How To : File Transfers from Linux to Windows and Back
 

Hello Hot Rods of Linux,
Can Files be transferred from Linux Partitions to Windows Partitions, without using Floppy Disks or CD-Writers? that is directly within the Hard disk? There should be some way or There isn't any? Is there any Software which recognises both ext3 and NTFS file systems?

For Windows I recall there is somekind of driver or something that enables you to mount Linux partitions (ext3 too, I presume). For Linux you could always use Captive or similar software, but it suc..oops, "doesn't work all right". Shortly said, Linux's NTFS write fails half the time, in writing and deleting. Reading goes smoothly anyway.

For a relatively good solution you should either use FAT-filesystem for your Windows or at least have a "transfer partition" that uses FAT, since that's what Windows and Linux can both read. I know, it sounds stupid having one extra partition just for moving data (and it has to be big if you plan to move a lot of data), but it's the only good working solution I'm aware of. NTFS write doesn't work, so basically you're stuck in a situation where Windows can read+write your Linux partitions (if I'm not mistaken) but Linux can't write to your Windows partition.

If you have two different computers, then you can use Samba shares (like Windows shares) to achieve this quite easily. But if you plan to move data inside one pc, where you cannot run two native operating systems simultaneously, you've got a small problem.

Hi there,

There is a quite direct way to transfer these files between partitions of one HDD. Your Windows system should be formatted in FAT. Look up what is the Windows partition name under Linux i.e. /dev/hdc4. Then, with root permissions, you create a directory anywhere on the system. I put this directory in /windows. You just need to mount the windows partition on the directory you just created.

With this, you should have access to your windows partition file system. You can access it, transfer files from one to the other, create or delete files and directories in Windows.

The last detail is that Linux can read and write on FAT partition, but Windows does not see ext3 partition. So your files transfer must be done from your Linux OS.

Cheers