I had a dual boot Mandrake 10.1 / Win98 system and the Win98 system was completely trashed when a log file grew to 1.8GB and filled the c: partition. The Windows and Linux systems are on separate IDE drives.

I am about to install Win2000 instead. (This is as far as I'll go with Win. XP will never get onto a system I own). I have looked around and am unsure of the status of Lininx and NTFS. Are NTFS partitions still not writable from Linux? I'm getting conflicting signals.

My kernel is 2.6.10. My problem is that when (not if) Win2000 explodes I will have to try to sort it out with Linux, plus I want seamless access to all my data from within Linux. (I only run Windows when I HAVE to). I have used Linux to peel files off trashed Win2000 discs but I want a more integrated system and will use FAT 32 if necessary.

Only drive C (6GB) will be NTFS. The other partitions will remain FAT 32.

Can anybody tell me if that are able to mount NTFS volumes in rw mode?

If the other partitions are FAT32, you should be fine. The NTFS needs to be read-only, right? My understanding is that Linux can read successfully from NTFS but that writing to NTFS is experimental. That's why you're getting mixed signals--it can be done, just not reliably.

I have NTFS for the XP installation, but I share files on my FAT32.

If I understand you correctly I will not however be able to do any repair work from Linux on the NTFS Partition.

What do you mean by "repair work"? You'll be able to read off of it or resize the partition. You will not be able to write to it, though.

See the comments I just posted here - note my concerns.

Take a look at these:

http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

Both of those offer reliable R/W support, though the bottom one is probably better if you are running 2000 anyway as it can make use of the Windows driver which we know works.

I went ahead and installed Win2K. Anybody who says that Linux is unfriendly and difficult should go through what I have been through today.

It's a relief to be back in Linux, leaving that apology for an OS sitting forlornly on hda, unable to install SP4(freezes with 100% CPU utilisation) and even to update Windows Update (same symptom).

Thanks for the responses.