ReiserFS Linux Native Partition to NTFS/FAT32 Conversion

G

Guest

Hello,
I am having a small problem with accessing a drive and conversion of what
was formerly a Linux hard drive. The deal is that I am required by a college
course to use Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro for a college course. I normally
run the SuSE Linux kernel and Windows 98SE (dual boot) for when I need to use
Windows based applications and have not run into this problem in the past.
(Please note that I have nothing against MS products, so this isn't intended
to be flamebait.)

When I made the switch to Windows 2000 I found that Explorer is not able
to access the ReiserFS format used by Linux. I attempted to access the
partition through the Computer Management component available in the Control
Panel, however this would not even allow me to establish an NTFS/FAT
partition in the drive. (I did delete the MBR from the Linux Native drive
first, thinking that this might help. I restored this later without
incident.)

Disk Management can see the partition, knows that it is ReiserFS, and
further knows how much space in the partition is data. Furthermore, if I
delete the 768MB MBR from the front of the drive, I can establish an NTFS
partition in that space. However, (again) I cannot neck the ReiserFS
partition down and establish an NTFS or FAT32 partition in the remaining free
space.

I need the data from this partition and really do not want to have to
roll back to 98SE to copy the data from the drive only to turn right around
and reinstall/patch/update 2000 Pro after a five minute copy evolution.

Therefore my questions are:

1. Is there a manner by which the ResierFS partition can be converted to
NTFS without data corruption?
2. Why are 2000 Pro/XP (I tried an install of XP to see if that would
work,) unable to see the Linux Native partitions when 98SE can see them?
2.a. Is there a functionality in Windows 2000 and XP that I have not enabled
that is preventing this? 2.b. Is there a feature that I am not utilizing
correctly that would enable this to happen?
3. I strongly prefer not to go third party for a solution, however I have a
feeling that this may be necessary. If there is a viable third party
(non-MS) application that supports this conversion, does anyone have any
recommendations?

Any support or assistance that anyone is able to provide in this
situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

V/R
Screech

Pertinent System Details:
Homebuilt AMD Athlon 1700+ w/512MB SDRAM
Windows Drive: Seagate 20GB
Linux Native Drive: Western Digital 160GB
 
P

philo

Screech said:
Hello,
I am having a small problem with accessing a drive and conversion of what
was formerly a Linux hard drive. The deal is that I am required by a college
course to use Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro for a college course. I normally
run the SuSE Linux kernel and Windows 98SE (dual boot) for when I need to use
Windows based applications and have not run into this problem in the past.
(Please note that I have nothing against MS products, so this isn't intended
to be flamebait.)

When I made the switch to Windows 2000 I found that Explorer is not able
to access the ReiserFS format used by Linux. I attempted to access the
partition through the Computer Management component available in the Control
Panel, however this would not even allow me to establish an NTFS/FAT
partition in the drive. (I did delete the MBR from the Linux Native drive
first, thinking that this might help. I restored this later without
incident.)


<snip>

win2k can delete the rfs partition (and recreate it as NTFS)
but it cannot read a rfs partition or convert it.
since Linux does not have fully supported write access to NTFS...
the best thing to do is dual boot linux and windows
and create a fat32 partition for shared data
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top