www.linux-ntfs.org

documentation

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

The NTFS technical documentation is a description of all the on-disk data structures as known to the Linux-NTFS Developers. It is intended for developers only. Most of it was obtained through reverse engineering. We're confident that the information is correct. We think we know where there are gaps in our knowledge. We may be wrong. Beware.

downloads

2007-09-30T16:31:29+01:00

Here you can find a selection of the latest downloads. For a complete listing of all available packages see our project download page at SourceForge. Note that most distributions already include the ntfsprogs package. If it isn't already installed, you can most often do so by using apt-get, dselect, aptitude, urpmi, yum, emerge or similar.

driverroadmap

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

About the Roadmap The roadmap was first published in the Linux-NTFS-dev mailing list on May 17, 2004 by Anton Altaparmakov. It was last edited at May 14, 2006 by Yuval Fledel to reflect current state. Orginal archive link:

faq

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

LinuxNTFS FAQ To the [Array] Linux-NTFS FAQ in English. To the [Array] Linux-NTFS FAQ in Italian. To the [Array] Linux-NTFS FAQ in Japanese. To the [Array] Linux-NTFS FAQ in Vietnamese. To the [Array] Linux-NTFS FAQ in German. To the [Array] Linux-NTFS FAQ in Simplified Chinese.

getinvolved

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

So, you would like to contribute. You are very welcome to. The goal of this page is to answer the first few questions any newbie may ask. We could use coders, web-developers, documentors & bug-hunters. What we have enough of: People that offer help, are replied to and then never heard from again.

gpl

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

The GPL is the license that this project's software products are distributed under. See for the text of the license. The documentation is distributed under the terms of the GFDL.

kernel_driver

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

The NTFS Linux kernel driver is the piece of code that allows Linux software to access NTFS Volumes. For the status of the driver, check the status page. For a preview of what is expected in the future, see the driver's RoadMap. Note: The kernel driver is integrated in the Linux kernel. This is not the FUSE module (ntfsmount). It allows faster file access and is more stable, on the expense of less features. For more details see ntfsmount.

libntfs

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

libntfs is a library that reads and manipulates NTFS volumes. libntfs is developed in concurrence with ntfsprogs. It is also used by some other projects. To get libntfs you can download the ntfsprogs archive, or get it from cvs (the “ntfsprogs” module).

mailinglists

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

You can find all our mailing lists listed here: Linux-NTFS-Dev This is the developers mailing list. Stuff here range from chit-chat among the developers to highly technical stuff. Usually, it is the latter. (medium volume)

members

2007-09-30T21:07:33+01:00

This is a list of long standing active project members: * Anton Altaparmakov * Richard Russon * Szabolcs Szakacsits * Yuval Fledel * Yura Pakhuchiy * Mario Emmenlauer There are many people that are not active in the project, but deserve their credit. (feel free to add you name here if you think you deserve it)

mft

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

MFT: The Master File Table. The MFT is like a dictionary of all files on an NTFS Volume.

microsoft

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

Where have you been in the last 10-15 years? Try to search the web for some info. I can't feed you with a spoon.

mkntfs

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

mkntfs is a tool to create new NTFS volumes. It is the NTFS implementation of unix's mkfs, and the windows implementation of “format”.

mm

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

Andrew Morton maintains a set of patches against Linus' kernel tree. This patchset include patches that needs greater audience before merging into the mainline kernel (also called Linus' tree). The next version of the NTFS kernel kernel_driver, if one is available for testing, is always there.

navigate

2007-10-02T14:26:49+01:00

* Wiki Home * Forum * Search * ntfsprogs manpages * What is NTFS? * How can I access NTFS? * The kernel driver * Userspace driver (ntfsmount) * Userspace tools (ntfsprogs) * Current project status * Other Documentation

news

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfsprogs 2.0.0 released: [2007-09-29 07:55] The long awaited 2.0.0 release is finally here! Highlights are that ntfsmount sports full read/write support, libntfs can read encrypted files and ntfsresize as well as all other tools support Windows Vista. Upgrade is strongly recommended. Read More >> ntfsprogs 1.13.1 released: [2006-06-21 09:25] Time for another release. Many bug fixes and enhancements so update is strongly recommended. Read More >> ntfsprogs 1.13.0 released: [2006-02-27 09:56] …

ntfs-3g

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

The ntfs-3g driver is an obsolete fork of ntfsmount. Use ntfsmount from ntfsprogs-2.0.0 instead.

