[conspire] ntfs

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bruce Coston (jane_ikari at yahoo.com):

> a computer USER i know switched from ME to windows
> 2000, on discovering that ntfs is "better" he retained
> only ntfs ie no FAT based filesystems on his 2 hard
> drives. i did warn of compatibility problems. MEPIS
> test01 just could not get files onto his windows
> partitions no matter what, finally using the old 2.4.
> kernel i noticed a read permission error. i detest
> setting permissions and wonder if there is an easy to
> read and write to ntfs under linux other than using
> FAT32 as an intermediary? 

Three ways:

1.  There's a limited-capability read/write NTFS filesystem driver in
standard kernels.  Some distributions (e.g., Red Hat) go out of their
way to omit that driver, reportedly on grounds of possible patent
infringement.  "Limited capability" means that (when last I heard) it is
restricted to file writes that don't change file length.  This is useful
for, for example, resetting Administrator passwords.

2.  Captive NTFS.  You're probably familiar with this thing from
Knoppix.  Fully functional but slow.

3.  Some proprietary, binary-only driver from Paragon that costs some
significant amount of money.  Much faster than Captive NTFS.