fat32 partition

[fenris]

Can linux read a fat32 partition. I have an ide hardrive that I want to use with linux. It currently resides in my win98 box and has a bunch of my mp3's on it. I would like to have linux be my file server, but I don't want to erase the mp3's and reformat the drive. Is there something that I can do?<br><br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> I am interested in Mining Software, as well as Genetic Algorithms.

 

[AndyBo]

Put the hard disk in, make sure it's recognised at boot time, then try mounting it using a type of &quot;vfat&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;Should mount OK.&nbsp;&nbsp;I do this all the time with a dual boot machine at home, mounting the FAT32 partitions as &quot;/mnt/dos_C&quot;, &quot;/mnt/dos_D&quot;, etc.<br><br>If it works OK, put an entry in /etc/fstab to auto mount the disk at boot time. <p> <br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href= > </a><br>--<br>
0 1 - Just my two bits

 

[MikeLacey]

Fenris,<br><br>Sounds like you want to repartition your fat32 partition. I did this (eventually) have a look at the thread &quot;Problem Repartioning 9gb drive&quot; a couple of pages down.<br><br>Oh - and be careful - &quot;here be dragons&quot; as they say <p>Mike<br><a href=mailto:michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com>michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br>

 

[Octalman]

No problem, fenris.&nbsp;&nbsp;Like AndyBo says, plug it in and check to see if the kernel recognizes the drive (/hdb or whatever).&nbsp;&nbsp;If it does, you're almost home.&nbsp;&nbsp;Set up your mount point(s) - I call mine /dos (clever, huh?&nbsp;&nbsp;You can name it anything you want that doesn't conflict with existing same-level directories) - and mount -t vfat /dev/hdbX /dos, where X is the partition you want to mount and /dos is whatever you want to refer to the partition as.<br><br>I installed a Castlewood ORB removable disk drive on my box.&nbsp;&nbsp;No drivers to install, nothin'.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can read, write and format MSDOS/Windows cartridges or Linux cartridges (or several other kinds too).&nbsp;&nbsp;You can do the same with your hard disk.&nbsp;&nbsp;You just have to be sure the proper modules are installed or installable to the kernel.&nbsp;&nbsp;Most (all?) commercial distros come with DOS/Win drives installed.<br><br>Ain't Linux great, or what! <p>Octalman<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[fenris]

Thank you all for your responses, I can't wait to try it. I just have a quick question to clarify things, Say I wanted to mount the drive under my /home directory would I be able to do this. I have another hardrive mounted here which holds the contents of my users directories. Or, would I have to mount it under /home/dos ? This would change my samba setup as well. <br><br>Gee, I hate that I haven't used linux in about a month or two because I set it up as a file server (using samba) for some windows machines and it always worked. You couldn't do that with windows.<br><br>I must say that linux boots up as fast as my windows machine considering it is only a pII 366 celeron w/32mb ram and my windows machine is amd k6-2 400 w/ 128 mb of ram constantly breaking for no reason.<br><br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> I am interested in Mining Software, as well as Genetic Algorithms.

 

[Octalman]

Sure, you could mount the new drive to /home, but first you would have to umount the drive already mounted there.&nbsp;&nbsp;I suspect that would defeat your purpose, though.&nbsp;&nbsp;The problem is that you can't have two same-level sub-directories with the same name under a common parent directory.<br><br>As you have already seen by allocating /home to a separate drive, *n*x doesn't care where its directories (and their subdirectories) are located physically.&nbsp;&nbsp;But they all still belong to the same directory tree, even if some of them belong to &quot;foreign&quot; filesystems.<br><br>And, yes, you could mount (or automount) the new drive as /home/dos or /dos or anything else that makes sense. <p>Octalman<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[fenris]

Thanks for the info. <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> I am interested in Mining Software, as well as Genetic Algorithms.