linux writes to ntfs with ntfs-3g

Get the SlackBuilds for fuse and ntfs-3g:

http://slackbuilds.org/

That's exactly what I have been using for months and I can vouch that it works great. Not a single error and I've probably written/transfered at least a TB of data since I started using it.

I feel like I should make the point again. Not to be stubborn, but I think it is important to Linux users in general. Do as you wish.

http://www.fs-driver.org/

I use this driver with a shared ext3 data partition with no problems. Since I am usually using Linux, this makes sense... why use ntfs (windows stuff) if you don't have to?

I only need ntfs-3g if for some reason I want to make changes to the windows root partition from Linux. This is probably what most people are essentially doing. They want to have their My Documents folder (or whatever) available rw in Linux, and is why everyone seems to be recommending this option.

Personally, I like to keep OS's seperate. Linux doesn't touch the windows partition (ro is ok) and vice versa, and the shared partition (ext3) is read-write to both Linux and windows.

Using an ext3 as a shared partition reduces the amount of windows stuff you have to use.

mattydee, the problem is that you can't install windows in ext2/3, so you must use ntfs anyway, so why I shouldn't access it (e.g., scanning for viruses).

Did you check /var/log/messages. I get tons of skipping unrepresentable filename errors, still they don't corrupt the data, so no problem here.

I didn't say you shouldn't access it. Only if you have to, in which case you will need ntfs-3g.

You're right, the root windows drive must be ntfs (or fat). However, there is no reason why you should set up a shared partition as ntfs.

In fact, if you used ext3 as a shared partition, you could probably have triple acesss to it: win-linux-mac os. All using an open source file system.

I've honestly never had that. My root's screen session always tails messages and syslog so I'm always up to date. You could be having problems due to the mount options you are using or if you are using an old version of fuse or ntfs-3g. I'm currently using fuse-2.7.1 and ntfs-3g-1.1120.

@mattydee

as much as I like to promote the use of Linux and its file systems and open source software in general, I personally have a problem with giving Windows the ability to read Linux files. When you have programs or drivers on Windows that allow you to read Linux file systems there is pretty much nothing to stop Windows/Careless users/whatever from messing with your Linux files or even your boot partition for that matter. You have to be really careful how you set it up (perms, etc to the program/drivers). Otherwise, you open a big security hole in your system.

That being said, if you are really careful then using the ext3 driver can be great because then you can have correct finely grained permissions in Linux versus the scope offered by mount options.

However, the OP already has all his data in interest on a NTFS partition, so using NTFS-3G would be the easiest and (likely) safest option. On the Linux side care just needs to be taken to be sure that only users of a certain group can access the partition.

When I think about it, the problem might be with non-English file names.

My ntfs-3g is 1.616 and fuse is 2.6.5.

Just to be clear, I am advocating setting up the windows ext2 driver to access the shared partition, not the main Linux partition.

Despite this, being really careful is not a valid point in this case...

Say your root linux drive is ext3 (mine is not). Any windows user can dl the driver, double click to install and wreck havoc on your root linux partition no matter how you set it up... Or they can insert a live distro cd and do whatever they please.

Having windows (where users run as admin 99% of the time) on the machine is the weakness, not the ext2 driver. You shouldn't try to scare people away from that. Having a home desktop setting where users can control the boot process etc amounts to any user being able to do pretty much anything.

Allowing them windows access to a shared ext3 data partition is not a security problem. Allowing them access to your linux root part would be, but as stated above, they can pretty much allow themselves that access anyway, either as windows users with admin privileges or by messing around with the boot process.

If you want to be "really careful" you should start with much more fundamental security issues first, like locking down the boot process, and ensuring windows users don't run with admin privileges, but this is probably not worth the trouble for a home desktop.

I am assuming this is a home desktop, not a public computer where users get a choice of running either windows or Linux...

PS: Sorry if I am distracting from the OP question, but I think it has already been answered, and I'm continuing this because I feel that this is turning into an interesting discussion (for me at least )

This depends on how your system is setup. Of course with physical access to the machine, you can always boot a live cd since resetting a BIOS is super easy. In windows, it is true that any user can download a driver program and access the files, but only if windows is setup to allow that (which sadly by default it is). I will give that ext3 software that you linked to credit for requiring admin privs to add drives. This is better than many driver programs which you just click to run (no installation needed). As I mentioned you would have to make sure your system prohibits such downloads.

Yes, running Windows as admin all the time (without at least something like DropMyRights) is asking for trouble. However, just because the ext3 shared partition isn't the linux root doesn't mean it doesn't pose a risk to Linux. That really depends on what gets stored there and who uses it. I would definitely make sure no programs/config files that root uses, SUID programs, etc are allowed to run on there and I would make sure that any programs using those files didn't have any glaring security holes themselves.

Even if it is just some plain documents that you like to share there are problems on the Windows side. For instance, say it is a home computer and you have multiple users on Windows and Linux. If you use the ext3 driver permissions on the Linux side are great, of course, but on the Windows side there is no separation. Anybody, can access and modify any of the Linux partitions added to the drives with the Ext2 IFS program (or any partitions if allowed to download a different ext2 driver). This is true even if you had separate partitions to give each user their own shared space. The only thing you could really do is obscure which drives are available to the individual users by hacking the registry to hide drives they shouldn't access from explorer.

Now say, instead, you use the NTFS-3G driver in the same scenario. On the Windows side perms are great, of course, but on the Linux side you can pretty much only set perms for whole partitions. In this instance, however, you could at least set different perms for different partitions, thus allowing users to have their own personal shared space.

If this Ext2 IFS driver could be updated to allow settings perms on at least whole partitions like Linux does then it would be much more useful. However, in its current state it seems more useful for single user scenarios. As I mentioned before, what you choose depends largely on preference, which OS get used the most, and what setups you have for each.

In general, no matter what you do, security is always just a deterrent. If someone really wants to break in they will, though it just might take them longer and they might be more noticeable.

I would never try to convert any filesystem to any if there was something worthy in it.
well at least not in windows. doing that a long time ago destroyed a lot of good data for me
windows box just hang up. since that time I always have been using at least 3 partitions one for linux and another for windows the third for all personal data.

I don't use windows alot so the data partition is ext3, and the driver works fine. it is always good to keep data on a separate partition anyway, that's not any OS root.

my data partition used to be fat32 a long time ago, but that was when i was mostly using windows, I made my life easier on linux by using ext3.

You don't have to. Just install these packages :
1. ntfsprogs
2. FUSE
3. ntfs-3g
You can download the binary in linuxpackages.net, or the source in google.com (sorry :P I forgot)
For me it works. I can write in ntfs partition even as a normal user.

@shadowsnipes

Makes sense. I hadn't thought of that approach.

Although you would only see added security if you locked down windows and created separate user partitions.

i found ntfs-3g 1.1 and 1.8 which one is more stable
and what is Fuse?