Mint 18.3) and another as Guest OS (Win7) under Virtual Machine (Oracle VirtualBox hypervisor would be my first choice). No need to do anything with your existing dual-boot setup as it is, you can simply add Win7-in-VM to the existing Linux part and see if it works for you.

[cliffcoggin]

You can also run both operating systems simultaneously, one as Host OS (Linux Mint 18.3) and another as Guest OS (Win7) under Virtual Machine (Oracle VirtualBox hypervisor would be my first choice). No need to do anything with your existing dual-boot setup as it is, you can simply add Win7-in-VM to the existing Linux part and see if it works for you.

I looked into the VM option a while ago, however I have neither a Windows installation disc nor a product key for it. (Windows was already installed on the machine when I bought it.)

[Pierre]

if you can get that Windows drive to auto-mount, then you can just place a 'short-cut' to that folder,,
on your Linux Desktop:
- - R/click desktop - create Launcher - Type = Location,, then browse to that particular folder location.

[cliffcoggin]

I'm almost there but for one little problem.

I made the Windows drive auto mount. I began creating a launcher, named it, navigated a route to the named folder on the Windows desktop, clicked OK, whereupon the route disappeared and my only option was to cancel out of launcher creation.

[cliffcoggin]

I have been unable to create a launcher so I shall just use the copy method, therefore I am marking the topic solved. Thanks to all who offered advice.

[philotux]

I have been unable to create a launcher so I shall just use the copy method, therefore I am marking the topic solved. Thanks to all who offered advice.

Is it possible to navigate to the folder in question and bookmark it in your file manager so that you will have easy access to it on the left pane of the file manager?

[cliffcoggin]

Is it possible to navigate to the folder in question and bookmark it in your file manager so that you will have easy access to it on the left pane of the file manager?

I can navigate to it easily enough but how would I bookmark it? I only know of bookmarks in relation to web sites that are saved in browsers. I'll take a look tomorrow.

[philotux]

If you are using Nemo, I think you could right-click on the folder and in the pop-up menu choose "bookmark". Alternatively, mark the folder and look under the menus in the toolbar. (Sorry, It has been a while I used Nemo).

In Thunar, mark the folder, right-click on it and choose Send To: Sidepane

In Caja, I am afraid I don't know. But I suppose there must be some similar feature there as well.

[cliffcoggin]

Apologies for my ignorance but what are Nemo, Thunar and Caja?

[philotux]

These are the names of the file managers in Cinnamon, Xfce and MATE respectively.

[cliffcoggin]

I've seen Nemo mentioned from time to time and never realised it was the file manager. It's just called Files in Mint18.3 Cinnamon. Thanks for the explanation.