ntfs-de

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Diese FAQ ist Teil des Linux NTFS Projekts. Die aktuellste Version kann auf heruntergeladen werden. Wenn Sie Fragen über NTFS haben, die nicht in dieser FAQ beantwortet werden oder Sie etwas über diese FAQ loswerden möchten, schreiben Sie bitte an

ntfs-en

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

Introduction [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] This FAQ is part of the Linux NTFS Project. The latest version can be found online at If you have an NTFS question that isn't answered in this FAQ, or you have comments about the FAQ, please use the help forums:

ntfs-es

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Esta FAQ forma parte de Linux NTFS Project. La última versión actualizada puede ser vista online en: Si tienes una pregunta relativa a NTFS que no está respondida en esta FAQ, o tienes algún comentario sobre esta FAQ, envía un mail a:

ntfs-fr

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Cette FAQ est une composante du Projet Linux NTFS. La version à jour peut-être trouvée en-ligne à l'adresse

ntfs-it

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Questa FAQ è parte del Linux NTFS Project. La versione aggiornata è disponibile online all'indirizzo: Se avete una domanda su NTFS che non è presente in questa FAQ, o avete commenti sulla FAQ, scriveremi:

ntfs-ja

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] このFAQは Linux NTFS Project. の一部である。最新のバージョンは以下のURIにある。このFAQの中に入っていないNTFSへの疑問があれば、あるいはこのFAQに対するコメントがあれば、わたしにメールしてください:

ntfs-nl

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

NTFS FAQ (Veelgestelde vragen) Introductie [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Deze FAQ is onderdeel van het Linux NTFS Project. De laatste versie tref je op

ntfs-pt_br

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Esta FAQ é parte do Projeto Linux NTFS. A versão mais recente pode ser encontrada em Se voce tem uma questão de NTFS que não é respondida nessa FAQ, ou voce tem comentários sobre a FAQ, por favor envie um email:

ntfs-ru

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Этот документ часть проекта Linux NTFS Project. Самая последняя версия может быть найдена здесь:

ntfs-vi

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] Bản cập nhật mới nhất ở đây Dịch bởi: Trịnh Hoài Trí (ngày 13/10/2003) Cập nhật 26/02/2007

ntfs-zh

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] 这份FAQ是 Linux NTFS计划的一部分。最新的版本可以通过访问获得。如果这份FAQ没有回答你的关于NTFS的问题，或者你对这份FAQ有什么意见，请发邮件给我：

ntfs-zh_tw

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

[Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] [Array] 這份 FAQ 是 Linux NTFS Project 的一部分最新版可在取得. 如果你有關於 NTFS 的問題無法在這得到解答, 或對這份 FAQ 有任何意見, 請 email 至給我.

ntfs

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

NTFS is a file system that was created by Microsoft to accompany Windows NT. It is a modern file system with all the features you may want, and some you don't (Microsoft does seem to have a lot of features that no one likes) Some people call the NTFS version as NTFS4 (for WinNT4) and NTFS5 (for Win2k and XP). This project use the version that is specified on the disk.

ntfscat

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfscat is the ntfsprogs util for dumping an NTFS-hosted file's contents, similar to the 'cat' POSIX command. ntfscat can be used by giving it a file name or an MFT number. Therefore, you can use ntfscat to get a file's contents without mounting the partition.

ntfsck

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfsck is also known as fsck.ntfs, and is a delightful member of the ntfsprogs package. ntfsck is a small program that checks NTFS volumes for consistency. It is the GNU/Linux counterpart of chkdsk. ntfsck is not yet available. In the meanwhile... Use ”ntfsresize -fi /dev/hdXY” to check your partition for errors, or use Windows' chkdsk..

ntfsclone

2007-12-31T12:36:31+01:00

The ntfsclone utility efficiently copies, backups and restores an NTFS filesystem to/from a file, partition or standard output. It is part of the ntfsprogs suite, its full description along with some usage examples can be found in the ntfsclone manual.

ntfscluster

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfscluster is a happy part of ntfsprogs. Its goal is to find what file is using some cluster or a range of clusters on an NTFS partition. The -i (info) command The -i option is the default command of ntfscluster. ntfscluster -i /dev/hda1 or ntfscluster /dev/hda1

ntfscp

2007-11-08T20:37:07+01:00

ntfscp allows you to copy files in NTFS See the manual page NTFSCP(8)

ntfsdecrypt

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfsdecrypt is a tool for decrypting files that are encrypted using NTFSs ability of encryption a.k.a $EFS. It is part of ntfsprogs as the “make extra” set of utilities. ntfsdecrypt is not finished at this stage. If it is not working, please send the exact error message to the linux-ntfs-dev mailing list.

ntfsdefrag

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfsdefrag does not yet exist. Theoretically, it is part of ntfsprogs, and its hypothetical goal is to defrag NTFS volumes. It is a very advanced defragmenter, the fastest you can ever find! The file placement algorithm is the fruit of years of academic research. Unfortunately, this research is confidential, so you will not be able to find any publication about it. Luckily, the tool is GPLed, and that means that you are eligible of getting the sourcecode to view, study, modify and redistribut…

ntfsfix

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfsfix is quite an old utility. Its name is quite misleading, as its goal is not to fix the volume, but to mark is as dirty, so that Windows will fix it at the next reboot. That technique was neccessary in the days of the old kernel_driver (version 1.X), that allowed unsafe writing support. And unsafe mean that it trashed volumes badly. So a way was neccessary to clean the mess afterwards, and Windows was the best tool for doing that at the time (and still quite effective today, although ther…

ntfsinfo

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfsinfo is a ntfsprogs utility for getting some information out of the NTFS file system metadata. ntfsinfo output is generated from 2 main data sources: * Data about the entire volume (such as the boot sector, volume label, etc.) * Data about a single file or directory (from the FILE record).

