4 ms·

I haven't messed with NTFS in years but from what I remember the Linux kernel driver was read-only, right? I assume this new one will allow write access? I vag

by simias 5y ago

I haven't messed with NTFS in years but from what I remember the Linux kernel driver was read-only, right? I assume this new one will allow write access? I vaguely remember having to use fuse to write to NTFS partitions in the past.

fctorial 5y ago
I remember writing to NTFS from linux 4 years ago.
- skrause 5y ago
  But you were probably using NTFS-3G, which is a FUSE driver and not a kernal driver.
- arbitrage 5y ago
  RW support has been an 'experimental' feature for a long time; some distros have enabled it by default for more than a decade at this point.
  - ok123456 5y ago
    It's also extremely slow.
krylon 5y ago
I am not 100% sure, but I think write support for NTFS has been a thing for at least 10 years. At least with the ntfs-3g FUSE driver.
rincebrain 5y ago
The existing kernel mode driver has a very limited write mode that is marked with flashing sirens and limited to things like (IIRC) "only modifying existing files without changing their size". ntfs-3g is a FUSE driver with read/write support, but it's FUSE, and not bundled with the kernel. This new driver is (based on?) the commercial NTFS driver Paragon sold, and does not suffer the limitations of either, AIUI, and I gather the objections have mostly been around the state of the code rather than functionality. edit: Having looked, the comment in the Kconfig makes it clear that they believe the limited write support is quite limited, but quite safe.
- rwmj 5y ago
  The FUSE one (ntfs-3g) is fine - we use it for bulk editing Windows VMs when transferring them from VMware to KVM[1]. Unfortunately development has slowed to a standstill in the last few years. Which is a problem. At the moment it supports current Windows guests including relatively recent features like file compression, but we're only a MSFT new feature away from having to take over upstream development or look for an alternative. I doubt that an in-kernel driver will be noticably faster, but there's hope it might be more widely used and so better maintained. [1] https://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v.1.html https://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v.1.html
  - rincebrain 5y ago
    Sure, I didn't mean to suggest there was anything fundamentally flawed about ntfs-3g, I've used it to basically universal success after the first year or two after it was released, just that it is FUSE, which means there's always going to be some overhead involved that wouldn't be present in an in-kernel driver (though they keep trimming away at how much that has to be). https://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/changelog.html https://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/changelog.html doesn't seem totally dead, though the github repo hasn't seen much since March (but I don't think "since March" is what you meant by "last few years").
ingas 5y ago
I used NTFS with linux a year ago. It's read-write and suitable if you need to access files on Windows partition. It was OK but not great: I used it to share media files between Windows and Linux and soon I noticed that if I'm playing mp3s from NTFS partition a lot of CPU used.
MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
I am currently able to read and write. I never installed anything and I'm using Manjaro.

by simias 5y ago

fctorial 5y ago

I remember writing to NTFS from linux 4 years ago.

skrause 5y ago
But you were probably using NTFS-3G, which is a FUSE driver and not a kernal driver.
arbitrage 5y ago
RW support has been an 'experimental' feature for a long time; some distros have enabled it by default for more than a decade at this point.
- ok123456 5y ago
  It's also extremely slow.

krylon 5y ago

I am not 100% sure, but I think write support for NTFS has been a thing for at least 10 years. At least with the ntfs-3g FUSE driver.

rincebrain 5y ago

The existing kernel mode driver has a very limited write mode that is marked with flashing sirens and limited to things like (IIRC) "only modifying existing files without changing their size". ntfs-3g is a FUSE driver with read/write support, but it's FUSE, and not bundled with the kernel. This new driver is (based on?) the commercial NTFS driver Paragon sold, and does not suffer the limitations of either, AIUI, and I gather the objections have mostly been around the state of the code rather than functionality. edit: Having looked, the comment in the Kconfig makes it clear that they believe the limited write support is quite limited, but quite safe.

rwmj 5y ago
The FUSE one (ntfs-3g) is fine - we use it for bulk editing Windows VMs when transferring them from VMware to KVM[1]. Unfortunately development has slowed to a standstill in the last few years. Which is a problem. At the moment it supports current Windows guests including relatively recent features like file compression, but we're only a MSFT new feature away from having to take over upstream development or look for an alternative. I doubt that an in-kernel driver will be noticably faster, but there's hope it might be more widely used and so better maintained. [1] https://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v.1.html https://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v.1.html
- rincebrain 5y ago
  Sure, I didn't mean to suggest there was anything fundamentally flawed about ntfs-3g, I've used it to basically universal success after the first year or two after it was released, just that it is FUSE, which means there's always going to be some overhead involved that wouldn't be present in an in-kernel driver (though they keep trimming away at how much that has to be). https://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/changelog.html https://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/changelog.html doesn't seem totally dead, though the github repo hasn't seen much since March (but I don't think "since March" is what you meant by "last few years").

ingas 5y ago

I used NTFS with linux a year ago. It's read-write and suitable if you need to access files on Windows partition. It was OK but not great: I used it to share media files between Windows and Linux and soon I noticed that if I'm playing mp3s from NTFS partition a lot of CPU used.

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago

I am currently able to read and write. I never installed anything and I'm using Manjaro.