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mounting ntfs with read/write

I am a new linux user (trying out Red Hat 7.3) and have gotten conflicting information as to the ability to mount ntfs partitions with read/write access. Some say that it works OK, others warn that files tend to disappear. I would like to hear from people who have actually tried it, especially any problems with file loss/corruption.

Read suport is fine, and to quote from /usr/src/linux/Documentation/filesystems/ntfs.txt

Quote:

If you enable the dangerous(!) write support, make sure you can recover
from a complete loss of data. Also, download the Linux-NTFS project
distribution from Sourceforge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-ntfs/
and always run the included ntfsfix utility after performing a write to an
NTFS partition from Linux to fix some of the damage done by the Linux NTFS
driver and to schedule an automatic chkdsk when Windows reboots. You should
run ntfsfix _after_ unmounting the partition in Linux but _before_ rebooting
into Windows. During the next reboot into Windows, chkdsk will be run
automatically fixing the remaining damage. If no errors are found it is a
good indication that the driver + ntfsfix together worked to full
satisfaction. (-;

Please note that the experimental write support is limited to Windows NT4 and
earlier versions at the moment.

If you have data files that are useful to both Windoze and Linux (i.e., MP3, word processing) then those would best be stored in a FAT32 partition. Read/write in FAT32 with Linux is good, read with Linux is good in NTFS, write with Linux in NTFS can be tragic.

lol, i lost my whole ntfs partition when using write, glad i had it ghosted

I finally blasted it away this weekend (my weekend is Sun-Tues), when I installed Slack. I wanted to partition up my drives some more, so I blanked both HD's and divided em up better. First I slapped Slack8.1 on. About an hour later I had to put WinXP back on before the wife woke up. So this time I split up the drive and gave alot more space to a few blank Fat32 partitions on that drive. I figure that way I won't have to copy my mp3's both Linux and Winbloze.

Yeah, you don't actually want to enable the semi-supported write ability yet. If you are worried about jackin up your Winbloze by partitioning it, don't. You can always use your install disc for recovery. Just make sure you do a "defrag" before you resize/repartition.