[ltp] R40 - problems with double boot

[Atwood, Robert C]

I was thinking of the warning in the kernel configuration menu (write
support for ntfs -- DANGEROUS)=20

(using 2-4-26)
********************************************************
CONFIG_NTFS_RW:
If you say Y here, you will (maybe) be able to write to NTFS file
systems as well as read from them. The read-write support in NTFS
is far from being complete and is not well tested. If you say Y
here, back up your NTFS volume first, since it will probably get
damaged. Also, download the Linux-NTFS project distribution from
Sourceforge at <http://linux-ntfs.sf.net/> and always run the
included ntfsfix utility after writing to an NTFS partition from
Linux to fix some of the damage done by the driver. You should run
ntfsfix _after_ unmounting the partition in Linux but _before_
rebooting into Windows. When Windows next boots, chkdsk will be
run automatically to fix the remaining damage.
Please note that write support is limited to Windows NT4 and
earlier versions.
*******************************************************

Is this warning/instruction not current?




-----Original Message-----
From: linux-thinkpad-admin@linux-thinkpad.org
[mailto:linux-thinkpad-admin@linux-thinkpad.org] On Behalf Of Szakacsits
Szabolcs
Sent: 19 May 2004 12:59
To: linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Subject: RE: [ltp] R40 - problems with double boot



On Wed, 19 May 2004, Atwood, Robert C wrote:

> I have not tried extensive 'experimental' writing to ntfs systems, so=20
> I cannot comment on how seriously to take the warning .. but it was=20
> enough to put me off trying.

There isn't much warning, really. There are two totally different NTFS
source bases (actually there are much more, long story) and people
confuse them.

The old NTFS driver isn't developed for about 4-5 years and write was
disabled around 2-3 years ago.

The rewritten driver, by another developer, is safe however only file
overwrite is implemented in kernel space so far. The user space tools,
ntfsprogs (resize, clone, undelete, etc) can do more, they use the=20
same source code as the kernel driver and they are also safe to use for
over a year or two.=20

The Windows bootability problems, what people report, don't have
anything to do with NTFS support on Linux. None of the Linux NTFS code
modify or even read the partition table. And the bad partition table
manipulation=20
is the source of the recent Windows boot problems caused by several
Linux distros using 2.6 kernels:

	https://qa.mandrakesoft.com/show_bug.cgi?id=3D7959#c21

    Szaka

--=20
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