NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

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pastic
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NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by pastic »

I seem to have formatted an external USB drive as NTFS in Linux Mint and it not in Windows. As a result it is not recognized in Windows, which surprises me. I thought NTFS was NTFS no matter what OS did the formatting.

See below: Partition type for the external NTFS drive is "Linux"; on my other NTFS drives formatted in Windows it is specified as "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS". Is this to be expected?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/HBakrLM.png
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Re: NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by catweazel »

pastic wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 5:28 pm I seem to have formatted an external USB drive as NTFS in Linux Mint and it not in Windows. As a result it is not recognized in Windows, which surprises me. I thought NTFS was NTFS no matter what OS did the formatting.

See below: Partition type for the external NTFS drive is "Linux"; on my other NTFS drives formatted in Windows it is specified as "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS". Is this to be expected?
Warning: Potentially destructive

fdisk should be able to fix this but it can wipe out your data if you do something wrong. If you can't backup that drive you'll have to decide if it's worth the risk.

https://www.howtogeek.com/106873/how-to ... -on-linux/

You need to change the System ID to 7 (HPFS/NTFS/exFAT)
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
pastic
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Re: NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by pastic »

catweazel wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 5:39 pm fdisk should be able to fix this...
You need to change the System ID to 7 (HPFS/NTFS/exFAT)
There is no data on the drive so that will not be a problem. But I am trying to understand how this situation came about (what I might have done wrong). Are there different types of NTFS and I selected a "Linux-only" variant when formatting?
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Re: NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by catweazel »

pastic wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 5:50 pm
catweazel wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 5:39 pm fdisk should be able to fix this...
You need to change the System ID to 7 (HPFS/NTFS/exFAT)
There is no data on the drive so that will not be a problem. But I am trying to understand how this situation came about (what I might have done wrong).
Ok, if there's no data then repartitioning would be best. Perhaps exFAT would be better if your Windwoes is 10.

As to how the problem occurred, I can't honestly say.
pastic wrote:Are there different types of NTFS and I selected a "Linux-only" variant when formatting?
No. NTFS isn't native to linux so there is no "Linux-only" variant. I'd take the repartitioning route to get the experience. You can't do any harm to the drive by repartitioning.

https://www.howtoforge.com/partitioning_with_gparted

You might also try gparted. You might have to install it though.
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trytip
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Re: NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by trytip »

i don't EVER use disks to format anything. use gparted.

disks can't even decide on a name. the name is different in the menu it's different in synaptic and it's different running it in terminal
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Re: NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by Mark Phelps »

As @catweazel said -- there is no "Linux-only"variant of NTFS -- as this is a native Windows filesystem.

So, whatever you used was improperly worded.
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Re: NTFS drive not readable on Windows (Partition type: Linux)

Post by chtwright »

I had the exact same issue. Using a desktop with linux mint, I was trying to use the Disks utility to create and restore partitions from one laptop(A Windows 10 laptop) hard drive to another. I created the partition images, and when I went to edit the partition type for the new hard drive it never gave me option for the same partition type as the orginal laptop hard drive partition which was "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS(Bootable)". I then tried to use the terminal as described above using the fdisk command, and unlike it showed I did not have "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS(Bootable)" as option 7 and did not have it at all. So then I figured out of curiousity I would just see if my other laptop with Linux Mint would show this option so I tried both the terminal using FDISK and the Disks utility, went to edit partition type(from a partition on the internal drive), without proceeding of course but I had the option for "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS(Bootable)", both ways FDISK and Disks utiltiy on the internal hard drive of my Linux Mint laptop.

So I figured then maybe it was an issue with my Desktop with Mint so I figured instead at that point I would try my laptop with Mint to clone my other laptop hard drive. But for that disk hooked externally it was the exact same as the attempt I tried on my desktop, it no longer showed "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS(Bootable)" as a partition type no matter which way I tried. The disk I was trying to use to clone the Windows 10 laptop is the exact same model number as the one in the Windows 10 Laptop, it is a WD 1TB drive.

I don't understand how it is giving me this as an option for my internal hard drive on my linux mint laptop but not giving me the option on the one I'm trying to clone from my Windows 10 laptop. Any help would be greatly appreciatied.

Here you see I have the options if I wanted to change it on my Linux Mint internal laptop hdd but the option for this type doesn't show up when trying with my other hdd
Shows have the option in terminal on my internal Mint laptop
Shows have the option in terminal on my internal Mint laptop
Shows have the option in Disks utility as well on internal Mint laptop
Shows have the option in Disks utility as well on internal Mint laptop
Update: As you can see from the above image at the top under "Partitioning" it says "Master Boot Record", but as does the drive that was originally in my Windows 10 laptop that I am trying to clone. However, the other hard drive I'm trying to clone that one says "GUID Partition Table" instead of "Master Boot Record", and I'm assuming this may be why I am not getting the option I need, but cannot figure out how to change the "Partitioning" from "GUID Partition Table" to "Master Boot Record" with GParted or Disks utility nor do I know how to in FDISK. Is this my issue and if so how do I go about fixing this?

UPDATE:
This was my issue. I just deleted my partitions I was trying to work with on the new drive, went back into Gparted, clicked Device & New Partition table & this time selected "MSDOS" which made the top section in my screenshot in Disks utility to show "Master Boot Record" instead of "GUID Partition Table" and then I had the correct option "NTFS/exFAT/HPFS" showing for the partitions.
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