On Tue, Sep 05, 2000 at 05:12:17PM +0200, Pascal Grossé wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, 5 Sep 2000, Charles Curley wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Sep 05, 2000 at 10:25:47AM +0300, Paschalis Pagonidis wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I can only read to NTFS but can't write even as root. My Mandrake
> > > version is 7.0 (it doesn't support "Write" priviledges to NTFS), but I
> > > compiled the new kernel 2.2.16 which supports it. But the problem
> > > remains!!! I' ve heard that kernel puts some default priviledges to
> > > all files at the NTFS partition at startup. How can I change them? Is
> > > that the right solution?
> >
> > Possibly, all you need to do is edit /etc/fstab.
> >
> > That said, I am skeptical that you can write to an NTFS volume, either
> > safely or at all. NTFS is an undocumented file system, and changes have
> > been made in the layout of data and metadata in the file system as NTFS
> > has evolved. The most recent change is from NT 4 to W2K, and that is a
> > major change.
> >
> >
>
> If i remember well, even in the latest kernels, the NTFS module is for
> read only. So a hack in /etc/fstab will not change that. I read somewhere
> (cannot remember the exact url) that the NTFS driver is far too flacky to
> allow writing without loss of data. The principal cause of this is a lack
> of maintainer for this driver. Someone interested ? :-) In fact, i don't
> even know the status of the module in the 2.4.testX, but the same issue
> must arise here too...
>
> Pascal Grosse
>
The lack of a maintainer is one thing, the lack of reliable information
about NTFS is another, and may explain the first.
My experience with NTFS is this: for two and a half years until about a
year ago I worked for Microsoft as a contractor, to write documentation
for the SDK. I was to expand on existing documentation and write new docs
for the features new to W2K. I signed an NDA, etc., etc. My experience as
a contractor to Microsoft, with alleged access to internal documentation,
is that there is no documentation for NTFS. None. The only way to know
what NTFS does is to read the source. The source is convoluted and
confusing. It is rarely commented, and where it is commented, the comments
are often wrong.
In short, no-one, not even the microserfs who allegedly maintain the
code, know what NTFS actually does.
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