Access drives with LiveCD

[philthylabwrk]

I'm trying to learn about linux by playing with the live CDs. I like what I have seen so far but I'm having some troubles. I want access to the drives on my laptop but the live CD cant see them. Is there a way to gain access to them with the live CD or am I waisting my time?

Phillip

[aysiu]

Re: Access drives with LiveCD

First of all, congratulations. You're smart. I don't like it when people dive straight in, trying to do a dual-boot, accidentally reformatting their entire Windows installations without having any data backed up, and then complaining that they can't reinstall Windows.

Take it slow. Use the live CD for a few weeks. That's the way to go.

Can I assume these are Windows drives, since you say you're trying to learn about Linux?

Go to KMenu > System > Konsole and paste in this command:

sudo fdisk -l

It'll tell you where your Windows drives are located. Let's say, for this example, that you have an NTFS partition at /dev/hda1 and a FAT32 partition at /dev/hda2.

To mount the NTFS partition:

sudo mkdir /ntfs_drive
sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /ntfs_drive -o nls=utf8,umask=0222

To mount the FAT32 partition:

sudo mkdir /fat_drive
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/hda2 /fat_drive -o iocharset=utf8,umask=000

[philthylabwrk]

Re: Access drives with LiveCD

Thanks!

Yes, they are windows drives.

I want to make sure I have this right before I try it.

fdisk will give me info on my drives. Useful for partitioning and what not as well.

sudo lets me run with the needed permissions.

mkdir creates a directory in that will reference my hard drive.

mount will then assign the directory to the previously mentioned directory.

Does this sound right?

Since I'm using a livecd, is the directory I create placed on the drive I'm mounting or in the virtual world of the liveCD?

[aysiu]

Re: Access drives with LiveCD

You're right on on all counts.

And, yes, the directories get "created" in the virtual world of the live CD (in your computer's RAM). So when you reboot, they won't be there any more.

[philthylabwrk]

Re: Access drives with LiveCD

Thanks. Your instructions were perfect.

Phillip