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hal package

changing a hard disk from 'read only'

Asked by Sper01

I have a second hard disk on my system which is recognised and I can access the files but am unable to delete any files as it is showing the disk as 'read only'. How can I change this? I have copied the files to an external drive and would like to reformat the disk as I have only recently switched from Windows XP to Ubuntu.

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Bjørn Petter Kysnes (bepe86) said : 		#1

Is the XP-partition NTFS-type? If it is, you need to install NTFS-3g.

Read this (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountingWindowsPartitions?action=show&redirect=NTFSReadWrite) for more information :)

Good luck

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Sper01 (craig-kirby) said : 		#2

what format is the preference for hard disks with ubuntu? I would like to reformat my second hard disk as I don't need to retain the data on it. Can some one please advise the easiest way to reformat a hard disk with ubuntu?

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#3

You must unmount the ntfs hard disk to delete/create/format partition on it.
to seek/check the mounted ntfs disk
sudo mount
to unmount the disk
sudo umount /mountpoint/path....
example:
sudo umount /media/ntfsdisk

I think gparted is the simpler tool to delete NTFS partition and create a new one and format it to ext3

1) install gparted
sudo apt-get install gparted
2) start gparted
gksudo gparted

3) choose the hard-disk then delete ntfs partition and press apply button.
then create a new partitition select it and format as ext3 ( mouse right click )

------------

If you are still in trouble with NTFS i suggest you to install ntfs-config
Open a Terminal from menu Applications->Accessories-Terminal and type:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config

when ntfs-config is installed you can find a "NTFS config tool" into menu Applications->System Tools
try to use it to config NTFS

HTH

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