Quick assessment of 3 Windows tools to read/write Linux filesystems on dual-boot desktops

I dual boot Windows/Ubuntu because Ubuntu 18.04 natively provides
simultaneous full and complete read and write access to the entire visible
file system of Windows, Android, and iOS.

However, I'm mostly on Windows, where, unfortunately, Windows natively will
NOT read the default Linux file system (neither will the Mac).

Thanks to Aragorn on the Linux newsgroup, I found out today that both
Windows and the Mac will easily read/write the Linux native filesystem if
you load free software to do so (some of which is even open source).

To that end, today I quickly tested these Windows solutions below:
1. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/
2. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/Ext2fsd/0.69/
3. https://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

Specifically, I downloaded, extracted & ran these 3 executables:
1. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/files/latest/download
2. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/latest/download
3. https://www.diskinternals.com/download/Linux_Reader.exe

Here is my initial first-pass quick-test assessment, for your benefit, of
those three solutions, where I ask anyone with *experience* using any of
these three programs to access their dual-boot Linux partitions, to further
our combined tribal knowledge.

*ext2read*
The first is just an executable, while the latter two are installers.
That first executable has to be run as Administrator; the rest don't.
Even so, for whatever reason, I couldn't find my Linux home files.

*ext2fsd*
This automatically creates a drive letter for your Linux filesystem.
The GUI was kind of miserable (e.g., it wouldn't even resize properly).
I'm sure it can do the stated task, but it has a steep learning curve.

*LinuxReader*
I kind of like the GUI of the last one the best, at least upon 1st use.
It presents your Linux and Windows disks in a familiar "My Computer" style.
When you want to copy a file from Linux to Windows, you just hit "Save".

Since the price of freeware is the effort it takes to find the best ones,
my quick test clearly indicates I should likely first spend my learning
efforts on the "LinuxReader" and to ditch the other two (unless there's a
reason I learn later to do otherwise).

Note: Similar Mac freeware is covered separately (on the Mac groups).

--
NOTE: As per my discussion with Aragorn, I will only respond in this thread
to those those adults who intend to further our combined capabilities.

On 09/23/2018 08:55 PM, Arlen H. Holder wrote:
I dual boot Windows/Ubuntu because Ubuntu 18.04 natively provides
simultaneous full and complete read and write access to the entire visible
file system of Windows, Android, and iOS.

However, I'm mostly on Windows, where, unfortunately, Windows natively will
NOT read the default Linux file system (neither will the Mac).

Thanks to Aragorn on the Linux newsgroup, I found out today that both
Windows and the Mac will easily read/write the Linux native filesystem if
you load free software to do so (some of which is even open source).

To that end, today I quickly tested these Windows solutions below:
1. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/
2. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/Ext2fsd/0.69/
3. https://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

Specifically, I downloaded, extracted & ran these 3 executables:
1. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/files/latest/download
2. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/latest/download
3. https://www.diskinternals.com/download/Linux_Reader.exe

Here is my initial first-pass quick-test assessment, for your benefit, of
those three solutions, where I ask anyone with *experience* using any of
these three programs to access their dual-boot Linux partitions, to further
our combined tribal knowledge.

*ext2read*
The first is just an executable, while the latter two are installers.
That first executable has to be run as Administrator; the rest don't.
Even so, for whatever reason, I couldn't find my Linux home files.

*ext2fsd*
This automatically creates a drive letter for your Linux filesystem.
The GUI was kind of miserable (e.g., it wouldn't even resize properly).
I'm sure it can do the stated task, but it has a steep learning curve.

*LinuxReader*
I kind of like the GUI of the last one the best, at least upon 1st use.
It presents your Linux and Windows disks in a familiar "My Computer" style.
When you want to copy a file from Linux to Windows, you just hit "Save".

Since the price of freeware is the effort it takes to find the best ones,
my quick test clearly indicates I should likely first spend my learning
efforts on the "LinuxReader" and to ditch the other two (unless there's a
reason I learn later to do otherwise).

