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#1 2008-03-04 00:04:17

xPlozion
Member
From: Newark, DE, USA
Registered: 2007-03-16
Posts: 16
Website

ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

OK, here's the deal... I'm starting to use Windows for the first time in a few years, strictly for gaming... everything else, I feel that Arch does much better...  but I've got a multimedia partition (music, videos, etc...) that I want to use on both OS's.  fat32 is out of the option because my partition is double the size of fat32's limits, so I've come down to 2 choices.

I've read that the IFS driver in Windows XP doesn't play fair with ext3 permissions and only supports ext2, which removes journaling support, thus by theory would make it more prone to corruption on Windows behalf.  I haven't tried NTFS-3g for rw options, but I've used it to salvage files off of a dead laptop in ro mode (hdd still good though, using it as an external usb hdd).

So my question is whether NTFS-3g is stable enough for rw options without corruption, or is using an ext2 driver for an ext3 partition (which removes journaling support in Windows) a better option for stability, and keeping it uncorrupted.  Unbiased answers only please...

PS. The reason I'm asking this is cause I would like to add files to it in either OS, but atm I'm somewhat concerned with the possibility of corruption.

Also, any other file system that you feel is stable enough in both platforms for rw capabilities are always welcome smile

Thanks in advance wink

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#2 2008-03-04 00:57:23

BC
Member
Registered: 2008-01-29
Posts: 83

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

I've never had a problem with NTFS-3g.

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#3 2008-03-04 13:37:05

Dheart
Member
From: Sofia, Bulgaria
Registered: 2006-10-26
Posts: 956

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

BC wrote:

I've never had a problem with NTFS-3g.

I've used ntfs-3g for three years now (my brother and my parents use winxp and ocassionaly i'd need some file on the ntfs partitions) and I haven't experienced a single crash so far. I believe ntfs-3g handles ntfs partitions just as good as Windows...
Anyway if you're looking for a FS that is supported by both platforms... The only one is CURRENTLY is FAT... ext4 is planned to have native Windows support but that is in the future... however I don't see why you can't use FAT32 at your second drive... What are the limits of the FAT file system? (I think it was 32 GB if you were formatting it under Windows) But I have a 320 GB external hdd that I formated with the FAT file system (using mkfs.vfat /dev/sdx1) and it has rw access both in linux and Windows... If this doesn't work ntfs-3g is flawless.


My victim you are meant to be
No, you cannot hide nor flee
You know what I'm looking for
Pleasure your torture, I will endure...

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#4 2008-03-04 14:31:14

xabbott
Member
From: orlando, fl
Registered: 2007-01-11
Posts: 56
Website

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

I used the IFS driver in XP for a few months, on an ext3 partition. I didn't experience any problems.

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#5 2008-03-04 19:55:26

oliwer
Member
From: Paris
Registered: 2007-06-30
Posts: 153
Website

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

I confirm that IFS works good on XP (less good on vista).

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#6 2008-03-04 20:50:04

xPlozion
Member
From: Newark, DE, USA
Registered: 2007-03-16
Posts: 16
Website

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

thanks for all of your answers... I was using IFS at the time of writing this, but in ro mode.  What is the risk of removing journaling support, wouldn't that make it more prone to corruption in the event of an improper shutdown?

Also, on the same note, as I'm going to use the partition for multimedia, which is more optimized for the task at hand?  The partition is split about even, ~20gb of small ~3mb files, then ~30gb of videos...

Last edited by xPlozion (2008-03-04 20:58:30)

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#7 2008-03-04 23:59:48

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

xPlozion wrote:

OK, here's the deal... I'm starting to use Windows for the first time in a few years, strictly for gaming... everything else, I feel that Arch does much better...  but I've got a multimedia partition (music, videos, etc...) that I want to use on both OS's.  fat32 is out of the option because my partition is double the size of fat32's limits, so I've come down to 2 choices.

How big is that? Max partition size for fat is 8TB, it's just that the windows formatter refuses to go above 32GB(iirc). You can make big ones in linux easily, and windows has no problems using them.

Will you need to write to this partition from both OS? I have my /home dir available using IFS read only so I can listen to my music while under windows.

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#8 2008-03-05 02:15:47

xPlozion
Member
From: Newark, DE, USA
Registered: 2007-03-16
Posts: 16
Website

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

ok, i was under the impression that fat32's max limit is 32gbs, but i wasn't aware that linux wasn't tied down by that.  i would prefer that it would be writable on both os's.

but now that that's cleared up, my choice is just going to be strictly performance under both os's... any suggestions?

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#9 2008-03-05 03:21:16

schivmeister
Developer/TU
From: Singapore
Registered: 2007-05-17
Posts: 971
Website

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

doesn't fat32 have the limit of 4GB per file since it's essentially 32-bit?


I need real, proper pen and paper for this.

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#10 2008-03-05 22:45:59

xPlozion
Member
From: Newark, DE, USA
Registered: 2007-03-16
Posts: 16
Website

Re: ext3 vs NTFS Shared Multimedia Partition (XP & Arch)

thanks everybody for your comments... I'm just going to stay with ext3, and possibly drop windows for the most part, as the majority of the stuff i play are capable on linux (pokerstars, tce is native on linux, and cs 1.6 works hit and miss on wine afaik...)  I found out new information by all of your answers about how stable ntfs-3g is in rw mode and how fat32 doesn't have a max partition limit.

and yes, fat32 is still limited to 4gb/file in linux too.

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