Using Linux filesystems on Windows 8

Perfect Fit

Article from Issue 146/2013
Author(s):

For years, Windows has stubbornly refused to support any filesystems apart from its own, but with a few tricks, you can make your Windows systems talk to the Linux ext filesystem.

One of the obstacles standing in the way of cooperation between Linux and Windows on a single machine has always been the incompatibility of the filesystems. Although Linux has made amazing progress in this respect and now supports both NTFS and FAT filesystems without any trouble, Microsoft still stubbornly refuses to support anything but its own native filesystems (Figure 1).

Over the years, various projects have been providing access to Linux filesystems from Windows. In this article, I investigate whether these tools are truly ready for the Windows 8 release. To do so, I set up a system with a version of 32-bit Windows 8 and tested access to the Linux ext2/ 3/ 4, ReiserFS, and Btrfs filesystems.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Linux Filesystems in Vista

    Vista is no better than its predecessors at accessing Linux partitions. If you need to access a Linux filesystem from Vista, you will need a third-party tool.

  • Captive NTFS

    Why reboot every time you need to access data on the other side of your dual boot system? We’ll introduce you to Captive NTFS – a free tool for reaching Windows NTFS partitions from Linux. We’ll also show you some handy tools for reading Linux partitions from Windows.

  • Accessing NTFS Intro

    Whether you are troubleshooting or just configuring for efficiency, it is a good idea to explore your options for accessing your Windows partitions from Linux.

  • Fstransform

    Fstransform converts a filesystem without formatting the media or deleting any files.

  • File systems

    Many users just opt for the defaults and don’t think about the file system when they install Linux. But if better performance is your goal, it pays to do some shopping.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News