Re: [Hampshire] NTFS and Linux

Hi all

First off
I am a Linux user of about a decade, and have recently moved to the
area. I have been lurking on the list for a couple of weeks now and
finally have something I feel I can add.


OK, on to the topic

>How compatible is NTFS with Linux?
Linux with NTFS-3G and fuse has good compatibility, there are edge cases for some unusual case. The only problem I have come up against is that mtime on NTFS only has a resolution of 2 s where as most (all?) Linux file systems have a resolution of 1 s. This can become an issue with rsync as it rounds down when writing causing files to be copied every time. The rsync problem can be dealt with using the --modify-window=2 flag on rsync. But I digress


> I am considering getting an external hard drive for use as a back-up
device
Good you should make a back up

> it may well have NTFS
It almost certainly will.

>I am not sure how easy it might be to re-format it.
Really easy, if you want to use EXT4 (or any other FS) you re-format in the same way you would an internal disk. If you are unsure gparted gives a super easy GUI way to do it.

>I am thinking here of characters that might or might not be allowed in file names
If you use NTFS-3G with POSIX file names (default) then you will be fine for writing files, however reading from Windows may be problematic (I don't know if this is the case).

>total length of file names
Individual components are limited to 255 character (each sub-directory and file), and the total length should be ~32,000 characters.

> and what might happen to symbolic links
Windows treats links in a completely different way to POSIX systems so NTFS has some funky behaviour. I believe it works kinda OK if you only load it Linux but windows will struggle.

My advice would be; iff you need to access to the drive from both Linux and Windows, then use NTFS and avoid symlinks, else reformat to ext4 (or your preferred POSIX FS). Also test your backups and recovery plan.

YMMV, I am a hobbyist and enthusiast, not a sys-admin. To the best of my knowledge my advice is accurate but I accept no responsibility for if it makes a mess of your system.

HTH

Ben


On 30/11/15 17:45, Peter Alefounder wrote:
> and what might
> happen to symbolic links
> How compatible is NTFS with Linux? I am considering getting an
> external hard drive for use as a back-up device, but as far as I can
> tell, it may well have NTFS and I am not sure how easy it might be to
> re-format it. I am thinking here of characters that might or might not
> be allowed in file names, total length of file names, and what might
> happen to symbolic links. I use ext4 on my system.
>
> Would be grateful for any advice.
>
> Peter Alefounder.
>