Best FS for work partition in a Win2k/Linux dual boot?

[Andrew Gorcester]

The only format I can think of that is supported by both Windows 2000 and
Linux is FAT32.

There are two tools I know of that can resize partitions - parted
(open-source) and Partition Magic (commercial).  Of these, Partition Magic
is the only one that can handle NTFS.  It can do almost anything with
partitions, though - thanks to Partition Magic, I have Debian 3.0, Windows
98, AtheOS and BeOS installed on the same machine.

Actually, there might be a way to just change the NTFS partition into a
FAT32 partition.  I think Windows 2000 can run with FAT32 as a boot
partition, and there should be a tool somewhere in the System Tools
shortcut folder that can change FAT32 into NTFS - maybe it can do the
opposite, as well.  Somehow I doubt it, though.

Only one more possibility comes to mind - there has been work on programs
to read and write EXT2 from Windows.  I'm not sure if they work on NT.
You might want to look into it.

Partition Magic isn't cheap.  If you like experimenting with new OSes,
it might be worth the cost.  If you don't plan to do stuff like this
often, though, you're probably better off backing up your files and
reinstalling Win2k.

-Andrew

P.S.:  Use of Linux NTFS write support is discouraged for a very good
reason.  This is doubly true with NT 5.0 (AKA Windows 2000).  Don't use it
unless you like living on the edge.


On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, Terence Tak-Shing Tam wrote:

> > I was a bit surprised to discover that NTFS (Windows NT/2000 filesystem)
> > support in Linux is still a bit experimental, and use of the read-write
> > version appears to be highly discouraged (a read-only version also
> > exists).  At the moment I have a 15GB NTFS partition (Win2k boot) and a
> > 5GB ext3 (Linux boot) partition (as well as swap and /boot partitions for
> > Linux).  I'd like to do something with the Win2k partition so that I have
> > a "work" partition that I can use under both OSes.
>
> I believe this is due to NTFS being a closed standard, and you are reverse
> engineering a file system.  The NTFS version also changes with each
> implimentation of Windows, further complicating the issue.  Perhaps the
> way file sercurity on NTFS partitions is set (using Access Control Lists)
> might complicate the issue, but that is merely a wild guess.
>
> > Two questions:
> >
> > * What filesystem is well-supported in both Windows 2000 and Linux?  If I
> > made a VFAT partition, would Windows 2000 (configured to use NTFS) be able
> > to use it?  Is VFAT a decent choice?
>
> I've used VFAT to mount a FAT32 partition, format natively under Windows
> 2000.  During regular setup of Win2k, the size of the FAT32 partition is
> limited to I think 20Gb; but if you run Disc Manager in Win2k that
> restriction is removed.
>
> > * Can someone remind me of the partitioning tools available for shortening
> > existing partitions without destroying data?  Would this be advisable (or
> > possible) in shortening a NTFS Win2k boot partition?  I suppose destroying
> > the Win2k partition, breaking it up with DiskDruid, then reinstalling
> > Win2k is preferred, but I'd like to know if I have other options.
>
> NO idea, maybe someone can shred light on this.
>
> -=- Terence
>
> /* -------------------------------------------------------------
> Terence Tak-Shing Tam <ttstam at u.washington.edu>
> Team Mentor, Interm VP of Engineering, SWAT Robotics
> http://www.swatrobotics.org
>
> * 2002 Quarter-finalist, Einstein Division, Championship event
>
> 20 or so oddball geeks.  Lots of caffeine and pizza.  6 weeks.
> One kickass robot.
> --------------------------------------------------------------*/
>
>
>