[SOLVED] Possible solutions to automatically mounting NTFS drive with read/write access?

[ppp7032]

I'm trying to set up automatic mounting of an MBR NTFS internal hard drive partition with read/write access to the non-root user. Changing mount options in the 'Disks' app didn't work, and I read somewhere that NTFS drives are never actually mounted automatically by the fstab unless you also try to access them. Regardless I found this console command that works:

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sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/Server

where /mnt/Server is a folder I made manually. I made a bash script that runs this command however this is not currently a very user friendly solution. I've tried various ways to either modify the fstab, get the command itself to run at startup, and getting the script to run at startup. Any of these three ways of solving the problem would be acceptable. This includes messing around with /etc/rc.local and making a system service (which apparently mounted the partition but then subsequently unmounted it), among others.

Whichever of the three possible ways of fixing the issue you think would be easiest to implement, or are the most sure would work, just give a solution to that one.

[rossdv8]

Are these options on the 'Disks' program you tried?
The Auto-open files and Auro-run programs might be useful.

[ppp7032]

That menu seems to be regarding removable storage whereas my issue is with an internal HDD. Here is an image of the Disks app I was referring to. I tried the 'mount at startup option' you can see in the image but it does nothing. This is why I believe the easiest fix would be to just make the command in the original post, or the script that contains it run at startup. I just don't know how to do that.

[br1anstorm]

There are forum members more expert than me who I'm sure will chip in to offer advice - notably AndyMH, who is exceptionally helpful. In fact you might like to look at this thread https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic ... 0&t=352588 for ideas and options. I too was looking at ways of auto-mounting an internal SSD on which at least one partition is to be formatted NTFS.

The wise advice is not to use Disks, but rather use terminal commands to sort out "ownership" of the drive or partition as required (in order to permit read/write), decide on a mount point, then edit fstab to enable auto-mounting.

Hope this helps....

[Kris345]

This is something I do to one of my ntfs partitions simply because it has the "tbird" folder and I use that folder both by windows and by Mint.
from my notes: Your uuid's will be different of course. noatime means it doesn't have to be there.

automount E:
sudo blkid – to check E
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="E" UUID="01D749C6C7CAFC00" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="d8d62147-5d9e-48a0-2b5e-dc1199f8a437"
sudo mkdir /media/E ←------
sudo apt install gedit
and add this to fstab: sudo gedit /etc/fstab
UUID=01D749C6C7CAFC00 /media/E ntfs-3g defaults,noatime,windows_names,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0
Save fstab
-->reboot<--
You will have to re-point-to local folder in Tbird, and any E doc stuffs.

BE VERY CAREFUL EDITING fstab or else you might find yourself booting to a live Mint stick and correcting it to get Mint to boot.

[JezekiljMonk]

Please, try this



or like this



I believe the Filesystem type: ntfs-3g is very important here

If it doesn't work please check

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getfacl /mnt/

and

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getfacl /mnt/4AB6F85...

Fill in the the full path to the folder. I prefer to place my HDDs in /mount/<my-user-name>, not in /mnt/

When it comes to running a script that can automatically after log-in mount your drive I have posted a solution here

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... ost6219765

Hope something will help

[altair4]

Please don't mount anything under /media/your-user-name and under no circumstances should you ever use the "permissions" option on an NTFS partition if you ever hope to use that partition with WIndows in the future.

Kris345's answer is more mainstream.

[AndyMH]

There are forum members more expert than me who I'm sure will chip in to offer advice - notably AndyMH, who is exceptionally helpful. In fact you might like to look at this thread https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic ... 0&t=352588 for ideas and options. I too was looking at ways of auto-mounting an internal SSD on which at least one partition is to be formatted NTFS.

The wise advice is not to use Disks, but rather use terminal commands to sort out "ownership" of the drive or partition as required (in order to permit read/write), decide on a mount point, then edit fstab to enable auto-mounting.

You've done my work for me . You can use disks, I just don't like it and I wouldn't use it to automount partitions - it makes messy entries in fstab.

The fstab equivalent of:

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sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/Server

would be:

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UUID=xxxx	/mnt/Server	ntfs	defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000	0	2

replace xxxx with the UUID for sdb1 - you find it with blkid. You don't need ntfs-3g, ntfs is an alias for it. You also don't need all those options, I normally just use defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000. windows_names can be a useful option - it stops linux saving files with characters in filenames that are invalid in windows but okay in linux. I don't bother.

You can use /dev/sdb1 instead of the UUID, but the UUID is preferable (what happens if you boot and sdb has become sdc? Device allocation is not fixed in linux).

[ricardogroetaers]

I'm trying to set up automatic mounting of an MBR NTFS internal hard drive partition with read/write access to the non-root user.

Please post the exit from the commands:
id
lsblk -fi
sudo parted -l
cat /etc/fstab

Tell me:
- Which ntfs partition you want to ride.
- The name you would like for the assembly point, for example, Server, Cat, dog, data, .....

[lucassilver420]

Can I post here with similar problem instead of making a new thread?

I used to have my NTFS drive mounted by clicking on it in file browser, it just worked and I was able to read and write to it. Then I leaned more and edited the fstab file to auto mount the drive to a different location than /media. That worked well as well, I was able to read and write on it. This is the fstab entry I added.

