Windows uses a different filesystem (NTFS) to store files. In order for Fedora to read that filesystem, you require NTFS support in your kernel. There are multiple ways now to support NTFS in Linux. The following solution uses NTFS-3G which uses "Fuse" support in more recent kernels.
NOTE: As of Fedora 7, devices previously referenced by /dev/hda and /dev/hdb will be referenced by /dev/sda and /dev/sdb (respectively).



To setup NTFS access you must (1) install NTFS support, (2) check how many partitions you have, (3) create mount points, (4) mount partitions, and (5) update fstab to mount at next boot.

1. Install NTFS Support
The software required for NTFS support is included in the DVD installation. If not, install using yum:
[mirandam@charon ~]$ OpenDNS yum install fuse fuse-libs ntfs-3g

Users without yum, either download or use your Fedora 7 DVD to install the following RPM's: fuse, fuse-lib and ntfs-3g.


2. Check Your Partitions
Use fdisk to list partitions. Most ATA hard drives will be /dev/sda. Drives may also show up as /dev/sdb depending on your configuration.


[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /sbin/fdisk -lu /dev/sda | grep NTFS

Usually the first will be a drive "letter": C drive, next D, etc. Hence /dev/sda1 is my C:\ drive used by Windows.


3. Create Mount Points
For every partition in step 2 that you wish to access, you will need a "mount point". A mount point is just a directory. Common directories are: /media/ and /mnt/. Use whichever, but be consistent.


[mirandam@charon ~]$ cd /media/ [mirandam@charon media]$ sudo mkdir c_drive d_drive e_drive

You do not have to use these names, if you prefer to create folders such as 'movies', 'documents', or 'winxp', any name will work (recommended without spaces).


4. Mount Partitions
Using the NTFS-3G we can either mount the NTFS partitions read-only or read-write. For new users, read-only is recommended.
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/d_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda3 /media/e_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222

Read/Write Access: The above is for read-only access. In order to mount read/write, you must use the -rw -o umask=0000.

Example:
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -rw -o umask=0000

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Please run man mount to understand what umask= does.


5. Update /etc/fstab
Every time Fedora boots, the partitions must be mounted. To automatically mount, you must edit /etc/fstab.
Open /etc/fstab in an editor: (use nano instead of gedit if you do not have a GUI)


[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add these lines to the END of the file:


/dev/sda1 /media/c_drive ntfs-3g ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/d_drive ntfs-3g ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/sda3 /media/e_drive ntfs-3g ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0

Read/Write Access: The above is for read-only access. In order to mount read/write, you must use the rw,defaults,umask=0000. Example:


/dev/sda1 /media/c_drive ntfs-3g rw,defaults,umask=0000 0 0

Done!



For more help Check out



Personal Fedora 7 Installation Guide