Ntfs Formatted Hard Drives On The 2x

[Muncher666]

Now, I understand that it's completely crazy to think that we could write to an NTFS hard drive under the 2x (as Linux also has this under the minor improbability header) - but can we easily read an NTFS hard drive? I'd like to be able to use my portable 200 GBer with the 2x under the BOB, but I was wondering if it's even possible to read off of because it is formatted for NTFS. Bearing this in mind, and if it isn't, how hard would it be to compile the appropriate bits and pieces to make it readable? I just want it for playing video files, see.

Allan.

 

[BradN]

You'd probably just need to compile the ntfs filesystem module, provided the kernel version in use has it (it probably does). And yeah, any writes that change filesystem characteristics (size, rename/delete operations, etc) probably won't be possible. You probably could, however, create a filesystem image (inside windows) and mount it read/write via loopback.

 

[Muncher666]

Sounds fairly simple, even for my limited dev'ing skills. So there definitely isn't an NTFS module already compiled for the 2x?

Allan.

 

[Blah]

Support was included with kernel 2.6. GP2X uses 2.4. The linux NTFS implementation is not perfect, it can read all files but writing sometimes fails. This is because NTFS is a Microsoft trade secret, so it had to be reverse engineered.I don't know anything else on the subject, sorry.

You could try to compile the kernel module and then load it. This worked for the 2.6 USB Networking module at least. I'll see if I can't compile it for you.

For my dual boot linux machine I used a 2gb NTFS partition to install Windows on, and partitioned the rest as EXT2 (version 2 of the defualt linux filesystem), and used a driver to access files in Windows. That way the programs and data for Windows and Linux could have free reign over hard drive space.

So perhaps you could try using EXT2 or FAT32, both of which should be supported. Back up your stuff first, of course. The SD cards use FAT32 so I know it is supported, but FAT32 is kind of anchient. FAT32 is also supported by Windows since '95.


NTFS-Tools: Compiled
NTFS Module: Don't need it
FUSE Module: Required, but not compiled yet.

 

[Tobriand]

I was under the impression that the most recent NTFS module had writing enabled, and generally speaking worked pretty well. Don't know how you'd get that onto the 2x, but presumably it'd be somewhat possible...

 

[Ze_ro]

Frankly, I think your best bet would be to backup your files and reformat the drive as FAT32... then it should work fine with both Windows and the GP2X without worrying about drivers that may or may not work.

--Zero

 

[Shikaku]

Frankly, I think your best bet would be to backup your files and reformat the drive as FAT32... then it should work fine with both Windows and the GP2X without worrying about drivers that may or may not work.

--Zero

You need a product not made by Windows (i.e, Linux) to format 32 GB+ to FAT32, because Windows XP wants you to use NTFS.

 

[Blah]

Windows XP allows you to format in FAT32 as long as the partition is 32 gigs or smaller. Other formatting tools do not have this limitation.