Re: [gentoo-user] Cannot edit files on usb flash drive.

[Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 2:17 AM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> ubiquitous1980 wrote:
>>
>> Alan McKinnon wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Monday 08 March 2010 08:31:40 ubiquitous1980 wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I have a usb flash drive which will not allow me to edit its files.  I
>>>> have tried chmod a+rwx -R $files but this does still not permit
>>>> editing.  Further, the files within the directories refuse to have
>>>> ownership changed via chown $myusername -R /mnt/disk.  Output is:
>>>> operation not permitted.  Any ideas?  Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> This happens when the flash drive is type vfat. This excuse for a file
>>> system
>>> does not have a concept of owners and permissions so the kernel has to
>>> fudge
>>> it. You are finding that you cannot change these for the simple reason
>>> that
>>> they do not exist and the kernel is pretending they are owned by root
>>> with
>>> MODE 755 or some such.
>>>
>>> If hal is mounting the device, check your hal config, looking for some
>>> likely
>>> named option.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> What config file would this be?  Can I find it in the handbook?
>>
>>>
>>> If the device is mounted via /etc/fstab, adjust the
>>> uid/gid/umask/dmask/fmask
>>> options to mount in column 4. Full details in the man page, under section
>>> "fat"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I need to interact with university computers from time to time, any
>> other file system with proper permissions, to be used under both linux
>> and windows (without additional drivers)?
>>
>>
>>
>
> I don't use these so I am by no means saying they work well.
>
> sys-fs/ntfs3g
>
> sys-fs/ntfsprogs
>
> I have read that the first one works pretty well but no first hand knowledge
> if it is true or not.  You may want to read this as well.
>
> http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php
>
> You may just want to test this with something not so important for a bit and
> see how well this works for you.

You could also use ext2 and install the driver on Windows:
http://www.fs-driver.org/