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5. New Technology FileSystem (NTFS)

References:

• http://www.microsoft.com/msj/1198/ntfs/ntfstop.htm NTFS 5 information
• Rajeev Nagar, Windows NT File System Internals (O'Reilly).
• Helen Custer, Inside the Windows NT File System, ISBN: 1-55615-660-X.
• NTFS documentation by Regis Duchesne < regis@via.ecp.fr>, http://www.via.ecp.fr/~regis/ntfs.tar.bz2 or http://celine.via.ecp.fr/~regis/ntfs/new
• Microsoft TechNet, February 97, Windows NT Training: Support, NTFS
• http://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/~maechler/NTFS-docu

5.1 Accessing NTFS from DOS (NTFSDOS.EXE)

• Homepage: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntfs20.htm
• Authors: Mark Russinovich < mark@sysinternals.com> and Bryce Cogswell < cogswell@winternals.com>.
• Access: Read-only, Long filenames under DOS 7 and Win9x.

NTFSDOS.EXE is a network file system redirector for DOS/Windows that is able to recognize and mount NTFS drives for transparent access. It makes NTFS drives appear indistinguishable from standard FAT drives, providing the ability to navigate, view and execute programs on them from DOS or from Windows, including from the Windows 3.1 File Manager and Windows 95 Explorer.

5.2 Accessing NTFS from DOS (ntpwd)

• Homepage: http://www.esiea.fr/public_html/Christophe.GRENIER/
• Author: Grenier Christophe < grenier@nef.esiea.fr >
• Access: Read-only (rw experimental), long filenames supported, no driver letter (dos tools)
• License: GPL

NTPwd contains command line tools to access NTFS partition, it'a a Dos port of the driver used by Linux. It contains too a little utility to change NT password.

5.3 Accessing NTFS from OS/2

• Homepage: http://www.dsteiner.com/products/software/os2/ifs.htm
• Mirror: ftp://ftp-os2.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/system/drivers/filesys/ntfs_003.zip, ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/drivers/ifs
• Author: Daniel Steiner < info@dsteiner.com >
• Access: Read-only, Long filenames supported

ntfs_003.zip archive contains only command line tools to acccess a NTFS partition in OS/2. A true IFS for accessing NTFS is included in VFAT-OS2 v0.05.

5.4 Accessing NTFS from Linux

• Homepage: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~loewis/ntfs/
• Author: Martin von Lwis loewis@informatik.hu-berlin.de
• Freshmeat: Console/Filesystems
• Homepage: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~loewis/ntfs/ntfs-current.tgz
• Mirror: Included in official Linux kernel
• Access: RO, experimental RW, compression, no encryption
• License: GPL

Works both as a kernel driver, as well as a set of command line utilities.

5.5 Accessing NTFS from FreeBSD and NetBSD

• Homepage: http://iclub.nsu.ru/~semen/ntfs/
• Author: Semen A. Ustimenko < semenu@FreeBSD.org>
• Download: As part of FreeBSD ( ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/), and NetBSD ( ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/)
• Mirror: Lookup for FreeBSD's and NetBSD's mirrors
• Access: Read + limited writing, doesn't support codepages
• License: BSD

Driver allows to mount NTFS volumes under FreeBSD and NetBSD. We also support limited writing ability: you can write into not comressed files without holes, but you can't change the size of file yet. Write support was made to swap on NTFS volume.

5.6 Accessing NTFS from BeOS

• Homepage: http://www.cs.tamu.edu/people/tkg0143/be/
• Author: Travis Geiselbrecht < geist@tamu.edu >
• Download: http://www.cs.tamu.edu/people/tkg0143/be/downloads/ntfs-0.05-x86-r4.zip
• Access: ?
• License: Free

This is a ALPHA version of a NTFS driver for BeOS. It is not the most polished thing in the world, but every release that author puts out is more stable than the last. He just implemented compressed file reads, so be careful with those. He also finally worked with NTFS 5 volumes, and managed to root out a few bugs.

Author now works for Be Inc, so you will not see his NTFS and ext2 filesystem support updated on the web much more. The drivers will be pulled into future BeOS releases.

5.7 Accessing NTFS from BeOS (another)

• Homepage: http://www.sw.com.sg/solutions/ntfs-ro.shtml
• Author: Standard & Western Software, http://www.sw-soft.com
• Download: http://download.sw.com.sg/pub/Be/ntfs-rod-0302.tar.gz
• Access: Read-only.

5.8 Repairing NTFS using NTFSDOS Tools

• Homepage: http://www.sysinternals.com/
• Author: Winternals Software < info@winternals.com>
• Access: Read-Write: Copy and replace files.
• License: Commercial

An add-on to NTFSDOS that allows one to rename existing files, or to overwrite a file with new data. Very limited functionality.

5.9 Repairing NTFS using NTRecover

• Homepage: http://www.sysinternals.com/
• Author: Winternals Software < info@winternals.com>
• Access: Freeware version is read-only, commercial version is read/write.
• License: Freeware read-only version, commercial read/write version

Uses a boot floppy and a serial connection to a second NT system to provide full access to a NTFS drives on dead NT systems. Ideal for salvaging data or replacing drivers.

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