FAT32 corruption writing from Linux

[Alex Janssen]

Hello,

I am having trouble with a mounted FAT32 file system. I've never
experienced this before.
I set up the 30GB FAT32 partition, created with Win XP, to share data
between WinXP and Linux on a dual-boot system.

Some times, more often than not, Windows reports crosslinked files and
invalid FAT entries after writing to this drive with Linux apps,
Thunderbird and GIMP I have seen cause this because I use them most
often with this partition.

I thought I might be mounting it wrong so here's the entry from my fstab:
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/hdc2 /d2 vfat rw,users,noauto,conv=b 0 0

If you see something wrong with this I'd sure like to know. I added
the "conv=b" option hoping binary mode might prevent these errors, but
it does not.

I have to use Windows to clean up the drive after writing with Linux.
I also had this problem with Fedora Core 3. So I thought I'd try Ubuntu.

Must be the way I hold my mouth when mounting the partition.

Thanks for any help you might provide,
Alex

['Forum Post]

Try following these directions:



http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

[Alex Janssen]

Post by 'Forum Post
http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

I am trying this mount based on the instructions at ubuntuguide.org.
Things seem to be more stable. At least no corruption is rearing its
ugly head, yet.
Do you know the purpose of the iocharset=utf8 option? Other advice I
have read does not specify it.

Alex

[Sarangan Thuraisingham]

Post by 'Forum Post
http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

I am trying this mount based on the instructions at ubuntuguide.org<http://ubuntuguide.org>
.
Things seem to be more stable. At least no corruption is rearing its
ugly head, yet.
Do you know the purpose of the iocharset=utf8 option? Other advice I
have read does not specify it.

I think thats for filename conversions. But this options seems to be not
recognised. Cos I get an error during startup( I am using Hoary BTW), saying
that the utf8 is not a recognised option.


Alex

--
Ourwoods.org <http://Ourwoods.org>
Charlottesville, Virginia
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[Alex Janssen]

On 10/8/05, *Alex Janssen* <alex at ourwoods.org

Post by 'Forum Post
http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

I am trying this mount based on the instructions at
ubuntuguide.org <http://ubuntuguide.org>.
Things seem to be more stable. At least no corruption is rearing its
ugly head, yet.
Do you know the purpose of the iocharset=utf8 option? Other advice I
have read does not specify it.
I think thats for filename conversions. But this options seems to be
not recognised. Cos I get an error during startup( I am using Hoary
BTW), saying that the utf8 is not a recognised option.

I am also running 5.04. When I mounted the FAT32 partition, I received
a warning that utf8 was not reccomended for FAT partitions. It also
said that the FAT mount would be case sensative using utf8. I have
discontinued use of that option to see what difference it makes.

Alex

[Alex Janssen]

Post by Alex Janssen

On 10/8/05, *Alex Janssen* <alex at ourwoods.org

Post by 'Forum Post
http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

I am trying this mount based on the instructions at
ubuntuguide.org <http://ubuntuguide.org>.
Things seem to be more stable. At least no corruption is rearing its
ugly head, yet.
Do you know the purpose of the iocharset=utf8 option? Other advice I
have read does not specify it.
I think thats for filename conversions. But this options seems to
be not recognised. Cos I get an error during startup( I am using
Hoary BTW), saying that the utf8 is not a recognised option.

I am also running 5.04. When I mounted the FAT32 partition, I
received a warning that utf8 was not reccomended for FAT partitions.
It also said that the FAT mount would be case sensative using utf8. I
have discontinued use of that option to see what difference it makes.
Alex

Well, I guess the utf8 option is necessary. I got some more corrupted
files after I removed it. I put it back and no corruption since. I'm
curious now, if anyone would care to shed some light on this, I'd like
to know how utf8 plays into this..

Alex

[Alex Janssen]

Post by 'Forum Post
http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

This appears to have done the trick. Thanks for the tip. :-)

Alex

[David Woyciesjes]

Post by Alex Janssen
Hello,
I am having trouble with a mounted FAT32 file system. I've never
experienced this before.
I set up the 30GB FAT32 partition, created with Win XP, to share data
between WinXP and Linux on a dual-boot system.
Some times, more often than not, Windows reports crosslinked files and
invalid FAT entries after writing to this drive with Linux apps,
Thunderbird and GIMP I have seen cause this because I use them most
often with this partition.

You might want to check out Microsoft's web site. I seem to recall
reading about a ~30GB limit for FAT 32 partitions. Or that might apply
to Windows 98 on a FAT32 partition.
Either way, you might want to try shrinking it down to 25GB or so, and
see what happens.

[Alex Janssen]

Post by David Woyciesjes

Post by Alex Janssen
Hello,
I am having trouble with a mounted FAT32 file system. I've never
experienced this before.
I set up the 30GB FAT32 partition, created with Win XP, to share
data between WinXP and Linux on a dual-boot system.
Some times, more often than not, Windows reports crosslinked files
and invalid FAT entries after writing to this drive with Linux apps,
Thunderbird and GIMP I have seen cause this because I use them most
often with this partition.

You might want to check out Microsoft's web site. I seem to recall
reading about a ~30GB limit for FAT 32 partitions. Or that might apply
to Windows 98 on a FAT32 partition.
Either way, you might want to try shrinking it down to 25GB or so,
and see what happens.

You are right about the partition size limitation due to the allocation
unit size limitation to 16384 bytes. These FAT32 partitions were
created with Win XP itself, so they were within its' limitations.

I believe I have just mounted it wrong.
I was using the following in /etc/fstab :
/dev/hdc2 /d2 vfat rw,users,noauto,conv=b 0 0

I apparently should have been using :
/dev/hdc2 /d2 vfat iocharset=utf8,umask=000
0 0

There is also the possibility that writing to the FAT partition while
windows is hibernating will cause windows to use invalid information to
access the FAT resulting in possible corruption.

I am testing this mount currently.

Alex

[frank]

Post by Alex Janssen
I set up the 30GB FAT32 partition, created with Win XP, to share data
between WinXP and Linux on a dual-boot system.

I had the same trouble some times ago. I've found that the problem was
wiped out by shutting down the sistem. I mean don't suspend & resume the
windows system. If u suspend it it store the HD state and WANT the disk
back in the same state.
If isn't your case (you always shutdown your windows system) i can't
help you.
Frank