Paragon NTFS for Linux 6.0 is a commercial Linux kernel driver for rapid and transparent read/write access to NTFS volumes. Personal Edition includes the fully functional NTFS for Linux driver with maximum performance and stability. Combine the incompatible with the transparent access to any NTFS drive into Linux operating system! Browse, read, change, copy and create new files and folders.
$29.95
Transparent read/write access to NTFS volumes into Linux OS!
NTFS is an acronym for New Technology File System. NTFS comes with Windows NT and is much more modern, stable and reliable than FAT or FAT 32. This file system designed for use specifically with Windows OS. It supports long file names, huge disk partitions and files, full security access control, the ability to recover files/directories and its structure in the event of hardware failure and many other features.
Yes. The NTFS File System is replacement for the FAT (File Allocation Table) and HPFS (High-Performance File System) file systems. It gives many advantages over the other file systems such as the ability to restore files/directories and its structure in the event of hardware failure, improved security, supporting huge files/partitions and etc.
1.3 Is NTFS File System the same in every version of Windows?
There are three versions of NTFS File System: 1.2, 3.0 and 3.1. Each of these versions is used in deferent Windows OS and has additional features.NTFS version: v1.2; v3.0; v3.1 and accordingly - Windows version: NT 3.51, NT 4; 2000; XP, Server 2003 and Vista.Note:The version 1.2 is also known as 4.0, the versions 3.0 as 5.0 and the version 3.1 as 5.1.
You can convert FAT or FAT 32 volumes to NTFS ones by means of standard Windows applications.Click on Start and then on Run. In the command prompt window, type: convert : /fs:ntfsFor example, type convert D: /fs:ntfs to format the D drive with the ntfs format.Note: Windows does not provide for conversion from NTFS to FAT. Use Partition Manager or Hard Disk Manager to convert FAT volumes to NTFS ones or vice versa.
Windows does not provide any tool to convert NTFS to FAT. Partition Manager or Hard Disk Manager provide the ability to convert the following file systems:
Windows does not provide any tool to resize NTFS volumes. To resize a NTFS volume you can use either Partition Manager or Hard Disk Manager, in particular their Recovery CD. Moreover, we have developed an additional utility using our UFSD SDK to resize NTFS partition under Linux.
UFSD (Universal File System Drivers) is a unique technology specially developed by Paragon Software Group to provide full access (read/write, format, etc.) to volumes of the popular file systems such as NTFS, FAT, Ext2Fs, etc. under various platforms Windows, Linux, etc. in case these file systems are not supported.
Universal File System Driver Software Development Kit (UFSD SDK) is intended for development of the Applications providing the following main features:
Access to unmounted (drive letter is not assigned) partitions;
Access to file systems including none-supported for DOS and Windows OS family;
3.3 The NTFS file system is proprietary technology of Microsoft. Is the NTFS for Linux driver absolutely legal?
It is well known that originally NTFS was very close to the HPFS file system developed by IBM. HPFS was much more OPEN in terms of documentation support, data structure and so on. It helped us to gain a better understanding of its nature, architecture and ideology. The knowledge about NTFS we also have got has already been used for years inside our best-seller product - Paragon Partition Manager. We have sold several million copies of Paragon Partition Manager all over the world. The stability of the products as far as NTFS related operations are concerned says for itself about the stability of the NTFS technology at all. Thus, having a pretty good idea about what the HPFS file system is, we may understand the way NTFS functions. Applying to the other sources of information like Linux drivers for NTFS (read only drivers) and debugging Windows applications, we've documented NTFS structures from within and finally created the Universal File System Driver. While developing Paragon NTFS for Linux driver we always stuck to the following rules: 1) We never applied to any confidential Microsoft NTFS stuff (docs, codes, etc.) and the reverse engineering approach for MS codes. 2) Open sources are the only thing we used. E.g. from www.ntfs.com we got the great part of our NTFS knowledge and understanding. 3) NTFS as a file system as well as on-disk layout is not patented and not documented.
UFSD provides access directly to the physical devices that is why it can process partitions regardless of their support by the current OS. With UFSD it is possible to mount NTFS partitions under Linux, thus getting access to its contents, just the way it is realized in the NTFS for Linux driver, and it also allows direct access via physical device addressing, the way it is realized in UFSD SDK.
