Mounting NTFS drives

[Dan Cundy]

Is it possible to mount NTFS drives on my FreeNAS 9.3 install?

I'm sure in previous versions i have able to mount my old windows drives which hold all my media. I can not find anyway in this new version to mount them and keep my data.

There is no mention in the manual and countless Google searches have come up empty! Know I know that this is unix/linux based OS and they aren't compatible with regards to file systems, but that has never been a problem in my 5 years of using unix/linux.

 

[BigDave]

Is it possible to mount NTFS drives on my FreeNAS 9.3 install?

I sorry but no you can not. Version 9.3 is now using the ZFS file system only.
You might be able to use an older version of FreeNAS, but I don't know that for sure.

 

[Dan Cundy]

I sorry but no you can not. Version 9.3 is now using the ZFS file system only.
You might be able to use an older version of FreeNAS, but I don't know that for sure.

Wow, you know why they would do that? To me it seems counter intuitive to remove function like this, surely they should be adding features not removing them.

 

[BigDave]

Doing away with support for multiple file systems is IMHO a stability thing.
This "feature" loss has paved the way for the addition of many others.
Moving away from the command line interface has opened the door for iX Systems
to market their products to a much wider group of consumers. The friendly GUI
interface has made huge strides in the ease of administrating the small network server.
In short, it's about making it easier for more people.
You may recall that old saying, "if you try to please everyone, no one will like it".

 

[Dan Cundy]

Yea I understand I guess. For me its a deal breaker. With out this feature I would have to buy a new hard drive and transfer everything over to the new file system. To be honest I don't think support for 'probably' the most used file system in the world, the windows one would be to much to ask for.

Thank you for your reply however I do appreciate it.

Back to NAS4Free it is then.

 

[BigDave]

Well in the end, the software cost you nothing! Isn't open source stuff great like that?

 

[Dan Cundy]

Yes of course, its one of the reasons I love Linux/Unix stuff. I'm just a little bit disappointed in FreeNas. I'm going to try FreeNAS 9.2 before i abandon it completely and revert back to Nas4Free.

 

[diedrichg]

You can't mount the NTFS drive to your desktop and use a sync software such as Syncback, FreeFileSync or Goodsync or... etc, etc?

 

[Dan Cundy]

You can't mount the NTFS drive to your desktop and use a sync software such as Syncback, FreeFileSync or Goodsync or... etc, etc?

The ntfs drive is a 1tb drive I pulled out of my windows rig to use as a networked storage drive. I dont see how using sync software would solve my issue of wanteing to mount it on my Nas?

 

[diedrichg]

Oh, sorry. I thought you were just trying to get the data off of it or use it as a backup drive.

 

[Dan Cundy]

Dave I dont suppose you know what the most recent version had the legacy mounting option left in do you?

 

[BigDave]

No Dan, I don't, but I'm willing to bet someone will chime in here shortly with an answer for you.
And might I suggest that you post your hardware specs (see signature) so you could possibly
receive specific guidance/suggestions.

 

[mjws00]

9.2.1.9 will let you mount your ntfs drive. 9.3 will let you import it. I believe the intent was to stop people trying to write to ntfs via fuse, which is notoriously bad at it.

I haven't had a successful 9.3 import yet, but only started testing it when I saw your thread.

9.2.1.9 is as capable as any other fuse base derivative.

 

[Z300M]

I sorry but no you can not. Version 9.3 is now using the ZFS file system only.
You might be able to use an older version of FreeNAS, but I don't know that for sure.

I've upgraded to 9.3 and can still mount a USB-connected NTFS-formatted drive:

Code:

xxxx # kldload fuse
xxxx # mkdir /var/NTFS
xxxx # ntfs-3g /dev/<your NTFS drive's daXpY> /var/NTFS 

 

[Dan Cundy]

9.2.1.9 will let you mount your ntfs drive. 9.3 will let you import it. I believe the intent was to stop people trying to write to ntfs via fuse, which is notoriously bad at it.

I haven't had a successful 9.3 import yet, but only started testing it when I saw your thread.

9.2.1.9 is as capable as any other fuse base derivative.

Just had a quick google at what fuse was, never heard of it before, couldn't find a simple answer, so gave up.

Thank you for the info on 9.2.1.9, downloading img now! :)

 

[mjws00]

z300m has the more sophisticated answer. It isn't that functions typically get removed from the kernel. They just have to drop high maintenance items in the GUI that are underutilized.

 

[Dan Cundy]

I've upgraded to 9.3 and can still mount a USB-connected NTFS-formatted drive:

Code:

xxxx # kldload fuse
xxxx # mkdir /var/NTFS
xxxx # ntfs-3g /dev/<your NTFS drive's daXpY> /var/NTFS 

Mine are all Sata drives, unfortunately no usb connected drives. I've mounted this way before when i used to use my Pi with RaspianOS though and it worked fine.

 

[mjws00]

USB or not doesn't matter. You are mounting a device. /dev/ada0p1 ... etc. Both 9.3 and 9.2.1.9 work fine from the CLI. 9.2 did it in the GUI.

From what I can tell the 9.3 Import is broken. I throw an error, haven't done any homework on whether a bug is filed.

 

[Dan Cundy]

USB or not doesn't matter. You are mounting a device. /dev/ada0p1 ... etc. Both 9.3 and 9.2.1.9 work fine from the CLI. 9.2 did it in the GUI.

From what I can tell the 9.3 Import is broken. I throw an error, haven't done any homework on whether a bug is filed.

Yes i came to the same conclusion too, after I import a drive, no drives are visible in the management area? Is that the same bug you had?

 

[mjws00]

I throw a django.utils error on the console and the process seems to hang... It is a tiny 5Gb drive I was testing with one file. So should be almost instant. On another occasion it completely blew out my volume manager, even though the devices appeared on the left menu. It isn't something I use a lot, and I'm happy mounting from the CLI if I need it... so not sure how much deeper I'll dive.