Note: Similar Mac freeware is covered separately (on the Mac groups).

I've used ext2read and it worked really well when I was on a BIOS MBR
dual boot. I just got a new laptop (old one died) and it's UEFI GPT
and the program will not find my linux system.

So I"m game to try another program but have not searched. I myself
reside on Linux more than windows and don't need it any longer.
Al

On Sun, 23 Sep 2018 21:24:38 -0400, Big Al wrote:

I've used ext2read and it worked really well when I was on a BIOS MBR
dual boot. I just got a new laptop (old one died) and it's UEFI GPT
and the program will not find my linux system.

So I"m game to try another program but have not searched. I myself
reside on Linux more than windows and don't need it any longer.

Thanks for that input based on your past experience with *ext2read*.
My desktop is old (circa Windows 7 days), so it's BIOS & not UEFI.

This is a screenshot of the "ext2read" GUI running on my Win10 desktop.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8343685sda5.jpg

For whatever reason, the GUI sees only the "root" Linux hierarchies.
It sees *nothing* in the home directory!

I don't know why it can't see inside the home directory.
Luckily, *LinuxReader* had no problem seeing inside my home directory.

I'm sure there's some "setting" somewhere in ext2read that I must have
missed, but, since "LinuxReader" is working for me, I'm not going to try to
find it as the cost of freeware is the amount of effort to learn which is
the best.

Arlen H. Holder wrote:
On Sun, 23 Sep 2018 21:24:38 -0400, Big Al wrote:

I've used ext2read and it worked really well when I was on a BIOS MBR
dual boot. I just got a new laptop (old one died) and it's UEFI GPT
and the program will not find my linux system.

So I"m game to try another program but have not searched. I myself
reside on Linux more than windows and don't need it any longer.

Thanks for that input based on your past experience with *ext2read*.
My desktop is old (circa Windows 7 days), so it's BIOS & not UEFI.

This is a screenshot of the "ext2read" GUI running on my Win10 desktop.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8343685sda5.jpg

For whatever reason, the GUI sees only the "root" Linux hierarchies.
It sees *nothing* in the home directory!

I don't know why it can't see inside the home directory.
Luckily, *LinuxReader* had no problem seeing inside my home directory.

I'm sure there's some "setting" somewhere in ext2read that I must have
missed, but, since "LinuxReader" is working for me, I'm not going to try to
find it as the cost of freeware is the amount of effort to learn which is
the best.

And what kind of encryption do you have on your home directory ?

Is your home directory actually stored on a different disk and mounted
on top of a mount point there ?

There's likely a logical explanation.

Paul

On 09/23/2018 11:20 PM, Paul wrote:
Arlen H. Holder wrote:
On Sun, 23 Sep 2018 21:24:38 -0400, Big Al wrote:

I've used ext2read and it worked really well when I was on a BIOS MBR
dual boot.Â*Â* I just got a new laptop (old one died) and it's UEFI GPT
and the program will not find my linux system.

So I"m game to try another program but have not searched.Â*Â* I myself
reside on Linux more than windows and don't need it any longer.

Thanks for that input based on your past experience with *ext2read*.
My desktop is old (circa Windows 7 days), so it's BIOS & not UEFI.

This is a screenshot of the "ext2read" GUI running on my Win10 desktop.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8343685sda5.jpg

For whatever reason, the GUI sees only the "root" Linux hierarchies.
It sees *nothing* in the home directory!

I don't know why it can't see inside the home directory.
Luckily, *LinuxReader* had no problem seeing inside my home directory.

I'm sure there's some "setting" somewhere in ext2read that I must have
missed, but, since "LinuxReader" is working for me, I'm not going to
try to
find it as the cost of freeware is the amount of effort to learn which is
the best.

And what kind of encryption do you have on your home directory ?

Is your home directory actually stored on a different disk and mounted
on top of a mount point there ?

There's likely a logical explanation.

Â*Â* Paul
I would agree. I've had no issues with reading my home folder to
extract things like docs, pics, .icons files.

