'Automagic' partition change

Question

Hello,

MY PROBLEM:
I changed the type of the original rescue Partitions to "W95 FAT 32" (b). After each boot in Windows, exactly these partition types are changed to "HIDDEN W95 FAT 32 (LBA)" (1c), wich makes them unuseable in WinXP. Nor me neither the commertial software-support where I was directed to by DELL were able to find out what needs to be changed to circumvent this. I would be very happy if cou could help!

MORE DETAILLED:
I made an exact copy of the partitions ("dd" in Linux) to backup the original data on DVD. Then I changed the partition label ("fdisk" , "t", "b" in Linux) and verified it after a reboot Linux -> Linux. After that, I formatted the new drives with Windows file system (vfat), saved some testing files on it and rebooted to Windows. I could see no new drive neither in the Windows Explorer nor with any trick I could think of (well, I didn't use partition magic, but I don't think that would be the ultimate solution). After rebooting into Linux, I realized that the partition type was changed to "HIDDEN", so that windows was not allowed to see it. After that, I viewed autoexec.bat and config.sys - they were EMPTY! I also surfed a little around in this windows registry, but couldn't find anything for half an hour.

REASONS:
I dual-boot in Linux and Windows. I'd like to use the original rescure partitions to exchange data between the systems, because at the moment Linux is not able to write on (preinstalled) XFS :/

Thanks for advice,

Thomas

david_knapp · Answer

I cannot help you with the partition type change problem, but I do have some experience with sharing data between Linux and XP. You have two routes:

a. Create a FAT32 partition that both systems can see. Leave alone the restore partition that you have been knocking your head against. It is probably not very big anyway. This is the traditional Linux/Window sharing method.

b. Load ntfs support on Linux and read directly from the Windoz partition. http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

has lots of info. In addition, I have used the http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ drivers with success to write directly to NTFS partition. In my case, I had to install the C++ compiler and some other stuff to get the compiles to work. I was using SUSE 10.0 on a Dell 4550 with WinXP Home in one case and SUSE 10.0 and Win2K Advanced Server on an old Dell 1300 server in another.

Good luck.

Message Edited by david_knapp on 02-05-2007 12:31 PM

Linux General

"Automagic" partition change

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