NTFS support in Linux

[Nitemare]

I know it didn't used to, but does the current kernel support NTFS?

 

[agnitrate]

Unless something has changed in the last 6 months since I've checked, NTFS is fine for read-only but is still somewhat dangerous for writing. I have used it to access my NTFS partitions but haven't written to them.

-silver

 

[Crusty]

Well, in the new kernels, 2,6 series there is supposed to be full support for NTFS, although you should still have a backup in case something does go bad.

 

[Derango]

First, its kernel, not kernal No big deal, just that a lot of linux people will start a full fledged flame barage at you if you keep calling it kernal

And, yes, the 2.6 kernel supposedly supports NTFS write, but I haven't tried it out yet. Backups are always a good thing to have in any situation.

 

[Crusty]

n/m

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Derango
First, its kernel, not kernal No big deal, just that a lot of linux people will start a full fledged flame barage at you if you keep calling it kernal

And, yes, the 2.6 kernel supposedly supports NTFS write, but I haven't tried it out yet. Backups are always a good thing to have in any situation.

k, so FAT32 is still the best file system if I'm going to be sharing partitions between Linux and WinXP?

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: Derango
First, its kernel, not kernal No big deal, just that a lot of linux people will start a full fledged flame barage at you if you keep calling it kernal

And, yes, the 2.6 kernel supposedly supports NTFS write, but I haven't tried it out yet. Backups are always a good thing to have in any situation.

k, so FAT32 is still the best file system if I'm going to be sharing partitions between Linux and WinXP?

It's hard to say, I haven't had enough experience with the Linux NTFS I/O that I can't rule it out, I would just be careful. If your data is too precious to lose then FAT32 all the way, but if you have good backups then I would try NTFS. NTFS is a MUCH better Filesystem then FAT32.

 

[Yaotl]

i'll just semi-hijack this thread...

if i was to just convert my data partitions to something that linux can use easily and didn't need to have windows boxes access them, what is the best filesystem to use? i don't know anything about non-fat or ntfs filesystems

 

[Sunner]

NTFS write support is still experimental, and dangerous, if you calue your data, stay away from it for now.

Yaotl Im assuming you're installing Linux?
Or how do you mean "use"? Install on? Just mount but not install on?

The recent 2.4 kernels(2.4.24 and onwards) support a varitey of filesystems.
Ext2 used to be the standard filesystem a while back, but it's performance isn't always up to par, and it's relatively fragile, don't use it.
Ext3 is Ext2 with journaling support and some minor performance enhancements, it's widely supported, and the default FS if you're installing Redhat.
ReiserFS v3 is a relatively new filesystem, good performance, but many people don't like it due to it's less than stelling reliability record, personally I think it's fine these days, cept maybe for something REALLY critical.
XFS needed a kernel patch before 2.4.24, it's a port of SGI's IRIX filesystem, high performance, mature, all around kickass, use it if available IMO.

Windows can read none of these, the only filesystem that will work well with both Windows and Linux is FAT32(or 16 for that matter).

 

[Sunner]

Sorry, DP.

 

[Yaotl]

yeah, installing on and converting my desktops to. want to eventually switch from a windows home to linux. thanks, exactly what i needed to know.

 

[Nothinman]

There is the Captive NTFS driver (I think that's the name) that uses the NTFS.sys file from a Windows installation to do NTFS R/W that should be ok, but it's not in the kernel because it uses Microsoft's driver which obviously isn't redistributable for free. And the 'real' NTFS driver in the Linux kernel still can not write to NTFS reliably.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
There is the Captive NTFS driver (I think that's the name) that uses the NTFS.sys file from a Windows installation to do NTFS R/W that should be ok, but it's not in the kernel because it uses Microsoft's driver which obviously isn't redistributable for free. And the 'real' NTFS driver in the Linux kernel still can not write to NTFS reliably.

Cool, I've heard of that but I didn't know it had actually materialized, thanks for the tip

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: Nothinman
There is the Captive NTFS driver (I think that's the name) that uses the NTFS.sys file from a Windows installation to do NTFS R/W that should be ok, but it's not in the kernel because it uses Microsoft's driver which obviously isn't redistributable for free. And the 'real' NTFS driver in the Linux kernel still can not write to NTFS reliably.

Cool, I've heard of that but I didn't know it had actually materialized, thanks for the tip

Careful. There's still trouble with the reverse engineered NTFS drivers out there. Please just trust me...you too nothinman
Don't put anything important on it.

 

[Nothinman]

It's not reverse engineered, it's like NTFS4DOS in that it uses MS' own NTFS driver for the real work.

And I have no reason to worry, the only NTFS filesystems I have are in VMWare, I havn't had a use for a 'real' Windows install for a long time.

 

[Kadarin]

Hmm.. I'm going to have to experiment with the Captive driver. Sounds promising.

 

[Ynog]

Linux NTFS

Decent site for info on linux and NTFS.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Ynog
Linux NTFS

Decent site for info on linux and NTFS.

Great site, thanks