Problems changing OS from Windows XP to Ubuntu -- File Permissions??

[ZIYAD A. M. AL-BATLY]

On Sun, 2005-03-27 at 16:22 -0800, Deric Stowell wrote:
> Hi, All. 
> 
> Recent;y i changed over from Windows XP Pro to Ubuntu Linux and used
> the NTFS-formatted data drives. I usually only have the OS installed
> on the FirstDrive/FirstPartition, so i know I have a clean install.
> However, I have been having some problems with opening files that i
> want to be able to use from the NTFS drives. I noticed that they are
> all set as Read-Only, even though i mount them as R/W in
> the /etc/fstab file.
By default, Linux does *not* support writing to NTFS file-systems.  If
you really want to write to NTFS from Linux and you have a legitimate
copy of Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP try out captive
<http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/> (they have Debian
packages).

> So then what I did was to open the files I needed in whatever
> application, then created a new folder in my home directory and saved
> it there. seems to work Ok, i guess, but it seems such a long way
> around a small problem.
Sorry but I don't understand what you are asking?

> Is there some command that will just re-do all the files' permissions?
See above, NTFS writing is not support by default in Linux.

> I want to get them off the drives so i can reformat all the drives
> with ext3 or ext2.
If all you want is copying the files from NTFS to a Linux file-system:
        mkdir -p ~/Documents && \
        cd "/mnt/WinXP/Documents and Setting/username/My Documents" && \
        cp -a * ~/Documents
This will copy anything from
        /mnt/WinXP/Documents and Setting/username/My Documents
to Documents in your home directory. Make sure you have enough free
space in your Linux partition.

> Also, does having a space in the folder or file name make any
> difference? (i noticed that i have to put quotes around them if in a
> shell.)
Again, I don't understand exactly what you want?.
You could have 3 files: Hi, World, and "Hi World". So issuing the
command:
        cat Hi World
will cat the two files Hi and World; not the one file "Hi World". So
yes, spaces in file names does make difference (though, Linux support
any letters in a file/directory name except: NULL (0x00) and "/" (0x2F)
as long as it's possible by the file-system itself, if that's what you
are asking).

> What is the best type of FS to use for storing large files? documents?
> images?
No idea.  Myself, I use ext3 for support and reliability for all my
needs.

> Thanks in advance for your help.
> 
> 
> -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Thanks,
> 
> Deric Stowell
> Digital Paradise Consulting
> 619-995-2250
I hope I helped even a little.
Ziyad.