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UUID=4CFEE673FEE654AC /data  auto nouid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0

It worked fine until today, after booting and trying to install a steam game(it runs off the NTFS drive) I got a write error. I digged a little bit and then checked properties for the drive, clicked permissions tab and it says: Owner root, Group root, Folder access root. File acess just shows "---".

I tried this in fstab

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UUID=4CFEE673FEE654AC	/data	ntfs	defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000	0	2

Now under drive properties and permissions tab it displays my user name as owner, group and Folder access but file access still shows "---". I still can read the files and folders but can't create or delete files.

I hashed out the entries from fstab and let the system mount the drive after booting after clicking the drive icon. It does that with ownership under my username but Folder and file access still show "---" and I cannot write or delete files on this drive.

I'm not sure what way to look at.

[AndyMH]

I'm not sure what way to look at.

You need the options for uid=1000,gid=1000 in the fstab entry for write access. I would also add ntfs into the fstab entry as per my previous. Linux will guess at the filesystem type, but no guarantees...

Linux 'fakes' the permissions for ntfs partitions and uid & gid tell the system the user and group that own the partition. 1000 is the first user created by mint, the next would be 1001. You can replace uid=1000 with uid=fred if that is your username.

EDIT - mounting under /data - did you create the folder and assign ownership to you. You might be better with /home/you/data.

[lucassilver420]

I'm not sure what way to look at.

You need the options for uid=1000,gid=1000 in the fstab entry for write access. I would also add ntfs into the fstab entry as per my previous. Linux will guess at the filesystem type, but no guarantees...

Linux 'fakes' the permissions for ntfs partitions and uid & gid tell the system the user and group that own the partition. 1000 is the first user created by mint, the next would be 1001. You can replace uid=1000 with uid=fred if that is your username.

EDIT - mounting under /data - did you create the folder and assign ownership to you. You might be better with /home/you/data.

Thanks, check my stealth update. The data folder was created automatically I think after editing fstab for the first time.

Edit:

Ok I tried to create a folder for the drive but I cannot create any. Also you were right the data folder is under root ownership. Seems like the whole filesystem is under root ownership now, I can't create any files or folders on my main drive/filesystem. Could that have something to do with recent updates? I do have timeshift.

[AndyMH]

Except for /home/you (and I think maybe /media/you) everything else is owned by root and you have to be root to create/delete files or folders. To create folders as root - just right click on the folder above and 'open as root' in your file manager.

[lucassilver420]

Except for /home/you (and I think maybe /media/you) everything else is owned by root and you have to be root to create/delete files or folders. To create folders as root - just right click on the folder above and 'open as root' in your file manager.

Makes sense.

I tried this in fstab

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UUID=4CFEE673FEE654AC	/data	ntfs	defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000	0	2

Now under drive properties and permissions tab it displays my user name as owner, group and Folder access but file access still shows "---". I still can read the files and folders but can't create or delete files.

[AndyMH]

Assuming you are dual booting with win have you turned of fast boot in win? With it on win never really shuts down and locks the filesystems = read only to linux.

[lucassilver420]

Assuming you are dual booting with win have you turned of fast boot in win? With it on win never really shuts down and locks the filesystems = read only to linux.

Holy Jesus, that's it! I should've stated I use dual boot. I was going crazy trying to fix something that didn't need fixing for hours yesterday. Thank you so much my friend

[ppp7032]

There are forum members more expert than me who I'm sure will chip in to offer advice - notably AndyMH, who is exceptionally helpful. In fact you might like to look at this thread https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic ... 0&t=352588 for ideas and options. I too was looking at ways of auto-mounting an internal SSD on which at least one partition is to be formatted NTFS.

The wise advice is not to use Disks, but rather use terminal commands to sort out "ownership" of the drive or partition as required (in order to permit read/write), decide on a mount point, then edit fstab to enable auto-mounting.

You've done my work for me . You can use disks, I just don't like it and I wouldn't use it to automount partitions - it makes messy entries in fstab.

The fstab equivalent of:

Code: Select all

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/Server

would be:

Code: Select all

UUID=xxxx	/mnt/Server	ntfs	defaults,noatime,utf8,dmask=002,fmask=111,uid=1000,gid=1000	0	2

replace xxxx with the UUID for sdb1 - you find it with blkid. You don't need ntfs-3g, ntfs is an alias for it. You also don't need all those options, I normally just use defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000. windows_names can be a useful option - it stops linux saving files with characters in filenames that are invalid in windows but okay in linux. I don't bother.

You can use /dev/sdb1 instead of the UUID, but the UUID is preferable (what happens if you boot and sdb has become sdc? Device allocation is not fixed in linux).

So I basically forgot about this until today as I had a hacky workaround and was content. It's about time this saga came to an end.

Today I upgraded the system to Linux Mint 22 and Linux kernel version 5.15 (which includes a new built-in NTFS driver) while working on this system. I then tried your solution as it seemed to make the most sense in this thread and it worked completely as intended. I can't remember if I tried your solution a year ago or not so I technically cannot be sure whether the issue was solved by your solution or the new Linux kernel. However, I'd lean towards the former. Thank you for your help and my apologies for the late response/implementation.