ok, I recently had issues with windows not reading one of my disk drives even if mounted in external drive. however, if I put the linux mephis CD in and boot it, I can view files on the disk. I want to use mephis to copy these files to another disk that works on both. (I can get it to work on a 1gb thumb drive, but these are 500gb drives. anyway, when I try to make new folders or copy files over, I am having permission issues. and no matter how hard i try, i can't seem to make the permissions stick. any help?

What file system are you attempting to write to? If it is an ntfs partition, you must have ntfs-3g and any dependencies installed and configured. If it is already installed, are you copying the files as root? Ernie Registered Linux User 247790 ICQ 41060744

What is ntfs-3g and how do I install/use it and the dependencies? (I'm using the bootable Mephis cd) I'm sire I am copying as root. I have 3 options when logging onto the system root, OnTheGo, and user (maybe) I've used darn near every function I could find that deals with root access (I'm new to linux, and my only experience is with the bootable linux (non-installed) Basically, I want to copy files from one hard drive to another and windows won't read the first one (linux can see both but can't write to either) any help is appreciated. lemme go google ntfs-3g

As ernie says it is not a linux issue but the way ntfs tries to protect the filesystem. As you say you can read but you can't write. Four solutions basically exist. One is to do what ernie suggest and provide a way for linux to "write" to a ntfs disk. The other is to use a networked drive that you have allowed a user to read/write to. Put that info on a shared folder on another system. (you could in fact network locally but that won't fix this issue) The other is to use a more native linux filesystem. Lastly is a live linux distro that has "write " support built in. Many newer small distros can be used. See if slax, astrumi, dsl, puppy have ntfs write support if you must write to a local ntfs drive. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

Another potential solution may be to use the System Rescue CD. System Rescue CD can be downloaded as a bootable CD image file. Burn the image to a CD. Boot the troubled computer with the CD you just burned. You can mount your ntfs partitions with write support (ntfs-3g included) then copy the files you need to recover. The WEB site includes on line documentation. The CD includes Open Source disk imaging and Partition Management software, as well as an available light weight GUI interface (enter startx for the GUI). I use System Rescue CD here as part of my routine system backup procedure (new system images monthly) as well as disaster recovery (if the need should ever arise). HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790 ICQ 41060744