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 04:07:07 -0400, Big Al wrote:

I would agree. I've had no issues with reading my home folder to
extract things like docs, pics, .icons files.

Thanks for that input from your experience, as I have _zero_ experience
with these three tools.

To answer Paul's question, EVERYTHING on that dual boot Linux side is
default as the Ubuntu 18.04 is there as a dual boot mostly so that I can
easily interface with all mobile devices and so that I can run things that
Windows doesn't as easily do (grep, sed, sort, etc.) ... (at least Windows
doesn't do it easily without settuing up something like cygwin, bash shell,
GNU coreutils, etc., on Windows).

Here is the user's HOME directory showing up in *LinuxReader* on Windows:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8264301linuxreader.jpg

I don't know (yet) why *ext2read* won't show up anything inside the users'
home directory - but - it's not a big deal (unless I need 'write'
permission - which - I think - LinuxReader doesn't provide).

I'm extremely familiar with freeware, where you learn what you need to
learn, so, right now, I don't need write permission from Windows in the
Linux hierarchy, so the LinuxReader is fine for copying.

If others need write permission, they'll tackle that (and when I need write
permission, I'll solve it, as always, with your help if needed).

--
As agreed with Aragorn, I will only respond to purposefully helpful posts
in this thread, which are intended to further our combined tribal
knowledge.

"Arlen H. Holder" wrote:

Specifically, I downloaded, extracted & ran these 3 executables:
1. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/files/latest/download
2. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/latest/download
3. https://www.diskinternals.com/download/Linux_Reader.exe

FWIW, I've tried ext2fsd and found it unstable and blessed with a
non-intuitive user interface.

However, my weapon of choice to READ (not write!) ext/2/3/4 is 7-Zip.
Both the command line program (7z.exe) and the 7z file manager
(7zFM.exe) support full read access to physical drives (and files) in
ext2/3/4 format. I've never seen the need to use any other tool for that
purpose. And I would never use a Windows app to WRITE to an ext2/3/4
file system.

HTH.
--
Mick

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:32:16 +0100, Mick Finnlay wrote:

FWIW, I've tried ext2fsd and found it unstable and blessed with a
non-intuitive user interface.

Thanks for that vote based on your experience, where I didn't run into any
flakiness in my five-minute test of *ext2fsd*, but I _instantly_ ran into
what you aptly termed a "non-intuitive" user interface.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=2916654ext2fsd.jpg

A lot may depend on the choices upon installation, where I was presented
with these defaults:
[x] Make Ext2Fsd automatically started when system boots [sic]
[x] Enable write support for Ext2 partitions
....[x] Enable force writing support on Ext3 partitions

By way of contrast, the user interface to *ext2read* was fine, but the
users' home directories showed up empty (for some strange reason):
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8343685sda5.jpg

Meanwhile, the user interface to *LinuxReader* was the most intuitive (upon
first inspection anyway) and the users' home directories were visible:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8264301linuxreader.jpg

The "problem" with LinuxReader might be that it's apparently read only.

In my searches for how to read Linux partitions from Windows, I found
*Ext4Explorer*
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext4explore/?source=directory
which I did not test yet (so we should ask for experienced advice).

I also found Paragon payware, where they seem to be the go-to guys for
commercial solutions on both Windows & the Mac:
https://www.paragon-software.com/business/extfs-for-windows/

As you're all well aware, the expense of freeware is almost all in the
choosing of the best ones, so my "added value" to the team is simply those
initial insights - where I ask for more insight from experienced users.

However, my weapon of choice to READ (not write!) ext/2/3/4 is 7-Zip.
Both the command line program (7z.exe) and the 7z file manager
(7zFM.exe) support full read access to physical drives (and files) in
ext2/3/4 format. I've never seen the need to use any other tool for that
purpose. And I would never use a Windows app to WRITE to an ext2/3/4
file system.

Wow! That's a neat idea, if it works!

