Linux And NTFS Interoperability - how to ?

[moonwitch1405241479 0]

I haven't used Linux in a few months, but now that I've obtained my new hard drive I suddenly have the room to install Linux again. As previously stated I would like to take the leap to Gentoo, still doubting on text-based install or graphical installer. But that's besides the point right now. For some odd fluke when formatting my partitions on my SATA hard drive they all ended up being NTFS, if I selected fat32 they didn't format at all. Now, the reason for FAT32 is simple - I want my files to be accessible through linux as well - AKA read AND write to the other partitions. Sadly with NTFS I am not too sure if it works... I know in FC4 it's a no no. Has anyone gotten NTFS partition in rw conditions in Linux? If so, how?

[yordan 10]

if I selected fat32 they didn't format at all

I have two FAT32 partitions on my ST380013AS SATA disk, they formatted without any problem. If it worked on my system, it should work on yours, it's not due to SATA.

[qwijibow 0]

The filesystem is completely independant from hard drisk controller.
the hard disk controller just sees ones and zero's, it knows nothing of file-sytems.

in other words.... what yordan just said.
As for the state of Linux NTFS support...

Straight from the latest kernel source ( 2.6.16 ) available at kernel.org

This enables the partial, but safe, write support in the NTFS driver. │ │ │
│ The only supported operation is overwriting existing files, without │
│ changing the file length. No file or directory creation, deletion or │
│ renaming is possible. Note only non-resident files can be written to │
│ so you may find that some very small files (<500 bytes or so) cannot │
│ be written to. │
│ │
│ While we cannot guarantee that it will not damage any data, we have │
│ so far not received a single report where the driver would have │
│ damaged someones data so we assume it is perfectly safe to use. │
│ │
│ Note: While write support is safe in this version (a rewrite from │
│ scratch of the NTFS support), it should be noted that the old NTFS │
│ write support, included in Linux 2.5.10 and before (since 1997), │
│ is not safe.

pea.s.. sorry for the formatting.. copy and paste from console

[yordan 10]

The only supported operation is overwriting existing files

I have noticed that with Mandrake, the FAT32 files are mounted as r/W, and the NTFS files are read-only in fstab.

[KazDoran 0]

Don't expect full interoperability with the NTFS filesystem on Linux anytime soon.The main reason for this is that apparently how NTFS works isn't fully known outside Microsoft. What happens is, if you try to write on that sort of filesystem, you get data corruption on other files, because you tend to write outside the disk sectors where the file was supposed to be written, hence the restrictions on that driver qwijibow posted about. I don't know all the details, but basically that's how it goes.You can even get your whole NTFS partition wrecked, so it's a big risk to try and do anything other than reading from it.FAT32 should work perfectly, however. As for NTFS... well, you might as well buy a usb flashdisk with big storage capacity to do what you intend to (I know it sucks to have to copy everything everytime).

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

ya, you need FAT32 for full interoperability.xboxrulz

[iGuest 3]

Reading NTFS is fine, writing however is risky. The reason is, how windows handles NTFS is that changes like writing to it also are updated in Windows to allow it to know what happens, possibly changes made to the registry or something similar, so that it keeps an idea of what it has done. So if you write it from Linux, Linux does not do the update that Windows needs to know the changes and could cause problems with windows finding unknown things. However, I've taken the risk (because I don't care if I destroy my Windows), and have had no problems, as of yet, however it does require you setting it to be able to write, since it's disabled by default.You'd be better off using FAT32 to be on the safe side though, so you'll need to figure out how you can do that. Possibly using Computer Management found in Administrator Tools, delete the partition, redo it and then format it in FAT32.Cheers,MC

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

wow, no wonder why we ccan't write to NTFS because Windows locked their own filesystem.Stupid tactics by M$ again.xboxrulz

[moonwitch1405241479 0]

I think I'll just convert it to FAT32 with Partition Magic LOL - I tried to format it as FAT32 with Disk Management, which resulted in the partition showing up as RAW - thus not formatted. I don't know why, and I don't want to know. LOL. All I know is - I WANT MY LINUX BACK. I have the space and I want it. *runs off to her mommy crying for her nix fix*

[wutske 0]

I suppose that the partitions that you want to format in FAT32 are at least 32Gb in size, right ?
Now this is the problem: WindowsXP doesn't want you to create FAT32 partitions that are larger than 32Gb (and for once, they have a reason, it's up to you do see it as valid).
There reason is that if you create partitions that are larger than 32Gb, the cluster size goes from 16KB to 32KB and M$ sees that as a too big waste of space (see this link for info: http://web.allensmith.net/Storage/HDDlimit/FAT16.htm)

So I'd try to make smaller partitions or use another program (Partition Magic as you've suggested).

P.s.: you can enable the NTFS-rw function by recompiling the kernel and enabling that feature (and you'll probably have to make some changes in FSTAB)

[KazDoran 0]

Heh. Funny, Windows XP didn't actually complain when I added a 120 GB FAT32 partition on my second hard drive. I DO notice the actual size doesn't match to what I specified due to the cluster size increase, but since that disk is mainly to switch files between OS'es I don't really care about it.Awww moonwitch, don't cry you'll get your fix soon... *hugs and pats backs*

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Microsoft stated that on other operating systems, you can have your HDD up to 2TB and that's it.Files can only be up to 2GB big though...xboxrulz

[yordan 10]

I suppose that the partitions that you want to format in FAT32 are at least 32Gb in size, right ?

I usually create 20 gig partitions : it's faster to defrag a 20 giga empty partition than a 40 gig half-full partition.

[Abhay 0]

u can checkout http://www.tuxera.com// for ntfs support under linux.