I want to use ext4 on my external HDD, but it must be cross-platform. (At least Linux, Win7 & WinXP).
Unfortunately, I haven't found any proper driver allowing Windows to WRITE to ext4. I've found Ext2Fsd, but it only reads ext4.
9. ext4 extent read-only, no size truncating and expanding support
More:
Supported Ext3/4 features:
- flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
- dir_index: htree directory index
- filetype: extra file mode in dentry
- large_file: > 4G files supported
- sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
- uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
- extent: reading, writing with no extending.
- journal: only support replay for internal journal
Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
- journal: log-based operations, external journal
- extent: size truncating & expanding, file deletion
- flex_bg: first metadata group
- EA (extended attributes), ACL support
Also, I have found a patch for Ext4Fsd v0.50 (here):
New: Matt Wu has made a new release 0.50 at ext2fsd.com. Ext2fsd-0.48-bb8-signed Support for ext4 extents and fix for BSOD on Windows 7.
I don't think it will be safe. Also I've read some words about writing ext4 in Windows could cause data loss on the disk...
What is the External HDD used for?
- First, it will store backups, then family movies, pictures. Some music, and etc. It will be connected to a Raspberry Pi, if I finally receive it. It won't really move, just when it is used to migrate computer's data to a new one. The largest files it will store are Clonezilla disk images (I don't know, if they will be large files or not).
Can someone provide a solution for this problem? Or is there NO important enough difference between ext4 and ext3, and I should use ext3? - (If yes, then can I use Ext2Fsd for that ext3 mount?)
Thank you!
large files
?