Thank you for potentially furthering our knowledge. I already had 7Zip so I
brought up the GUI, but it's not obvious to me what's the first step after
bringing up 7Zip on Windows to access a foreign file system such as the
dual-boot Linux partition is:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=56940667zip.png

Can you give us a hint as to the next step in 7Zip to access the Linux
partitions under a typical dual-boot of Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04?

See also the tribal-knowledge archives at:
http://alt.comp.freeware.narkive.com
http://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-freeware
For example:
http://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narkive.com/EOP3G3NM/quick-assessment-of-3-windows-tools-to-read-write-linux-filesystems-on-dual-boot-desktops
http://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-os-windows-10

--
In this thread, I will only respond to purposefully helpful posts which are
intended to further our combined tribal knowledge.

"Arlen H. Holder" wrote:

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:32:16 +0100, Mick Finnlay wrote:

However, my weapon of choice to READ (not write!) ext/2/3/4 is 7-Zip.
Both the command line program (7z.exe) and the 7z file manager
(7zFM.exe) support full read access to physical drives (and files) in
ext2/3/4 format. I've never seen the need to use any other tool for that
purpose. And I would never use a Windows app to WRITE to an ext2/3/4
file system.

Wow! That's a neat idea, if it works!

Thank you for potentially furthering our knowledge. I already had 7Zip so I
brought up the GUI, but it's not obvious to me what's the first step after
bringing up 7Zip on Windows to access a foreign file system such as the
dual-boot Linux partition is:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=56940667zip.png

Can you give us a hint as to the next step in 7Zip to access the Linux
partitions under a typical dual-boot of Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04?

Click on the Folder Up icon next (left) to the edit field with
"Computer\" in it until you get a screen where all logical drives and
also the physical disks are listed. If you have a non-encrypted ext2/3/4
partition on your HD(s) it should be listed there. Double click to open.

HTH.
--
Mick

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 15:03:25 +0100, Mick Finnlay wrote:

Click on the Folder Up icon next (left) to the edit field with
"Computer\" in it until you get a screen where all logical drives and
also the physical disks are listed. If you have a non-encrypted ext2/3/4
partition on your HD(s) it should be listed there. Double click to open.

Thanks. Please see the note by "Shadow" to your post elsewhere in this
thread.

I already clicked everything I could think of, where 7-zip does not seem to
even "see" any of the dual-boot Linux partitions.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=51629247zip.jpg

At least 7zip didn't work for me where my dual boot setup is 100% standard.

Can a third person try it out to report back for the team?

On 09/24/2018 9:11 AM, Arlen H. Holder wrote:
On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 15:03:25 +0100, Mick Finnlay wrote:

Click on the Folder Up icon next (left) to the edit field with
"Computer\" in it until you get a screen where all logical drives and
also the physical disks are listed. If you have a non-encrypted ext2/3/4
partition on your HD(s) it should be listed there. Double click to open.

Thanks. Please see the note by "Shadow" to your post elsewhere in this
thread.

I already clicked everything I could think of, where 7-zip does not seem to
even "see" any of the dual-boot Linux partitions.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=51629247zip.jpg

At least 7zip didn't work for me where my dual boot setup is 100% standard.

Can a third person try it out to report back for the team?


Yes, same results here, All I can get are all my windows drives and DVD
ROM, no sign of my Linux installation no matter what I click or open.

Rene

"Arlen H. Holder"
news alt.comp.freeware, wrote:

I already clicked everything I could think of, where 7-zip does
not seem to even "see" any of the dual-boot Linux partitions.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=51629247zip.jpg

You're going about this the long way...

At least 7zip didn't work for me where my dual boot setup is 100%
standard.

What do you mean by 100% standard?

I thought I'd save you some time and increase the tribal knowledge.
This is not new information for me, because i've been doing this for
quite some time. My network as I've mentioned before is primarily
Linux based but does have one native XP machine still present.

