How does Linux see Windows partitions?

Question

I have Windows XP installed in a hard drive which is partitioned into 2 drives: C and D. I have a second hard drive which is partitioned into drive G.

As far as I know, Linux uses a tree filing system started from /. If I boot up the computer with a Linux live CD, how does it view particular drives like C, D and G? Would I have problem accessing the data/media in those drives?

Answer 1

Linux can see the partition table, and see that there's a partition there. It can also detect what partition type it is though the partition table. It can then mount the partition either through it being set in fstab, or some other mechanism - usually you would use the mount command, or it would be mounted by some tool in the desktop environment, which also uses the mount command.

In general, filesystems that arn't part of the root hierarchy are mounted under /mnt or /media with some name, though like a regular partition, they also have a partition name. Most systems will use the volume name or some random name for the exact location - for example, a drive whose volume name is potato, would be mounted under /volume/potato.

In general linux should have no issue reading a cleanly dismounted NTFS drive, and you can force mount a uncleanly dismounted one manually (with mount -f). It can also sometimes read a NTFS drive windows can't read.

Answer 2

Short answer: in linux the partitions will be mounted and accessible like they are any other directory. So you will not have any problem accessing those partitions.

Answer 3

Windows and Mac OSX is very sensitive in partition table. But don't worry, Linux kernel has build-in capable data read/write and everything else that you won't have any problem with.

Additional about your question, all the partition will be seen as a folder in the /media folder if it was automatically mounted.