access to fedora from windows....?

whyMe · #1 19th June 2011, 10:00 AM

i've fedora 15 & windows vista installed on hard disk partitions....i can access windows files from fedora but how to view fedora files when i'm working on windows......???

***DBelton*** · #2 19th June 2011, 01:31 PM

Windows can't access ext4 formatted drives (ext4 is the default for F15)

There are a few drivers available that allow access from windows, but I wouldn't recommend using them.

There is ext2fsd which works only on ext4 that has extents disabled. (extents is a big plus, so I would never recommend to disable them.)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

There is ext2read which is pretty much a standalone program and not a driver ,but is reported to work rather well, although I think it is read-only access to the ext4 drive.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/

CSchwangler · #3 19th June 2011, 03:47 PM

Probably the easiest way to access files from both systems is to have a separate partition formated as FAT or NTFS, since both Fedora and Windows could access this partition.

***DBelton*** · #4 19th June 2011, 09:59 PM

You are correct, CSchwangler. When I ran my dual boot systems, I always has a drive formatted NTFS that wasn't a system drive so I could easily move data between systems.

I still had the occasional "Oops, that file is on my fedora drive" moments and had to reboot into fedora to access it, But to me that was much better than risking my data to the windows drivers to access a ext drive.

Now, I don't have any windows systems, the only windows I run is under virtualbox. All of my machines are running linux now, so this is no longer an issue for me

bodhi.zazen · #5 19th June 2011, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBelton

Windows can't access ext4 formatted drives (ext4 is the default for F15)

There are a few drivers available that allow access from windows, but I wouldn't recommend using them.

There is ext2fsd which works only on ext4 that has extents disabled. (extents is a big plus, so I would never recommend to disable them.)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

There is ext2read which is pretty much a standalone program and not a driver ,but is reported to work rather well, although I think it is read-only access to the ext4 drive.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/

Well, by default Fedora uses LVM, so it may not be so easy.

I agree with a shared NTFS data partition as has been suggested by others.

whyMe · #6 20th June 2011, 01:45 AM

so, is it better to reboot than accessing fedora files from windows.......?

smr54 · #7 20th June 2011, 02:12 AM

No, not really. As was said, one thing you can do is create, assuming you have disk space, a new partition that will be mounted in both Fedora and Windows. NTFS is probably the best choice, as Fedora can easily read from it, and, as far as I know, write to it as well. (I haven't put Windows on a shared machine in over a year, so I could be wrong on that.)

If the disk is already used up, you can use something like gparted to make a partition smaller.

WARNING--making a partition smaller takes some time, and there is always risk of data loss. In contrast, enlarging a partition is usually relatively quick.

whyMe · #8 20th June 2011, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smr54

No, not really. As was said, one thing you can do is create, assuming you have disk space, a new partition that will be mounted in both Fedora and Windows. NTFS is probably the best choice, as Fedora can easily read from it, and, as far as I know, write to it as well. (I haven't put Windows on a shared machine in over a year, so I could be wrong on that.)

If the disk is already used up, you can use something like gparted to make a partition smaller.

WARNING--making a partition smaller takes some time, and there is always risk of data loss. In contrast, enlarging a partition is usually relatively quick.

ohkkk......i got it.....^_^

Duplode · #9 20th June 2011, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smr54

No, not really. As was said, one thing you can do is create, assuming you have disk space, a new partition that will be mounted in both Fedora and Windows. NTFS is probably the best choice, as Fedora can easily read from it, and, as far as I know, write to it as well. (I haven't put Windows on a shared machine in over a year, so I could be wrong on that.)

Indeed; for several years I have, from Fedora, used an NTFS partition to keep my music collection and other parts of my personal data, and never had any issues.

whyMe · #10 20th June 2011, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duplode

Indeed; for several years I have, from Fedora, used an NTFS partition to keep my music collection and other parts of my personal data, and never had any issues.

i'm planning to do the same.....thx....^_^

Chilly Willy · #11 20th June 2011, 03:11 AM

An external HD may be a viable alternative, as well...

whyMe · #12 20th June 2011, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilly Willy

An external HD may be a viable alternative, as well...

i'm too lazy to buy one.....

DaneM · #13 9th July 2012, 09:19 AM

Sorry for the "necromancy," but I found this thread on Google while trying to access my Fedora 17 installation (with LVM) from Windows 7. Since this might be a problem for others who read/post on this thread, I'll post my possible solution. I'll be trying this, myself, soon enough, and will post back if it works. (Other feedback is appreciated, of course.)

Explore2FS:
http://www.chrysocome.net/explore2fs

This is read-only, but for my purposes, I think this will be fine. I have a separate drive for stuff I find important, so this would only be for grabbing the occasional file I need to see in Windows, in my case. It remains to be seen whether it can read ext4 (recent versions are said to support it), but since ext4 is more-or-less just ext3 with added robustness (as I understand it), I don't think read-only access will be a problem. At least, ext2fsd can handle it OK (read/write), minus the LVM and journaling.

I hope this helps someone else who sees this thread and needs an answer.

--Dane

LongTimeDabbler · #14 9th July 2012, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duplode

Indeed; for several years I have, from Fedora, used an NTFS partition to keep my music collection and other parts of my personal data, and never had any issues.

Same here.

***Gareth Jones*** · #15 9th July 2012, 04:31 PM

I used to use Explore2fs way back. It was one of the first solutions to this problem. I don't think it's been actively developed for several years though, so it'll almost certainly fail with Ext4. Ext4 normally uses a file allocation concept called "extents" (usually – it doesn't have to, but that was the defining upgrade over Ext3), which older programs are unlikely to be able to read.

I haven't tested it personally, but Ext2Read that DBelton linked to above looks like a more modern tool with a similar goal to Explore2fs – a stand-alone tool that doesn't give Windows full access to the file-system like a driver would.