ntfsmount

2007-10-03T14:59:01+01:00

ntfsmount (part of the ntfsprogs) is an read/write userspace NTFS driver. It provides full read-write access to NTFS, excluding writing compressed and encrypted files, changing file ownership, access right. It is different from the kernel driver in the way that is resides in the user space. That means that it is a bit slower but has more features, and we love features, don't we?

ntfsprogs

2008-06-07T16:34:29+01:00

ntfsprogs are a collection of utilities for doing stuff with NTFS volumes. When building ntfsprogs, you can decide between two major parts: * “make all” will build all the utilities that are distributed in the binary packages in the various distributions. These include useful stable utilities. * “make extra” will build the “development grade” utilities. These are a set of utilities that will become stable and useful some day, but are not fully implemented and/or tested yet.

ntfsresize

2008-10-01T06:28:50+01:00

ntfsresize is a tool for safely resizing NTFS volumes. Normally, you would like to use it from inside a graphical tool such as QTparted or Gparted. A great HowTo already exists in , so there is no point to clone it here too. (2008/09/30 - site appears to be down)

ntfswipe

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

ntfswipe is a ntfsprogs tool for removing unneeded data from an NTFS file system. You can use it to make sure you the data of an erased file is no longer there (note: there may be physical ways to restore that data! use it on your own risk). It also fills the unused spaces with zeros, so you can use it before backing up the file system, so it will compress better (you don't need that if you are using ntfsclone).

polls

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

When the web-site was redone with Mambo (later renamed Joomla!), one of the new features was polls. Here are the results of a few polls that were done in the past. poll results: I share files with MS Windows by Voters Percent Description1298 27.8% NTFS if I could.918 19.7% Why use Windows?633 13.6% NTFS with ntfsmount.626 13.4% A samba share on some server.595 12.7% FAT32 forever.358 7.7% ext2 driver for Windows.241 5.2% Why use Linux? * Number of …

relatedprojects

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

PartImage (Ghost/PQDI) FranÃ§ois DupouxExplorer Plug-in for ext2 John NewbiginNTFS Utils for Windows Kees ZeelenbergTestDisk, Command Line NTFS Utils, etc Christophe GrenierPartEd GNUAVFS (Userspace Filesystem) Miklos SzerediNT Stripe Set Martin HinnerSwapFS, FileDisk Bo BrantenCaptive NTFS Jan Kratochvil

snapshots

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

Downloading Snapshots are generated by scripts that look like: make-ntfsprogs-snapshot: #!/bin/bash MYDATE=`date +%Y%m%d%H%M` cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.linux-ntfs.org:/cvs/linux-ntfs co -P ntfsprogs && \ (cd ntfsprogs && autoreconf --force --install && rm -rf autom4te.cache) && \ mv ntfsprogs ntfsprogs-${MYDATE} && \ tar cvjf ntfsprogs-${MYDATE}.tar.bz2 ntfsprogs-${MYDATE}

start

2009-02-09T21:44:17+01:00

The goals of the Linux-NTFS project are to develop reliable and full feature access to NTFS by the Linux kernel driver and by a user space driver (ntfsmount), and to provide a wide collection of NTFS utilities and a developer's library for other GPLed programs. We have already achieved a lot, with high quality results.

status

2007-09-30T21:29:29+01:00

The most frequently asked question about this project is “How long until there is full read/write support?”. This page should give you a feeling about the answer. If you do not know the difference between kernel driver and ntfsprogs, look at page 'How can I access NTFS?' first.

texteditorpitfall

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

The current kernel_driver allows overwriting existing files. People hear about it and say: Hey, I can edit 'foo.txt' with vim/emacs/whatever and fail. Why can't they save the file? When a common text editor saves a file, it actually tries to create a temporary file, save the contents and rename it over the original file. It is done for reasons like integrity.

transactional_ntfs

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

Transactional NTFS is a logical layer on top of NTFS. It adds the concept of atomic transactions, which are common in DMBSes, to the NTFS file system. Transactional NTFS use a transaction manager (either “Kernel Transaction Manager (KTM)” or “Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC)”) in order to manage transactions. In turn, the transaction manager exploits the Journalling mechanism of NTFS in order to do its job.

whyisittakingsolong

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

Basically, all knowledge that is needed for write support has been gathered. Reverse engineering is not required. History That being said, you may wonder why has the Linux kernel stopped providing a basic writing support between 2.4 and 2.5? The reason is simple. In the 2.2 and 2.4 kernels there is an older driver (versions 1.*) while the 2.5+ kernels has a newer driver (versions 2.*). The 2.* driver was written from scratch, with only two people working on it. only one of them is active now…

winfs

2009-02-09T21:32:23+01:00

WinFS is a cancelled Microsoft project which was supposed to be a Windows storage subsystem on top of NTFS. Instead, some of its features will be integrated into MS SQL Server and ADO.NET. Maybe. What would have been WinFS NTFS and almost all other file systems maintain files in an hierarchy, or a graph.