[DONE] Problem accesing EXT3 partition from WIN XP

[mackowiakp]

I have WIN XP partition on my PC. It is used from time to time, but I need access to one particular EXT3 formatted Linux filesystem in read/write mode.
Sourceforge offers Ext2Fsd. Nice, but it works in read/write mode only with EXT2 filesystem type. Operating on EXT3 formated cause from time to time damage of EXT3 filesystem during access it to write mode. fsck resolve the problem, but I want to live without problems.

So my questions are:
- is it possible to replace Ext2Fsd by any WIN XP driver with read/write full support for EXT3
- is it possible to migrate desired filesystem to EXT2 from EX3. I mean about some simple solution, not backing-up, formating and restoring. And of course changing UUID in fstab.

Any idea?

[doktor5000]

This is what I've used: http://www.fs-driver.org/
Also Ext2Fsd works with ext3 in read/write mode:

Features Ext2Fsd supports:

ext2/ext3 volume reading & writing
ext3 journal replay when mounting

Wouldn't go the other way (downgrading ext4/3 to ext2 as that means you need to disable the journal).
It is possible as ext FS are backwards and forwards-compatible, but as you mentioned you wanted to live without problems ...

[mackowiakp]

Yep, You are right that tech specification of fs-driver stands about full support of EXT3 including jurnaling. But my experience stands that both WIN EXT drivers (i tested both) cause sometimes EXT3 damage. I have only one application I use under WIN XP. It is TS-Doctor, app dedicated to repair, edit etc streams recorded from SAT receiver for example. Since recorded HD film filesize is about 10-12 GB (directly taken from SAT rec, before editing) so I suppose that both driver have a problem (not all the time, but sometimes) to manipulate big files on EXT3 filesys.
So in my case, I will downgrade filesys (not all, but only common filesys both for WIN and Linux systems) to ETX2. Does not matter what kind of WIN driver of EXTx fileys I use.

[doktor5000]

So in my case, I will downgrade filesys (not all, but only common filesys both for WIN and Linux systems) to ETX2. Does not matter what kind of WIN driver of EXTx fileys I use.

That way you also loose journaling under linux - so if you think that's a good idea, then by all means do so.

Why not simply run that Windows application inside a VM or via wine?

[mackowiakp]

The problem is that I use 3 apps (very rare - but sometimes I must) working only under WIN because it needs direct access to hardware registers of tty for example or use WIN specific graphic mechanism. Such apps does not work properly under Virtual Box, Wine or CrossOver.
After several probes, I use NTFS partition (disk D: in WIN) as common for M4 and WIN. In my case it is best choice.
But the problem is not critical for me, because I use WIN VERY rare.

[doktor5000]

Please mark the thread accordingly by editing the topic of the first post and prefix it by [DONE], thanks

[mackowiakp]

Ok

[jiml8]

Although you mentioned VB and Wine, you did not mention VMware player.

If you really need direct access to hardware (and I don't think you can obtain this from Windows post Win95...it all goes through Windows hardware abstraction, I think), then I don't think any VM software will help you. However, as for graphics, your VM software matters.

I have found no graphical case involving Windows (including running very old DOS programs) that I could not make work in VMware, if the program would load in the native OS. I still run Windows 2000 on a daily basis, with no issues at all involving graphics. VMware player is free; you might give it a try.

[mackowiakp]

Yes, I want to move to Free VMware vSphere Hypervisor. But only for fun, because 99,99% of my computing time I use Linux and Linux native apps.

[mackowiakp]

Question to jiml8

Which version of VMware product You tested as properly working with Mageia?

[jiml8]

I presently am using Mageia 4 host with kernel 3.14.24-desktop-1.mga4 and VMware Workstation 9.03. On a recent upgrade (I forget, but I think it was when I went to kernel 3.14 from kernel 3.12) I had to manually debug and patch the VMware memory management kernel module which would not compile for 3.14. Usually there are patches available on the net (from one place or another) to handle this kind of issue. In this case, I did not hunt for a patch; I just fixed it myself.

VMware Workstation is presently on Release 10 and has been for about a year. I probably will upgrade again when Release 11 is available.

I do not know if VMware player will run "out of the box" on the latest Mageia 4.

[doktor5000]

If you really need direct access to hardware (and I don't think you can obtain this from Windows post Win95...it all goes through Windows hardware abstraction, I think), then I don't think any VM software will help you.

Depends what "direct access" really means. KVM can provide direct access via [PCI] passthrough of devices from the host to the VM.

Only problem is your CPU needs to support VT-d.