[clug] Using Ext2/3/4 filesystem on Windows

[steve jenkin]

Does anyone do this, or have seen it done ‘in anger’?
Or are other Linux filesystems better supported on Windows?

I gave a short talk to Mac users about node-based filesystems - how Windows doesn’t do them - and how ’nodes’ trivially support “Time Machine”.
So I was wondering about ’nodes and windows’ and was looking to explore that.

Was looking for a native file system, not FUSE.

For ~$65 a pop I could buy useful cross-system filesystems from Paragon <http://www.paragon-software.com/>
but that’s not my preference.

I’ve found open source ext2Fsd and ext2ifs (using Windows Installable File System). 
eg <https://thelinuxcode.com/mount-linux-partition-ext4-ext3-ext2-windows-10-8-7/>

ext2Fsd is limited to Win-8 <https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/>
and I expect so is ext2IFS <http://www.fs-driver.org>

If I’m running Winders (I only have a Win-XP license) in a Virtual Machine, I could run Linux / SAMBA in another VM.
This would work well enough for the experiments I want to try.

I think a more robust Windows Desktop can be built with a Linux-hosted VM and a POSIX-based filesystem.
The recent successful attack on the ANU suggests institutions might be interested in more robust desktop environments soon, even now.

I’ve got an old Oracle/ SUN Virtual Box VM setup and was thinking of KVM + a new GUI manager, now that Debian supports it.

thanks in advance
steve


--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design 
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

mailto:sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin