Is there any way to get windows systems to read ext3, with support for UTF-8 (i.e. international) filenames, and higher than 4 gigabyte file sizes?

Or is there any filesystem I can use which both linux and windows can read and write which supports these features? I tried the windows ext3 driver at fs-driver.org, and it doesn't support international filenames.

I'm considering trying that old way to get linux to be able to write to NTFS filesystems (using ntfs.sys). I'd really prefer this drive to have a more open filesystem on it, but I NEED to store large files, and have international filenames. This is my only solution so far - any other ideas on filesystems or drivers which will let me accomplish this?

Thanks in advance.

Most people just use FAT32.
I don't know if it supports those features that you mentioned, but it is AFAIK, the only file system that Windows and Linux can write to flawlessly.

I hope this helps
--Ian

I think that (now) ntfs can be written to flawlessly as well.

FAT32 doesn't support files above 4 gig in size. Not sure about international character support, but the 4 gig limit disqualifies it.

NTFS support does work I think with ntfs.sys, that's my only known solution. I was hoping someone would link me to a kickass windows reiser3 or ext3 driver, or some way to use XFS on windows, or something of that nature. Ah well.

Thanks for the replies, I'm open to other ideas if anyone has 'em!

I believe the latest support for NTFS under Linux is nearly there but still listed as experimental.

Up until recently the only way to read and write flawlessly to ntfs was with ntfs.sys (captive-ntfs) or using FUSE and associated drivers. Now there is native ntfs read/write support available for linux. Although it is very reliable, it is still labeled as beta. Once it matures/stabilizes, there are plans to move it to the ntfs-driver project, which in-turn will be merged into the mainstream kernel.

Yes, Windows does have Installable File Systems (IFS) support, and third-party drivers are available which include 'ext3' support.

If you're dual-booting, allocate a partition or use an external device for sharing. Choose a format that's compatible with both. (I typically use a flash-memory stick.)

If you have two computers, choose only one to be the "owner" of the information and use networking to share it with others.

Try for "vfat" file system it may work in linux as well as windows.

Unfortunately vfat is the same as FAT32, so it has the 4-gig filesize limitation.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I think I'm going with NTFS (unfortunately!). I wish I could use an open FS for this job! Maybe someday someone will write a good driver for windows...