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Old 01-18-2018, 04:08 AM   #1
Rhiwyth
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Best filesystem for joint drive between windows-linux


Hello,

I have a dual boot setup on my computer, having Windows 10 and openSuse. I have a data drive that I use to store my personal data, downloads, pictures, movies, etc. Currently this drive is using NTFS and is extremely slow in Linux. Downloads are very slow on that drive, and running movies and such is also slow. I also tried to run some virtual machines off it and they never even gotten to the boot screen as slow as they were running.

So what would be a good filesystem for a joint drive, linux and windows?
Thank you
 
Old 01-18-2018, 08:29 AM   #2
pan64
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it depends on the size too. Probably fat32 is faster, but you ought to create a backup too.
 
Old 01-18-2018, 01:41 PM   #3
dugan
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exfat
 
Old 01-18-2018, 01:53 PM   #4
273
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I'm not sure ther is an answer beyond NTFS. fAT32 has a file-size limit of around 3.4GB, exfat may be better but it's still a FAT file system so no permissions or other extended attributes under either FS.
I am very surprised, though, that you say playing movies and downloading is slow -- the overhead of NTFS should not be thqat bad -- is this an old PC?
You could, for example, download to your Linux file system then move to the NTFS afterwards, and the like?
 
Old 01-18-2018, 02:01 PM   #5
dugan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 273 View Post
I am very surprised, though, that you say playing movies and downloading is slow -- the overhead of NTFS should not be that bad -- is this an old PC?
Or connected via a slow protocol, like USB2?
 
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Old 01-18-2018, 02:09 PM   #6
273
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan View Post
Or connected via a slow protocol, like USB2?
True, I forgot about that.
 
Old 01-18-2018, 02:09 PM   #7
hydrurga
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I think there may be another issue at play here. I use an NTFS data partition on my hard drive for both Linux and Windows and have experienced no performance issues with it. I also plug in an NTFS external hard drive with, again, no noticeable performance issues (although I don't run movies from this latter).

Is the data drive USB3? Is it plugged into a USB3 port?
 
Old 01-18-2018, 03:17 PM   #8
jefro
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Wonder why ntfs is slow??? Shouldn't be.
 
Old 01-18-2018, 04:19 PM   #9
Rhiwyth
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Quote:
Wonder why ntfs is slow??? Shouldn't be.
Well, you guys know more about this than I do but I suspect it's because the NTFS-3G driver is not properly optimised. Being an open-source implementation of an proprietary closed source.

Quote:
I think there may be another issue at play here. I use an NTFS data partition on my hard drive for both Linux and Windows and have experienced no performance issues with it. I also plug in an NTFS external hard drive with, again, no noticeable performance issues (although I don't run movies from this latter).

Is the data drive USB3? Is it plugged into a USB3 port?
No, it is an internal drive. WD Black 7200RPM that works flawlessly in windows but it's slow in linux. Also checked SMART values, there is nothing wrong with the device.

Quote:
I'm not sure ther is an answer beyond NTFS. fAT32 has a file-size limit of around 3.4GB, exfat may be better but it's still a FAT file system so no permissions or other extended attributes under either FS.
I am very surprised, though, that you say playing movies and downloading is slow -- the overhead of NTFS should not be thqat bad -- is this an old PC?
You could, for example, download to your Linux file system then move to the NTFS afterwards, and the like?
No, it's a powerhorse. i7 4770K 4.4Ghz, 32GB RAM, GTX 970. I have a gigabit internet connection so right now it works at half speed that what it usually would've ran on windows.

Quote:
it depends on the size too. Probably fat32 is faster, but you ought to create a backup too.
I couldn't do that. This drive has some video files, tuorials and such that go beyond 3GB.

Last edited by Rhiwyth; 01-18-2018 at 04:23 PM.
 
Old 01-18-2018, 05:30 PM   #10
hydrurga
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What version of ntfs-3g are you using, and what is your mount command or fstab entry?

Also, see here about sync: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1930429
 
Old 01-18-2018, 08:01 PM   #11
frankbell
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NTFS. Windows cannot read Linux formats by default, unless something has changed drastically very recently. A web search will turn up some utilities that promise to make Windows capable of reading Linux file formats, but I've never tested them and have no interest in them.

I have encountered no issues with accessing NTFS-formatted partitions with Linux. I have multiple USB external drives with NTFS partitions that work just fine with Linux.
 
Old 01-18-2018, 08:35 PM   #12
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At one time linux may not have attached some drives in fastest ATA mode in default boot but I'd assume this is a newer system using sata.
 
Old 01-19-2018, 09:09 AM   #13
dave@burn-it.co.uk
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ExFAT was designed specifically for very large USB media. It specifically tries to reduce the number of writes to a minimum.
 
Old 01-19-2018, 10:54 AM   #14
Ormu
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Defragmentation (using the Windows stock defrag utility) might be worth trying too... Its usefulness is often questioned but it's easy to do, it only requires time. Just my 2cents.
 
Old 01-19-2018, 11:06 AM   #15
dave@burn-it.co.uk
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Have you checked that buffering is turned on in Linux. It does make a HUGE difference with USB drives.
 
  


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