Mount problem - XP partition - "NTFS signature missing"

[pngn]

I run Fedora 7 on a dual-boot laptop. Here is the


# /sbin/fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2462 19775983+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 2463 9729 58372177+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 2463 4885 19462716 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 4886 6308 11430216 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 6309 9340 24354508+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 9341 9602 2104483+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 9603 9729 1020096 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Using eg.
# mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda5 /mnt/win
I can mount what probably is some factory-installed recovery partition for XP, but there's not where my files are.
# mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/win
fails with


NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument
Failed to mount '/dev/sda2': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda2' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong device? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? Or the other way around?


Here is the output from mount:

/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sda7 on /mnt/hda7 type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sda8 on /mnt/hda8 type ext2 (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)


I think this is a fairly common problem, and since I've done the minimum possible changes when I installed F7 it could be useful for other people as well to get a simple solution. Under Fedora 6 I could mount the partition with no problems. The only thing I've done since the install of F7 is to resize partitions sda7 (Linux) and sda6 (Linux, with / ) using Gparted.

I think that under F6, there were only partitions 1, 5 (boot and XP), 6,7,8 and swap.

Thanks for any advice.

[glennzo]

/dev/sda5 should be where your Windows files are. /dev/sda1 is usually the 'hidden' recovery partition. On my laptop, /dev/sda1 is the recovery partition, dev/sda2 is my Windows partition (think I have a screwed up partitioning scheme) and then there's the extended partition and a couple EXT3 parts and swap. Looking at your partitions, if you say that Windows is not on /dev/sda5 then I'd try mounting /dev/sda1 to have a look see. /dev/sda2 is the extended partition. Don't think you'll ever get that mounted, nor should you try or need to.

[pngn]

Excellent! Thank you - I had the feeling that posting here would get me a solution quickly. It seems that either I just didn't remember the order of the partitions, or they were somehow renumbered from Fedora's point of view,

[glennzo]

You're welcome. For the record, here's my partitions on the laptop.
[root@toshiba ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 192 1536000 27 Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 * 192 16586 131684352 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 16587 19457 23061307+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 16587 17891 10482381 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 17892 19196 10482381 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 19197 19457 2096451 82 Linux swap / Solaris
I've hosed this system once and had to 'restore' with the Toshiba provided disks. Worked well, but the scheme doesn't look right. Point is that /dev/sda1 on this box is the restore, /dev/sda2 is Windows and /dev/sda3 is Extended. 2 and 3 are now reversed after the restore and that Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary thing might be troubling.

[xienxien2001]

i tried doing this and i get this result

[root@localhost xienxien2001]# /sbin/fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hdc: 100.0 GB, 100036786176 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12162 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 8974 72083623+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc2 8975 12129 25342537+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc3 12130 12162 265072+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
[root@localhost xienxien2001]# clear

[root@localhost xienxien2001]# /sbin/fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hdc: 100.0 GB, 100036786176 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12162 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 8974 72083623+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc2 8975 12129 25342537+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc3 12130 12162 265072+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
[root@localhost xienxien2001]# mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/hdc1/mnt/win
Usage: mount -V : print version
mount -h : print this help
mount : list mounted filesystems
mount -l : idem, including volume labels
So far the informational part. Next the mounting.
The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'.
Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted.
mount -a [-t|-O] ... : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab
mount device : mount device at the known place
mount directory : mount known device here
mount -t type dev dir : ordinary mount command
Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts
a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device.
One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere:
mount --bind olddir newdir
or move a subtree:
mount --move olddir newdir
One can change the type of mount containing the directory dir:
mount --make-shared dir
mount --make-slave dir
mount --make-private dir
mount --make-unbindable dir
One can change the type of all the mounts in a mount subtree
containing the directory dir:
mount --make-rshared dir
mount --make-rslave dir
mount --make-rprivate dir
mount --make-runbindable dir
A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom,
or by label, using -L label or by uuid, using -U uuid .
Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options] [-p passwdfd].
For many more details, say man 8 mount .
[root@localhost xienxien2001]#




what do i do? thanks

[glennzo]

You need a space between /dev/hdc1 and /mnt/win.
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/hdc1 /mnt/win

[xienxien2001]

wow, thanks for your quick reply, let me try this out

[theman1]

I have the same problem where it says ntfs is missing.
I only have 2 partitions, and the first is just the windows back up folders, and I'm having the problem with the second partition. Any Ideas???

[glennzo]

Pretty old thread here, but just the same....

Post the output of the command

su -c 'fdisk -l'
please. The command will list all partitions on all disks.

[theman1]

Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6669724e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1275 10241406 27 Unknown
/dev/sda2 * 1276 91202 722330624 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8f9c798a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 30401 244196001 7 HPFS/NTFS