Paragon Sends Out Latest NTFS Read-Write Linux Driver Patches

[AndyChow]

I hope this fixes some current issues with NTFS. Namely with ntfs-3g, I find transfering file from linux to such a drive seems to work fine and have the new data, but often I don't see it connecting the drive to windows. I have to run the repair drive from windows in order to see those files appear.

Even with perfect integration of a native driver, I wouldn't use NTFS for any reason but compatibility. NTFS is far from perfect. There is no checksum functionality, not even for metadata. That right there makes it a non-starter except for unimportant data. Case-sensitivity is optional, which is a disaster waiting to happen. Compression is available but no choice of compression method. Forget ZSTD, Supported algorithms are: XPRESS4K or LZX (LZX available manually). Nothing close to even LZO. I'd like to see comparisons between XPRESS4K and ZLIB.

Has any audit been done on the NTFS encryption thing?

[SteamPunker]

I'm sure the ReactOS developers will be interested in this code as well. Kudos to Paragon for releasing it as open source, now that they no longer have a commercial need for it. NTFS compatibility is still important and useful for many people.

[birdie]

I hope this fixes some current issues with NTFS. Namely with ntfs-3g, I find transfering file from linux to such a drive seems to work fine and have the new data, but often I don't see it connecting the drive to windows. I have to run the repair drive from windows in order to see those files appear.

Even with perfect integration of a native driver, I wouldn't use NTFS for any reason but compatibility. NTFS is far from perfect. There is no checksum functionality, not even for metadata. That right there makes it a non-starter except for unimportant data. Case-sensitivity is optional, which is a disaster waiting to happen. Compression is available but no choice of compression method. Forget ZSTD, Supported algorithms are: XPRESS4K or LZX (LZX available manually). Nothing close to even LZO. I'd like to see comparisons between XPRESS4K and ZLIB.

Has any audit been done on the NTFS encryption thing?

NTFS allows to easily implement that via extended attributes.

Case sensitivity is a useless concept which only leads to the user confusion. I've been asking for years to name a single use case for it and no one has ever provided anything even remotely plausible.

No choice of compression? compact.exe allows to specify XPRESS4K, XPRESS8K, XPRESS16K, LZX and classic modes. Microsoft's own website sucks ass - I had to install Windows 10 in a VM to get compact.exe help.

compact /?
Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions.

COMPACT [/C | /U] [/S[:dir]] [/A] [/I] [/F] [/Q] [/EXE[:algorithm]]
        [/CompactOs[:option] [/WinDir:dir]] [filename [...]]

  /C         Compresses the specified files.  Directories will be marked
             so that files added afterward will be compressed unless /EXE
             is specified.
  /U         Uncompresses the specified files.  Directories will be marked
             so that files added afterward will not be compressed.  If
             /EXE is specified, only files compressed as executables will
             be uncompressed; if this is omitted, only NTFS compressed
             files will be uncompressed.
  /S         Performs the specified operation on files in the given
             directory and all subdirectories.  Default "dir" is the
             current directory.
  /A         Displays files with the hidden or system attributes.  These
             files are omitted by default.
  /I         Continues performing the specified operation even after errors
             have occurred.  By default, COMPACT stops when an error is
             encountered.
  /F         Forces the compress operation on all specified files, even
             those which are already compressed.  Already-compressed files
             are skipped by default.
  /Q         Reports only the most essential information.
  /EXE       Use compression optimized for executable files which are read
             frequently and not modified.  Supported algorithms are:
             XPRESS4K  (fastest) (default)
             XPRESS8K
             XPRESS16K
             LZX       (most compact)
  /CompactOs Set or query the system's compression state.  Supported options are:
             query  - Query the system's Compact state.
             always - Compress all OS binaries and set the system state to Compact
                      which remains unless administrator changes it.
             never  - Uncompress all OS binaries and set the system state to non
                      Compact which remains unless administrator changes it.
  /WinDir    Used with /CompactOs:query, when querying the offline OS. Specifies
             the directory where Windows is installed.
  filename   Specifies a pattern, file, or directory.

  Used without parameters, COMPACT displays the compression state of
  the current directory and any files it contains. You may use multiple
  filenames and wildcards.  You must put spaces between multiple
  parameters.

[SteamPunker]

Case sensitivity is a useless concept which only leads to the user confusion. I've been asking for years to name a single use case for it and no one has ever provided anything even remotely plausible.

I wholeheartedly agree. Case-sensitivity is one of the few things that UNIX got wrong and Windows got right. Yes, technically lower-case letters and upper-case letters are different characters as far as the computer is concerned, but why should we as human beings have to adapt to the computer instead of vice versa? The computer doesn't care, so let's program it to be smart enough about it.

And like you said, there isn't a single use case for it. I can't even think of any contrived theoretical ones. Case-sensitivity is confusing and it potentially causes errors. Case-preserving file systems are the best way to go, since they are the most intuitive, and still give the users the freedom to capitalize letters in file names as they see fit.

By the way, I remember reading somewhere that NTFS is technically actually case-sensitive, but Windows itself enforces case-insensitivity and case preservation at a higher layer.