Linux: has Read and Write to NTFS gotten solid yet? If not, please give advice

brjoon1021 · 12-31-2006, 02:59 PM

Hi,

A few weeks back I posted about whether NTFS or FAT32 would be a better choice as a windows partition that could also be accessed by my Linuxes. The response was, FAT32, for sure. But, I was then given several caveats: FAT32 is inefficient, partitions over 30 GB get corrupted, etc... It was also suggested to not just make a FAT32 partition for cross compatability of storage but to also make an ext2 partition and use the windows driver that allows for reading and writing to Linux ext2 partition.

I may go through with the two partition approach but I am searching, hopefully, for a way to make my 40 GB disk have one large partition that I can read and write to with Linux and Windows. If that is not possible, I am again seeking more advice on how to clean up my storage issue. Right now, I have a mess: when booted to XP I save to its "my Documents", and when in each individual Linux, I save to /usr/home/.... This is too untidy.

So, what I am wondering is: with recent 2.6 kernels, has reading and writing to NTFS gotten to be stable and dependable? My ultimate goal is to have a 40 GB disk that I have in this box being used for MP3s, pictures, videos, documents and to have all Linuxes AND Windows XP to be able to read and write to that disk. Right now, I have just the opposite, the Linuxes all save to their own home partitions and Windows saves to its "My Documents".

I would appreciate advice, tips on how to get all the way or at least closer to having a single download spot for my data.

Thanks,

B.

Brian1 · 12-31-2006, 03:41 PM

Check out ntfs-3g. Goto this post that points to another that the creator of it says it is safe. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...47#post2563247

Brian

brjoon1021 · 12-31-2006, 04:20 PM

Thanks for your response, but it still does not sound like it is quite there yet. I read about "ext2explore" that sounds pretty bad to me. Maybe a FAT32 alone is the way to go. Is there any trick to getting Linux to read and write to FAT32? Is it fast and stable?

Thanks,

B.

Tshirt-Tom · 12-31-2006, 05:32 PM

FAT32 is "stable" as far as I'm concerned. I've used a 1 Gb FAT32 transfer partition for 6-7 years on a dual boot laptop (several versions of windoze and linux), and never had an issue. I haven't been concerned with doing speed tests, but is has never appeared to be "slow" (like a USB transfer). I also mount my NTFS partition, but only use READ ACCESS as a precaution, because I have the same suspicions about WRITING. Unfortunately, my windoze environmant is 'work' based, and I can't afford to lose it (despite backups, it's a day-to-day thing).

Hope this helps.