Why is my old storage drive read-only on Linux?

If the drive is NTFS, a read-only mount can mean Windows left it in a hibernated or otherwise unclean state. Linux does this to avoid risking the filesystem, so changing the owner or forcing a read-write mount usually isn’t the right first fix.

If you can still start Windows, disable Fast Startup, resume Windows if it was hibernated, then shut it down fully. You can also run a filesystem check there. After that, try mounting the drive again in Linux.

That message points to the NTFS state, not a Linux permissions problem. If Windows isn’t available, back up anything you can read before trying a repair. The ntfsfix utility may clear some common NTFS issues, but it isn’t a full replacement for a Windows filesystem check.

The command used to resolve this was ntfsfix -b -d /dev/sdb1. Don’t copy that device name without checking yours first, since the wrong partition could be affected. If the drive still reports errors afterward, use a proper filesystem check before trusting it with the only copy of important files.

You don’t have to reformat just because the drive was previously used with Windows. If you want to keep sharing it between Windows and Linux, fixing the unclean NTFS state is the sensible first step.

If you’re done using Windows and have another safe copy of the files, you could reformat later to a Linux filesystem such as ext4. For a drive that needs to work with both systems, exFAT is another option. Either way, formatting erases the drive, so don’t do it until your files are backed up.