Paragon NTFS for Linux software provides access to NTFS volumes under Linux. Now everyone can access NTFS partitions under Linux in a usual manner. The driver allows mounting NTFS partitions, so that programs can work transparently with these mounted partitions - browse contents, open documents, run applications, work with existing files and create new ones. The NTFS for Linux driver is a commercial Linux kernel driver for local access to NTFS volumes. It supports full read/write access. Kernel driver means you will have rapid and transparent access like to native file systems. Just mount manually or insert into fstab, and NTFS will be available like any other tree directory.
The demo version is distributed as a bootable CD with the built-in NTFS for Linux driver in read and write mode. It follows that you can appreciate the NTFS for Linux driver at its true value before purchasing it.
4.7 Can I access Microsoft Dynamic Volumes and Software RAIDs under Linux using NTFS for Linux software.
Yes, you can. The LDM driver is intended to detect Microsoft Dynamic Volumes and Software RAIDs under Linux. After installing the driver, it should detect these volumes and mount them using corresponding file system drivers. For example, if a dynamic volume has a FAT file system then the LDM driver will mount this volume using the default driver for FAT file system i.e. mount -t vfat… If a dynamic volume has a NTFS file system then the LDM driver at first will try to mount the volume using the NTFS for Linux driver (mount -t ufsd …) and if the driver isn't installed then the volume will be mounted using the default NTFS driver i.e. mount -t ntfs…
We strongly recommend using one of the most recent 2.6 or 2.4 kernels for your hardware platform and distribution or any stable Linux kernel from the www.kernel.org site. Using newer Linux kernels, based on Linux kernel versions from the www.kernel.org site, is not strictly prohibited. In case of problems with the operating system, please try to reproduce it on a stable Linux kernel and contact the support organization of your Linux distributor if the problem persists. For more information, please see also: Supported architectures and Supported Linux distributions.
5.3 What performance is available for the NTFS access?
The NTFS for Linux performance is similar to the native NTFS performance and in some cases even better than Ext2 FS. The average Paragon NTFS Drivers performance is following:
DOS: 0.5-2Mb/S;
Win98: 1-4Mb/S;
Linux: 5-20Mb/S.
It depends on PC performance (CPU and RAM), the flow of writing data, etc. However the major factor is the fragmentation of the NTFS volume. In case of huge fragmentation performance may drop down 5-10% of the normal one. Also, regardless of the summary data flow, performance for several simultaneous copy processes is 4-5 times slowly, but it is normal behavior as well as for Windows.
Paragon NTFS for Linux is very reliable providing high performance for Intel-based and non-Intel-based platforms. The architecture of Paragon NTFS for Linux driver enables to easily port it on any hardware platform presented on the market.At the present time our driver supports the following architectures:
Intel x86 or compatible, which includes both 32Bit and 64Bit architecture (AMD64 and EM64T);
6.1 Development Environment to install NTFS for Linux software
A development environment is required to compile Linux drivers and utilities. Please verify these tools are all functional. The easiest way is to choose the developer toolkit when installing Linux. What must be installed:
kernel source code or header files for the kernel; #rpm -qa | grep kernel-source
6.2 Can I install NTFS for Linux software to Knoppix?
Yes, you can. To install the software you should have the kernel sources for the Knoppix on which you want to install the drivers and utilities. Usually, you can find the kernel sources for the Knoppix on its DVD version (not CD).
7.1 Can I show information about a mounted NTFS partition?
Use the infntfs or fsutil utilities to show NTFS volume information. For example: infntfs /dev/hdb1 or fsutil fsinfo volumeinfo /mnt/ntfs or fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo /mnt/ntfs
7.2 Can I create and format a NTFS partition under Linux?
The user can create a partition with a standard Linux utility fdisk and then format it using the mkntfs utility. For example: fdisk /dev/hdb and follow the instructions to create a partition. mkntfs -v:MyLabel -g:255:63 /dev/hdb1 - to format the /dev/hdb1 drive.
Use the infntfs or fsutil utilities to set, clear the NTFS dirty flag. For example: infntfs --dirty set /dev/hdb2 - to set the dirty flag; or fsutil dirty set /mnt/ntfs - to set the dirty flag; or infntfs -- dirty clear /dev/hdb2 - to clear the dirty flag; or fsutil dirty clear /mnt/ntfs - to clear the dirty flag.
7.4 Can I mount NTFS volumes with non-english filenames?
If a partition to be mounted contains files or directories which names have non-English characters, please use the --iocharset option: "mount -t ufsd /dev/ /mnt/ -o --iocharset= ". For example, "mount -t ufsd /dev/hda2 /mnt/ntfs -o --iocharset=iso-8859-2" (run in a Linux console as root or place it into the /etc/fstab file).
