This tutorial will show you how to mount an NTFS drive in read/write mode on Rocky Linux with ntfs-3g driver. The NTFS-3G driver is an open-source implementation that allows Linux and other Unix-like operating systems to read from and write to NTFS (New Technology File System) partitions, commonly used by Windows operating systems. Developed by Tuxera and maintained within the FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) framework, NTFS-3G provides robust support for NTFS file systems, enabling seamless interoperability between Linux and Windows environments. This driver is essential for users who need to access data on NTFS-formatted drives, perform file operations, and manage partitions without compromising data integrity. Its widespread adoption and continuous updates ensure compatibility with the latest NTFS features and enhancements. This tutorial has been written by David Duarte and Till Brehm.
The ntfs-3g driver is available in the EPEL repository, it is available for all RHEL-based systems. The first step is to install and activate EPEL on your Rocky Linux system.
Enable the EPEL repository
Run the following command as root user on the shell to enable the EPEL repository.
dns install epel-release
EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) is a Fedora Special Interest Group that creates, maintains, and manages a set of additional high-quality packages for Enterprise Linux, including, but not limited to, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Rocky Linux.
Install the ntfs-3g driver
Then we have to install the ntfs-3g package with yum.
dnf install ntfs-3g
Once installed, we create a directory where the NTFS drive shall be mounted:
mkdir /mnt/win
Now, we can mount the NTFS partition by running this command:
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /mnt/win
My NTFS partition is the device /dev/sdb1 in this example. You have to replace that with the device name of your NTFS partition.
The mount point will exist until reboot or until you unmount it with:
umount /mnt/win
To mount the NTFS partition permanently, add the following line to the /etc/fstab file.
Open /etc/fstab with an editor:
nano /etc/fstab
And add the line:
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/win ntfs-3g defaults 0 0
Again, replace /dev/sdb1 with the device name that matches your setup. Now your Linux system will mount the NTFS drive automatically at boot time.