I set up ntfs3g and pmount to automount external usb drives with ntfs3g according to this howto. But I would like to change the default permissions mask. I tried editing /etc/hal/fdi/policy/15-ntfs-policy.fdi by adding a umask option under the match for ntfs-3g (against a comment's better advice): Code: <!-- if ntfs-3g, we need some special option (don't touch this policy if you change the default policy to ntfs above. In any way, **don't touch this policy**)--> <device> <match key="volume.fstype" string="ntfs-3g"> <append key="volume.mount.valid_options" type="strlist">nonempty</append> <merge key="storage.policy.mount_option.nonempty" type="bool">true</merge> <merge key="volume.policy.mount_option.nonempty" type="bool">true</merge> <!-- Here's the added line: --> <merge key="volume.policy.mount_option.umask" type="string">0770</merge> </match> </device> But after making this change, neither ejecting and re-plugging the device nor a reboot had any effect. If Gnome-Volume-Manager ignores permissions set in the hal, is there another way to override them without losing the convenience of having the drive mount automagically?