7.5 Can I get access Microsoft Dynamic Volumes / Software RAIDs?
Use the LDM driver to get access Microsoft Dynamic Volumes and Software RAIDs. After installing the driver, it must detect dynamic volumes and mount them to /mnt/dyn_0, mnt/dyn_1,… mount points. Moreover, the /dev directory must contain the dm directory with new device files for dynamic volumes: v0, v1,… Note: You can mount dynamic volumes yourself, just use /dev/dm/v0, /dev/dm/v1,… as mount devices when you use the mount command.
7.6 Can I share a NTFS partition via Samba, FTP,…?
The NTFS for Linux driver enables to work with shared NTFS partitions and its folders. It is not prohibited to process unlimited number of connections simultaneously. Note: Parameters of the mount command must allow Samba, FTP,… server to get access to the mounted NTFS partition.
7.8 Can I change the permissions of a mounted NTFS volume?
Since there is no way to map Windows accounts into Linux users, permissions for files and directories are set when a NTFS partition is mounted (similar to the FAT file system, which do not store any information about access rights at all). These permissions are controlled by the following mount options: uid; gid; umask; dmask; fmask. For more details see Paragon Knowledge Base or a manual for the mount command.
You can mount NTFS volumes by adding lines to /etc/fstab (filesystem table) file. Below are some examples of the mount command and their equivalents in the fstab file. mount -t ufsd /dev/hdb1 /mnt/ntfs /dev/hdb1 /mnt/ntfs ufsd defaults, quiet 0 0
Paragon NTFS for Linux Driver (without the cpntfs utility) enables to read files (retrieve data), but while rewriting it can happen to lose the NTFS attributes not supported by the other file systems. Some widely accepted attributes are transformed while writing according to the certain rules (default data, basic attributes (name, date, archive, hidden, system),…). It follows that there is no possibility to save all NTFS attributes on any another file system using the NTFS for Linux driver. The CPNTFS utility provides the following main functionality:
Copying NTFS files and directories including its attributes as an attached structure;
Restoring previously saved files and folders to the NTFS partition providing full or partial recovery of the attributes with corresponding Meta Files correction.
It follows that if you want to create a full backup of any NTFS partition or files/directories you need to use the cpntfs utility.
Use the wipe utility that is intended to wipe (zeroes) unused clusters and tails of files/directories on a NTFS volume. This utility comes with the Professional Edition.
7.16 Can I show information about hard links and junctions on a NTFS volume?
Use the hdlnk and junction utilities to show information about hard links and junctions on a NTFS volume respectively. These utilities come with the Professional Edition.
8.1 Can I customize NTFS for Linux for non-standard hardware platform?
The architecture of the NTFS for Linux driver allows porting it on any hardware presented on the present-day market. Paragon Software Group has a unique experience in customizing the NTFS for Linux driver for various platforms.
8.4 What should we provide to Paragon so that we may get the driver for our specific device/environment (not the generic x86, x86_64 version of the driver)?
We need the following package to port our driver into your specific device (NAS, media device,…):
The device with a COM port to be able to get access to Linux console (via minicom or hyper terminal);
Kernel Source for which we need to compile the driver so that we may build the same kernel image you use into your device;
Kernel_config and makefile file for your customized kernel;
C and C++ cross-compilers (GNU gcc) to be able to compile our driver from our sources;
Toolchain (if it exists).
We need the following package to build our driver for your specific environment:
Your Linux distribution (nice to have);
Kernel Source for which we need to compile the driver;
Kernel_config and makefile file for your customized kernel;
Compiler you used to compile your customized kernel.
9.1 Can the NTFS for Linux driver handle hard links and symlinks?
Hard links and symlinks will be copied as a full file with its body, losing link information. Use the cpntfs utility to copy hard links saving their link information.
9.2 Can the NTFS for Linux driver handle encrypted files?
Encrypted files not supported. Body of file will be copied encrypted with loss of decryption capability. To make full archive the cpntfs utility can be used, available in the Professional version.
9.3 Can the NTFS for Linux driver handle Alternate Data Streams (ADS)).
When copying files from a NTFS partition to any another one, using the NTFS for Linux driver, all additional streams will not be copied, along with compression flag and security attributes. Please note, our UFSD SDK provides full access to Alternate Data Streams (for example, use the cpntfs utility to copy files saving all Alternate Data Streams).
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