installed SuSe 10 on an HDD with existing WinXP partition (primary C:\ and logical D:\ in extended). Linux cannot mount the NTFS partitions, giving this message: Could not mount device. The reported error was: mount: can't find /dev/hda1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab it worked before, so I am confused as to what's happened. any insight is appreciated.

be specific as to the mountpoint ie: mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows or add it to /etc/fstab Nothing's broken until you choose not to fix it.

ccpeterman, thanks for getting back on this i added this to /etc/fstab /dev/hda1 /windows/C ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0 /dev/hda5 /windows/D ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0 still can't open - it says Could not mount device. The reported error was: mount: mount point /windows/D does not exist any thoughts? i am a novice and still find it sometimes difficult how to figure out things in Linux. however, i am glad that I have finally come to Linux, but that's a different story.

Try this: fstab: /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows/C ntfs auto,ro 0 0 /dev/hda5 /mnt/windows/D ntfs auto,ro 0 0 Commands after editing fstab: mkdir /mnt/windows mkdir /mnt/windows/D mkdir /mnt/windows/C mount -a Nothing's broken until you choose not to fix it.

it says Could not enter folder /mnt/windows/D :-( thank-you for your help anyway. it simply means seems i need to know more. will do a bit of reading..

you have to be root or add the "users" to your fstab :) Nothing's broken until you choose not to fix it.

ok will try thanx again :)