Knoppix NTFS Write is/is not available ?!?

[bluewhale]

Here is yet another Linux Newbie trying to get around a problem M$ created with open source tools. The problem is in creating a bootable OS which allows for modification of M$ NTFS partitions. I've been reading KNOPPIX FAQ's, posts, notes for two dayz now and believe it will allow me to boot from a CD and either modifiy text files on an NTFS partition or copy/add files to that partition. However the official FAQ's for Knoppix say either that writting to NTFS is not supported or that it is 'experimental'.

Googling provided other opinions which were not limited to the Knoppix distribution.

I AM a semi-virgin with respect to Linux: can barely wade into chest deep water at this point. And am hoping to give myself a crash course on Linux with this project ( yes, I know: Windows crashes, not Linux :P ) I have found info on this at

http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/...ize.html#write
and
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project...html.pl#debian

amongst others, but am becoming a little overwhelmed trying to keep track of which programs work with which versions of which distro, etc. Especially in that I still have to translate simple functinality terms in Knoppix/Linux into their Windows counterparts.

For some reason I get the impression one CAN write to NTFS using the latest Knoppix stable release either with an ad-in or not... I'd like to be able to create a new master of Knoppix which would allow me to provide triage to damaged W2K and XP systems, but have not been able to find anything like that here on the forum. Has Knoppix progressed this far, or is this ability still considered ' bleeding edge ' ?

Many Thanks for all of your advice


Paul

[softwaretester]

There's a couple of knoppix variants which have NTFS write support.

One is bitdefender's linux disk www.bitdefender.com
http://www.distrowatch.com/table.php...ution=defender

One is called Insert, it's a mini variant (business card size)
http://www.distrowatch.com/table.php...ibution=insert


Mandrake Move might have NTFS writing on their live CD, because they have NTFS resizing tools in their Mandrake Distro.
http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php...eview-mandrake

[bluewhale]

I'll check them out.
I've read that Knoppix 3.4 might support NTFS writes, and that it was due out about now. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Would it write to all versions of NTFS ( I believe Win 2003 Server introduced a new version but am not certain ).

[Razor-X]

Knoppix 3.4 can write on NTFS. I haven't tried it (don't wanna take a chance on this comp) but on a damaged system, go ahead. It uses captive which works on all W2k and XP drives ONLY. These contain special system files which define the NTFS partition scheme and such. Captive uses these to write to the disk. Good luck aquiring v 3.4

[arkaine23]

You should be able to get a modified 3.4 version from me tomorrow. I'll be sure to post a link for you when its available.

Getting ahold of 3.4 can be kind of difficult, but my host has alloted me plenty of bandwidth, so you should have no trouble once I get my iso uploaded.

[bluewhale]

Thanx Razor, Arkaine. I'll try it first on a couple of standby Educational PC's we keep for occasional classroom type instruction, then see what it does to an XP installation.

You said it uses 'captive'... is that a variation of the Wine software mentioned above?

And as it was not listed I presume the version of NTFS in W2003 is out. Not that we run it ( tho I have a test server set up at home: hmmmm )


Paul

[arkaine23]

Captive will let you import the needed windows kernel and drivers for windows filesystems and wrap them so that Linux can use them. If you can't import them, it will download them from windowsupdate.com out of the XP service pack 1.

Once captive drivers are aquired, you just have to mount your NTFS partition-

mount -t captive-ntfs /dev/hdXX /mnt/hdXX

I'm pretty sure it would work on Win2003 since that's essentially winXP server edition.

[Razor-X]

It works for W2k3 Server.

[bluewhale]

Pardon me for being totally dense ( LINUX?? )
Is ' Captive ' a program... er RPM ... or something built into the LINUX Kernel?

In Knoppix ( what is the appropriate abbreviation for Knoppix? K? Kn? ) 3.3 I presume (?) Captive does not exist. Could one of you point me/us toward a URL which explains where this ' new ' ability comes from? If its third party and they make a living from it I generalliy like to pay for my shareware. IF not, then Linus T. must have blessed it, thus I can ignore it as it will probably work as planned.



Paul, a'waiting the 3.4 download with baited breath

[softwaretester]

Pardon me for being totally dense ( LINUX?? )
Is ' Captive ' a program... er RPM ... or something built into the LINUX Kernel?

In Knoppix ( what is the appropriate abbreviation for Knoppix? K? Kn? ) 3.3 I presume (?) Captive does not exist. Could one of you point me/us toward a URL which explains where this ' new ' ability comes from? If its third party and they make a living from it I generalliy like to pay for my shareware. IF not, then Linus T. must have blessed it, thus I can ignore it as it will probably work as planned.



Paul, a'waiting the 3.4 download with baited breath

Here's how it works on BitDefender.
Click on the 'Captive NTFS' icon on the desktop.
An application runs, scans your drives, or in my case, my USB storage key. It gets the cdfs.sys ntfs.sys ntoskrnl.exe and a coule of other .sys files. Then, when I mount /mnt/hda1 it can read and write that NTFS drive.

You can also use QTparted to resize the NTFS partitions as well.