How to automount NTFS partitions?
The most straightforward way that will work on most Linux systems is to add them to your fstab. But there are others. Each has their own headline in this answer.
Note:
If you get an error massage saying something about "root" or "permissions" it is because for most mounting options you will need root privileges. In Unity you can achieve that by prepending gksudo (graphical applications) or sudo to the usual command and typing your password. So, e.g. in case of ntfs-config you press Alt+F2 and type gksudo ntfs-config.
Gigolo
Gigolo
Gigolo works hand in hand with Nautilus' remote file system and mounting capabilities. You need to add the partitions to your Nautilus bookmarks (Nautilus is Ubuntu's default file manager). After that you will find them in Gigolo. The rest is said in another answer of mine.
Fstab
Edit: Since guessing from your comments you are not that acquainted with linux I will explain the procedure in more detail:
The fstab-method is cleaner and more basic than gui-tools or Gigolo. It will also work on other systems even those that are text-mode only. In principle you don't need to install anything. For each ntfs-partition you will have to add one line to the file called /etc/fstab. For me the line I added looks like this:
#Windows-Partition
UUID=<xxxxx> /media/win ntfs rw,auto,users,exec,nls=utf8,umask=003,gid=46,uid=1000 0 0
The part that says UUID=<xxxxx> tells your system which partition to mount. If you follow this procedure and have duplicate devices showing up, replace UUID=<xxxx> with /dev/disk/by-uuid/<xxxxx>. Each partition has it's own unique UUID. Spaces are important, so best copy&paste the line. Replace auto by noauto to manually mount. Users should be in the group plugdev.
Note that if this line is at the very end of your file there should be a newline after it. Mount will complain if you don't have it.
Finding the UUID:
Open Disk Utility and identify the proper partitions by their size (e.g. 120 GB), file system (e.g. ntfs) and name. Note their "Device:" file (e.g. /dev/sdb1). Instead you can run the following command in a Terminal such as gnome-terminal:
sudo fdisk -l
You can find out the UUID of your partitions by running sudo blkid in shell. The output looks somewhat like this:
confus@confusion:~$ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for confus:
/dev/sda1: LABEL="boot" UUID="cc425c68-704f-4836-9123-bbb3aea64471" TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sda2: UUID="1c8b1489-e111-481c-89f2-743203c3ee7d" TYPE="crypto_LUKS"
/dev/sda3: UUID="7258CB9858CB598D" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="HP_TOOLS" UUID="1405-0A4C" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/mapper/lukslvm: UUID="xZSNtR-MocS-dLMk-vOWa-Ay65-wS9b-GqaNhV" TYPE="LVM2_member"
/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-swap: UUID="f415f3b9-4e4d-48b1-99c2-605e16532f9e" TYPE="swap"
/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-root: UUID="62a862b4-e6c8-4efd-90b5-55eab8e83e39" TYPE="ext4"
The correct UUID will have the proper device file in front of it and TYPE="ntfs" after. So for me the UUID is "7258CB9858CB598D". For you this number will be different. Also I have only one NTFS partition. Subitute my UUID in the lines you add to fstab by the one you found this way.
Setting the mount point
Now the mount point. For each partition this will be different. I chose /media/win. You can choose whatever you like. It just has to be an existing empty directory. You could just as well create the directory /home/yourusername/windows1 and then put it in your fstab.
The other parameters in my line
ntfs tells the fstab that it is an ntfs-type partition.
rw,auto,user,exec,nls=utf8,umask=003,gid=46,uid=1000 0 0 is beyond the scope of this answer. Just use those values as they are. They should be fine. It you're interested, you can read an explanation of these parameters in the link I provided earlier.
When you added the lines and did all of the stuff I described, save the file and run sudo mount -a in shell. If you can access your partitions through their mount points and no errors are printed out, then all went well. If not check for typos and obvious errors. Don't reboot if sudo mount -a displays errors! With errors a reboot might fail.
Finding your user and group id
You can find out your user and group id with the id command.
confus@confusion:~$ id
uid=1000(confus) gid=1000(confus) groups=1000(confus),4(adm),7(lp),20(dialout),24(cdrom),46(plugdev),112(lpadmin),120(admin),122(sambashare)
ntfs-config
A graphical tool ntfs-config is also available but not necessary (and its current version doesn't work in Natty Narwhal - suppose that will be fixed soon). Besides you might lose old settings in your fstab with this tool (e.g. mounting the cache in the memory), because it overwrites the /etc/fstab file instead of appending things.
ntfs-config
This program allow you to easily configure all of your NTFS devices to allow write support via a friendly gui. For that use, it will configure them to use the open source ntfs-3g driver. You’ll also be able to easily disable this feature.
Project Home page :- http://flomertens.free.fr/ntfs-config/
Requirements
Install NTFS-config in Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
This will install all the required packages for ntfs-config including ntfs-3g
Using Ntfs-Config
If you want to open this application try to find --> NTFS Configuration Tool
Now it will prompt for root password enter root password and click ok
It will show the available NTFS partition.
You need to select the partitions you want to configure,add the name of the mount point and click on apply.
Select the NTFS Write support which is suitable for you i.e internal or external
if you want to unmount you should be root to unmount and then right click on mount point select Unmount Volume
Conclusion
As you can see, mounting NTFS partitions in Linux can be a breeze. If you don't like or fear the command line, you can achieve a lot with just a few mouse clicks. Truth to be told, this is much simpler than mounting strange, new, unknown partitions in Windows.
Well, that's it. Happy Linuxing!
P.D : Update for Natty user
If you upgraded to Ubuntu Natty you will notice that NTFS configuration tool is not working even though it prompts you for root privileges.
The problem is that when you open the tool nothing happens. Well it’s due to a missing folder and in order to fix this you should enter the following command:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/hal/fdi/policy
Now you have the tool working just select the partitions you want to automatically mount on boot and if you want WRITE access just TICK the corresponding check boxes.
Easy enough :P
Ubuntu 20.04 and later
Open nautilus and create a new folder, I suggest in the home folder.
Open the Disks application.
Select the partition you want to automount and then click on Additional partition options of the partition -> Edit Mount Options.
Select the Mount at system startup checkbox and unselect the other two options.
In Mount Point set the path to the folder you've created, in my case it is Shared.
Click the OK button and restart the computer.