Read and Write to Ext3 Filesystem from Windows onto Linux
 

Linux Community,

I am a newbie who is running a dual boot laptop, and was wondering if there was anyway I could read my Linux file system from Windows. Presently, I can read my FAT32 from Linux.

Is there any program I can install under Windows that would allow me to read and write to my /, safely -- and is free of charge?

My "/" file system is ext3.

Suggestions and/or installation help would be wonderful!

Thanks for the help.

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

first result when you google it

Yeah, Explore2fs is a great program, I use it all the time. It can't write to ext3 though. I think there's an ext3 Windows driver project that can do that, but I haven't had much luck with it.

There is...

http://www.tuningsoft.com/projects/projects.htm#ext2fsd

Download from...

http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourc...t2fsd-0.10.zip

But really - why would you want to: isn't windows crap?

Nevermind, wrong thread

Because if you have to use it, you want to be able to access your files on Linux, perhaps.

It seems that this ext2fsd is not present on sourceforge server or it gives a very strange error. Can anyone send it to me on thenasko@gmail.com he/she has it.

Go to www.sourceforge.net and search for ext2fsd - this will get you the latest version and lots of documentation.

I've sent the package off - so noone else need do so.

correction: I tried to send the package - but failed. Transcript of the session is as follows: It says it couldn't virus scan the attachment. Sorry, you'll have to go get this yourself.

Hello,

I am also trying to read/write to my Ext3 partition from Windows XP SP2.

I need to read AND write to my Ext3, which only ext2fsd can do. However, i've not had much luck with it.

From my understanding, ext2fsd is started using the "net start ext2fsd" command. That works fine for me. Then, according mount.exe, I type in "mount 0 6 l:" which mounts the first hard drive's 6th partition to the L: (for Linux :) drive. It claims success, but Windows can't read/write to it.

Any ideas?

- Flyashi


P.S. The only reason I use windows is because there's more programs written for it. And, i'm not very experienced with linux yet; i'm just more comfortable with Windows. Also, under KDE, the best driver for my video chipset (SiS) still isn't as smooth as the Windows driver for it. So it's easier on the eyes. I hate to say it, but Windows is more user-friendly, and better for "simple" tasks, if not more reliable.
P.P.S. Let's not make this a big windows vs linux debate. I'm sure there are other threads for that.

Haha, nevermind, i got it.

Although, in linux, it's /dev/hda6, it mounts perfectly (I haven't tested write yet) as mount 0 3 l: . Who would've guessed?

- me

Lemme guess - it's the fourth ext3 partition?

hda1=WinXP (ntfs)
hda2=boot
hda3=swap
hda3=root (ext3 0)
hda4= (ext3 1)
hda5= (ext3 2)
hda6= (ext3 3) !bingo!

.. i don't think so....

from what I gather:

/dev/hda1 is WinXP
/dev/hda2 begins extended
/dev/hda3 is (going to be ntfs, currently) unformatted
/dev/hda4 is i have no clue
/dev/hda5 beats me
/dev/hda6 is ext3
/dev/hda7 is linux swap
/dev/hda8 is an ntfs intermediary i set up after i got captive-ntfs working, so that I don't have to mount windows as writeable (just in case **it happens)

My first idea was: if hard drives are zero-indexed, maybe partitions are too. So I did mount 0 5 and I got /dev/hda8. I tried all the others, and mount 0 3 got /dev/hda6. I guess it is the third real partition ( 1 is winxp, 2 is unformatted, 3 is ext3), so I guess it kinda makes sense....

A lot of (not very computer-literate) people complain that "computer are so hard to use..." I never thought that way, but if you get into the nitty-gritty details (like hard drive partitions) then I guess they have a point. But... how many non-computer literate people would actually bother with hard drive partitions? Just me :newbie:

/dev/hda1 is WinXP................................0
/dev/hda2 begins extended..................n/a (virtual - no fs)
/dev/hda3 is unformatted.......................n/a (no fs)
/dev/hda4 is i have no clue...................1
/dev/hda5 beats me................................2
/dev/hda6 is ext3.....................................3
/dev/hda7 is linux swap.........................4
/dev/hda8 is an ntfs ...............................5

everything with a fs written to it gets a number starting at zero? Mounting the swap partition would be fun <nudge nudge> :) or recursively mounting winXP (0 0)?

It starts at one ( 1 ) btw.

Im searching too atm, got 30 mins.. in the german magazine called c't there was recently a review of a driver & config that should mount it r/w easily.. but not much luck finding it online.

Then, put all your shared files in the FAT32 partition. Save EXT3 for the programs and kernel. Save NTFS for the programs and Windows system. All files shared between OSes should be in FAT32.

Its sometimes essential to have NTFS and ext2 write support.
You doods and the ext2+ apps shouldnt care about whats exactly, they'd only recognize by some entry or the recovery journal.
ext3 is EXACTLY ext2, just with the additional journal that aint needed outside of unix, yet.

So i was using ext2fsd, running its setup on every boot to get me my r/o partitions.

I found that nice resource site: http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/resources/resources.htm
which gave me ext2fsnt thats supposed to have write support ( http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/resources/resources.htm )

I've tried but it didnt do much, it was copying an ext2.sys and stuff. After i ran the ext2fsd setup, it mounted my partitions r/w!
i probably will still have windoz-char-finding problems, for like the ipod.. it always overwrites F:, or at least tries to.. my linux partition wins in every case.

