Best file system for a shared partiion?

Questions about Grub, UEFI,the liveCD and the installer
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
deadguy
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 707
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:41 pm
Location: Illinois USA

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by deadguy »

personally, I use ntfs partitions for sharing between Linux and Windows.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
dodgefan

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by dodgefan »

i think it would depend on which pc the drive is physically attached to. i have an external usb drive connected to my xp box and it could be fat32 but i'm pretty sure it is ntfs. i know i do not have ntfs-3g installed but i have shares from the usb drive mounted to directories in home and i have no problems reading and writing to it in mint.
curt_grymala

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by curt_grymala »

ext2 is much more stable than NTFS and FAT32, but will require a special program to be installed before Windows can read/write it.

Personally, I keep my shared partition formatted to ext2. I use ext2ifs (http://www.fs-driver.org/) to read/write that partition in Windows. I had a little trouble getting it installed in Windows Vista, as it told me it didn't install properly. However, after a reboot it began working fine.

NTFS (unless things have changed drastically in the last year or two) is not natively writable by Linux. I don't even think there is a driver you can install on Linux that will write to NTFS. However, FAT32 is natively readable/writable in both Linux and Windows. Therefore, if you want out-of-the-box compatibility on both systems, you have to go with FAT32.

Good luck.
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by merlwiz79 »

Linux Mint has had the ability to read and write to ntfs for a good while now.(started with mintDisk)
Where have you been?
Also for Vista I use http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/projects ... tm#ext2fsd
Image
curt_grymala

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by curt_grymala »

merlwiz79 wrote:Linux Mint has had the ability to read and write to ntfs for a good while now.(started with mintDisk)
Where have you been?
Also for Vista I use http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/projects ... tm#ext2fsd
That's good to know about Mint writing to NTFS. I am new to Mint, and never realized that there were drivers for any flavor of Linux that could do that. I stand corrected.

Regarding ext2fsd, I tried that when I got Vista a while back (it's been over a year, now), and it didn't work at all for me. Like I said, though, ext2ifs worked fine after a reboot. It also appears as though ext2ifs has a new version that's been updated to work with Vista.

[edit]One more caveat about using ext2 - I'm not sure if this is an issue with Mint or not, but I know it is a problem when booting into SuSE. Because Windows sets the hardware clock to local time, when you boot into Linux, fsck detects an error ("last write time is in the future") on your ext2 partition. fsck will then fix the problem, but it can take a while to do so, so booting can be considerably slower than it would otherwise be.[/edit]
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by merlwiz79 »

I didn't have any problems with the ext2 driver in Vista.
Nor do I have any problems with the time getting changed.
Image
Fred

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by Fred »

Dwood,

Since Mint supports NTFS quite nicely out-of-the-box, I would recommend using it instead of the other alternatives mentioned in this thread so far.

Sorry merlwiz79, but I think it is a very bad idea to use any program on Windows that gives access to your Linux partitions. Windows does not honor Linux file permissions, therefore an infected Windows system can tamper, at will, with your Linux install. It is tantamount to giving Windows root permissions on your Linux install. As venerable as Windows is to every illness that comes down the pike, you may as well post your root or sudo password on a cracker forum somewhere. Yes, you can set the program in Windows to read only, but if you have control of a Windows box, how hard is it to change the .ini file from "write=false" to "write=true"?

NTFS as a shared file system is your best and safest bet.

Fred
Fred

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by Fred »

Dwood,

There is a GUI program called "conduit" I believe it is. I have never used it myself but have heard others say it worked for them. If you wanted something industrial strength and tailored to your exact needs you could write a small script using rsync.

Hope this helps.

Fred
dodgefan

Re: Best file system for a shared partiion?

Post by dodgefan »

i checked and my shared drive is ntfs and i have shared folders on it mounted in mint using the fstab file. can read and write to it with no issues
Locked

Return to “Installation & Boot”