NTFS

[Leo J Mauler]

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 22:21:27 -0600 Jonathan Hutchins
<hutchins at tarcanfel.org> writes:
> On Wednesday, March 17, 2004 12:50 pm, Leo J Mauler wrote:
>
> > How to write to NTFS. If you are using a dual-boot
> > machine and just need NTFS write support to transfer
> > files from Linux to Windows, you can instead use a
> > Windows driver for ext2/ext3 and, while running
> > Windows, read the files from the Linux partition
> > instead. This way, using two read-only drivers, you
> > can still copy files from one file system type to the other.
>
> There may be ext2/3 drivers for Windows, I've never seen them.

Then you didn't bother looking at the NTFS FAQ then?  I posted a link, I
pointed out that the NTFS FAQ included them.

>From the people who *wrote the Linux NTFS support* and insist that write
support for NTFS from Linux *doesn't work*:

Linux NTFS FAQ

We know about these open source Windows drivers for ext2 and ext3 Linux
filesystems, as of June 4th, 2003:

* explore2fs
Home page:
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm
For Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows
XP.
* ext2fsd
Home page:
http://www.tuningsoft.com/projects/projects.htm
For Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows
XP.
* winext2fsd
Home page: winext2fsd project page
Reportedly works on Windows NT and Windows
XP, likely also on Windows 2000.
* ext2forxp
Home page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2forxp/
In early stages, not ready for use yet (June
4th, 2003).
* vmware
Home page: http://www.vmware.com
VMWare allows you to run entire operating
systems with other operating systems.
So, you could run Windows inside Linux and
get it to write to NTFS partitions natively.
As safe as the Windows you're running, but
it is expensive.

> Writing to NFTS in Linux works just fine.

Yes, I suppose writing to NFTS works fine.  Writing to *NTFS*, however,
doesn't.

And now the passage you conveniently snipped:

Linux NTFS Project, NTFS FAQ:
http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/info/ntfs.html#3.2
3.2 Can the Driver write to an NTFS volume, too?
Not really.  ...
There are two drivers, currently. The original driver, in 2.4 has some
write code in it, but it is extremely dangerous to use it. The
possibility of destroying your filesystem is very high.
The new driver, introduced in 2.5.11, has some write code, but it's very
limited. The driver can overwrite existing files, but it cannot change
the length, add new or delete existing files.
Adding write support will take a long time. NTFS is built like a
database. Any changes you make, necessitate making changes in many
places, for consistancy. Make a mistake and the filesystem will be
damaged, make too many mistakes and the filesystem will be destroyed.
Also, the current developers are only working on NTFS as a hobby, during
their free time. If you'd like to help, please email me:
webmaster at flatcap.org.
So as we can see from the Linux NTFS Project FAQ, NTFS write support
*isn't generally supported*.  You can try, but you have a good chance of
destroying a NTFS filesystem on the 2.4 kernel code, and the new driver
cannot add new files.

When the people who *wrote the NTFS support for Linux* claim you can't
write to NTFS, I tend to believe them more than you.

You've just been lucky the few times you've tried it.  Your experience is
the *exception*, not the *rule*.