For those who wanna use my ext2fsd version, and download ext2fsnt.rar, both are on xmb.ath.cx

http://xmb.ath.cx/ext2fsd-0.21.rar
http://xmb.ath.cx/ext2fsnt.rar

And have read/write ext2/3 partitions! have fun!

woohoo space to copy more mp3s

Hmm only every 10th directory has any content displayed by windoz.. now explorer is hung to 'my computer', rest work.

and everything accessing the fs, like winamp, but mp3's worked before, its still playing but i think its from another windoz share, winamp wont show up.

My conclusion to trying ext2fsd (v0.21) and ext2fsnt, both have kindof a setup script. if i run ext2fsnt first, then fsd, i get my mountes read-write, but much content in dirs inside are missing, tho you can make new directories and write to them w/o damage, for me at least.
If i run fsd first, i get the same read-only. newer fsd versions may do the job better, or other software.
Good day.

This is the best solution only if you have no need to share files over 4GB.

So let me make sure this is straight...

it is OK to Write to an ext3 partition that is mounted as ext2 on windows?

i know theres no journaling but it wont f@#$ the partition?

read the ext2fsd project page for this kind of info and the caveats of writing ext2/3 with windows using this driver.

Much of the performance will depend on how the windows and the linux systems are set up. However, word is that writing to ext from windows is not a problem.

i read the ext2fsd page before i got here, but only it says in general, its dangerous, its not supported, etc... but what i want to make clear is if, and not just with this driver, if i do write an ext3 mounted as ext2, and if the write was successful, then will i or have i caused damage to the ext3 partition, immediately or the next time its mounted as ext3?

If the designers cannot give you that assurance, nobody can.

You can only try it and see.
For that matter, you could create a small vfat partition and use that with the windows fat32 driver... if you were worried.

but i mean, in principle, can it be done.
you must be misunderstanding my question.
If everything does go as it should, does writing a ext2 mounted ext3 partition damage it?

for instance, the next time that partition is mounted as ext3 will the journal be wrong?, could the files written as ext2 be missing?,even if the journal is wrong does it matter?

In principle anything can be done.
http://linux.org.mt/article/filesystems
...for the lowdown on different file systems and what's so special about them.

Ignoring the windows issue for a bit - imagen you have an older linux without ext3 support and for some reason you must manipulate a disk formatted with ext3 ... which will later be used in a machine which does have ext3 support.

ext3 is backwards compatable with ext2 - and can be mounted as ext2 on the old system. You can read and write files et al. Presumably the journal is not updated. If the system shuts down uncleanly - it will perform an ext2 fschk to attemt to correct any damage as normal.

Transfer to the ext3-enabled system ... and the files will all be there. The changes will not be in the journal... but you can touch all the files to get them written to the journal (I havn't done this so I'm extrapolating from the descriptions ... someone correct me if I get this wrong.) ... if your system should shut down uncleanly before you do this, then you will lose all the changes made from the last journal update when you reboot.

Remember, the journal is only needed when the system reboots after an unclean shutdown (your little brother threw the circuit breaker while you were playing the 23rd level on Iotot 5:"Revenge of the Fnords" ...)

That's true, but sometimes you need it, ive been trying to get my 5 younger brothers and sisters to use linux, a ver friendly distro like ubuntu, but until now i failed. So they need the pc to do stuff, an i only use linux, specially because most tools i use are a lot better in linux, for example latex (by the way, there is finally a nice LaTeX editor in gtk "winefish" is very nice now), and ive downloaded some files that i need to use on the wondows partition, so i need to access my linux one, you see, i dont want this, but i cant help it.

Welcome to LQ.
This thread is almost half a decade old.
I know we prefer you to reply to existing threads but it is better to reply to newer posts - prefereabsy ones which have no existing replies.

You need something like Paragon ExtFs for Windows - really easy way to read/write on any extfs partition from any windows os

Moderator Response
 

Please notice the original Thread and the last post dates before posting. Original thread date is 2005 while the last before yours is 2009.

Resurrection of a necro post is something LQ doesn't want.

BTW, there are better methods to read EXT2/3/4 on a Microsoft windows system then the referenced link you provided.

You are right, it's pretty stale thread but when i googled, i founded it in on the top, so probably it's quite popular nowdays as well. But what the better methods you're mentioned?

Member Response
 

Hi,

Just one of many free open drivers; http://www.windows7download.com/win7.../bgqeoxua.html

My sentiments exactly.

IMHO, ext2fsd has greatly improved since what you described over 7 years ago. As for the Paragon software, I tried it (it said "free download"), but all it asked for was a registration key, after which I promptly deleted it.

As someone may point out, this is a very old thread, but I thought that it would be useful for anyone with the same question. If I'm wrong to do this, tell me, I'll try not to do it again.

I "googled" at http://www.duckduckgo.com [i](which is my favorite search-tool), and came upon http://www.fs-driver.org.

Yes, Windows (of course) does have "IFS = Installable File System" support, including ext3 and quite a few other more-esoteric systems. It's pretty much identical to Linux's filesystem driver capabilities. As any first-class operating system (oh, be nice ... ;) ) would be expected to have.