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How to mount just one directory from a NTFS partition using command line?

rated 0 times [ 2] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 4565 / 2 Years ago, thu, august 18, 2022, 1:23:43

After I perform a full system upgrade and install all the drivers, I usually remove Gvfs and all its dependencies and also Gigolo and any other piece of software used in Ubuntu to automatically mount NTFS or FAT partitions. Call me a paranoid, but I find it more reliable and secure this way to separate Windows files from Linux files mainly because of the incompatibility issues that may occur whenever I mix Linux with Windows.

When and if I need to access a NTFS/FAT partition from Linux, I use the mount/umount commands in a terminal and all is fine this way. But my problem is that, though I can mount and entire NTFS/FAT partition, I am not able and I have no idea how to mount just one directory from a NTFS/FAT partition without having to mount the entire partition prior to that. I am not sure if this is even possible but if it is possible, please let me know how to do it.

So far I tried command lines like these:

      sudo mount /dev/sda5/movies/Riddick/ /media/hdd/



      sudo mount directory  /dev/sda5/movies/Riddick/ /media/hdd/



      sudo mount /sda5/movies/Riddick/ /media/hdd/

and nothing works. I can mount and read a partition, be it /dev/sda5/ or /dev/sda1/ but I can't mount just one directory from that partition. Any ideas?

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jokaned

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1 Year ago

answered 2 Years ago llianconclad · Accepted Answer

/dev/sda5 and friends are partitions, a type of block device. They don't have (sub-)directories, but they can contain file systems. Only file systems can have directories. To open a file system use the mount command on the block device that contains the file system:

sudo mount [block device] [mountpoint]

where [block device] is the containing device (in your case apparently /dev/sda5) and [mountpoint] is an existing directory where the content of the file system will appear¹. On success you can then look for your movies in or below [mountpoint].

It is (generally) not possible to only mount a subdirectory of a file system on an otherwise unmounted block device. If this is what you want, an equivalent solution may be symbolic links or bind mounts.

¹ shadowing the previously existing content of that directory.