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From: Jeremy L. M. <je...@em...> - 2007-05-11 16:35:15
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Hello all. :) We've been using the ntfsprogs package here for many years with great success--in fact, it's a very crucial part of our automated installation scripts we use internally. However, with the influx of Vista machines we are seeing, resizing NTFS has become literally impossible. I'll explain: We are currently using the latest CVS checkout of ntfsprogs. I have read online that these should support Vista resizing fine and, in fact, the first few Vista machines we saw worked okay. Recently, though, all of the Sony, IBM/Lenovo, and Dell Vista machines we've received simply do not work consistently w/ any of the ntfsprogs. Without ever even booting a machine into Windows once, we netboot into a small Linux image. At this point, we ask ntfsresize to operate on the Vista partition. It always says that the partition is dirty and recommends we run chkdsk--which we can do, to no effect. (I also read you have to use a non-Vista chkdsk, though I have no idea how one would go about acquiring that as my Windows knowledge--and that of my associates--is limited only to very basic usage.) Sometimes, I can run ntfsfix followed immediately by ntfsresize -f, which will refuse to boot Windows the FIRST time, but will work out okay on the second windows boot IF and _only_ IF you choose "Safe Mode (Command Prompt)." This seems to work most of the time w/ Sony machines. My question is: would it be possible to get an official developer declaration of what should and should not work? We have access to pretty much any laptop conceivable, most of which are now coming with Vista, and would be more than willing to help test in any way possible (this includes via e-mail, phone, etc.) This obviously is a high priority for us and while many of our technicians are programmers in their free time, the majority of our work time is spent doing installation and technical support--so I'm not sure how much time we could devote to actually developing ntfsprogs further. Lincoln is prepared to offer a discount to anyone interested in (or in the market for) a new laptop if we can get a real fix or guidance for this. We won't need hand-holding or anything, our expertise is enough such that one or two keywords or a simple "here's the patch, make it happen" will do. :) I would even be willing to write the required code, if the problem is understood enough. Thanks, and I hope this message isn't in violation of any rules here, or is out-of-place. We desperately want to avoid a commercial solution if possible... |
