Difference between revisions of "Ext2/3 Partitions - Mounting them on the Desktop"

Revision as of 19:10, 13 January 2007

Why

If you need GUI-based access to the contents of a hard drive, or if you need to mount an ext2/3 hard drive on a computer running Windows or OS X, this page may have an answer for you. The process outlined here is useful for someone rescuing data from a backup USB hard drive, or from a data partition in a Linkstation.

Windows

OS X

Requirements

• ext2fsx driver from SourceForge.net
• a computer running OS X (10.3-10.4.x are currently supported)
• a hard drive formatted in ext2 or ext3

Before connecting

Unmount cleanly from current mount point. Check w/ df -Th

Connecting and Determining diskMsN

Mounting

sudo -s mkdir /Volumes/linux mount_ext2 -o rdonly -x /dev/disk2s1 /Volumes/linux

Access

Finder Menu Go->Go To Folder

Unmounting

umount /dev/disk2s1

Check w/ df -Th

Troubleshooting

Windows

OS X

Error messages and their meaning:

• Invalid argument

mount_ext2: /dev/disk3s1 on /Volumes/linux: Invalid argument

If you are using a USB drive, this may mean that you forgot to unmount before physically disconnecting your cable.

• No such directory

/dev/disk3s1 on /Volumes/linux: No such file or directory

You may have forgotten to create the mount point directory in /Volumes.

References and Links