Linux-Noob Forums

Hi, I am looking to convert my ntfs drive to ext3 but have no knowlege on how to accomplish this task if you have any knowlege I would be grateful if you could share it thanks in advance :)

i don't know if it is possible but if so i'd like to know how,

 

without losing any data i mean :)

cheers

 

anyweb

If your kernel supports ntfs and you have enough free space to store the whole ntfs partition, you can do the following:

 

Quote:assuming your current kernel supports ntfs formatand you have lots of free space some place

 

mount [ -t ntfs ] /dev/hdaxxx /mnt/ntfs

- du /mnt/ntfs  -- tells you how much spare space you need

 

cd /mnt/ntfs ; tar zcf /some-place-with-tons-of-space/ntfs.tgz *

 

umount /mnt/ntfs

 

#

# be sure you have your data saved first ...

#

mke2fs -j /dev/hdaxxx

 

mount /dev/hdaxxx /mnt/ntfs

cd /mnt/ntfs ; tar zxvfp -  /some-place-with-tons-of-space/ntfs.tgz

 

sync ; umount /mnt/ntfs

 

put the data where you want it ... /mnt/real-ntfs-mount

Since Partition Magic 8.0 supports ext3 and ntfs, maybe it can convert it on the fly, but i can't seem to find any info on that.

RedHat and Fedora users who have NTFS partitions read this:

Linux NTFS Project

 

It works. but follow the directions EXACTLY =)

 

good luck! [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_ph34r.png[/img]