As I do alot of technical service work, it's very handy to be able
to mount different types of file systems I run across; but I do NOT,
absolutely ****ing do NOT write to original/masters. If I need to do
some writing to the drive, i'm going to image it completely
beforehand, AND, verify I have a solid image to work from.

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-mount...d-write-access

I'd still strongly advise that you elect to mount your NTFS
partitions as read only; not read/write. The safest way to exchange
files between them in a dual boot configuration is by having a fat32
partition. Both OSes can safely read and write to it all day long
without any danger of file system corruption.

You can even set it up as a cron job or bash script, or whatever you
prefer and just 'run' it when you've logged into your Linux OS.
You really are going about things the long way by taking the routes
you've taken so far. Linux can (most distros, but i'm not going to
tell you they all will out of the box, I know better) in most cases,
with little work on your part, mount any NTFS partition you like;
with write access in many cases, if you want it. I still, do NOT
recommend you take advantage of that particular option. I love
linux, I really do, but, it's not perfect and relies on reverse
engineering to read/write to NTFS. Reading NTFS worst case, you
don't get exactly what you tried to read and have to try again.
Writing to NTFS if something goes wrong can do anything from
disabling your dual boot, to rendering you no access to the contents
of your NTFS partition until it's repaired. IF it can be.



--
To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber
stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he
https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php
================================================== =
Auntie Em: Hate you, Hate Kansas, Took the dog - Dorothy

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 15:03:25 +0100, Mick Finnlay
wrote:

"Arlen H. Holder" wrote:

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:32:16 +0100, Mick Finnlay wrote:

However, my weapon of choice to READ (not write!) ext/2/3/4 is 7-Zip.
Both the command line program (7z.exe) and the 7z file manager
(7zFM.exe) support full read access to physical drives (and files) in
ext2/3/4 format. I've never seen the need to use any other tool for that
purpose. And I would never use a Windows app to WRITE to an ext2/3/4
file system.

Wow! That's a neat idea, if it works!

Thank you for potentially furthering our knowledge. I already had 7Zip so I
brought up the GUI, but it's not obvious to me what's the first step after
bringing up 7Zip on Windows to access a foreign file system such as the
dual-boot Linux partition is:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=56940667zip.png

Can you give us a hint as to the next step in 7Zip to access the Linux
partitions under a typical dual-boot of Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04?

Click on the Folder Up icon next (left) to the edit field with
"Computer\" in it until you get a screen where all logical drives and
also the physical disks are listed. If you have a non-encrypted ext2/3/4
partition on your HD(s) it should be listed there. Double click to open.


Nope, only Windows partitions (and DVD and virtual DVDs)
shown. My 3 Linux partitions are invisible.
Maybe you are using a command-line setting ?
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

"Arlen H. Holder"
news alt.comp.freeware, wrote:

The "problem" with LinuxReader might be that it's apparently read
only.

That's NOT a problem. The author of the program knows how risky it is
to perform writes of any kind on NTFS...

You have to understand that NTFS isn't public/open source.
Documentation on it is sketcky on a good day. Those who have reliable
docs are under an NDA. Any drivers you find on linux that can read
and or write to NTFS is due entirely to 3rd party reverse engineering
efforts. Reverse engineering isn't perfect. Some things can be
missed. Changes in the NTFS file system are known to occur from time
to time. Some are larger than others, but, any is enough to make a
driver unsafe to use for writing.

XP and Vista for example are not using the same version of NTFS.

I also found Paragon payware, where they seem to be the go-to guys
for commercial solutions on both Windows & the Mac:
https://www.paragon-software.com/business/extfs-for-windows/

I can highly recommend their apps if you have a serious need for
their usage. They aren't relying on 3rd party reverse engineering
efforts to read or write NTFS. They have MS documentation and their
blessing.


As you're all well aware, the expense of freeware is almost all in
the choosing of the best ones, so my "added value" to the team is
simply those initial insights - where I ask for more insight from
experienced users.

That isn't always the only expense. Depending on the value of data
that can be lost from using freeware (or payware for that matter)
might supersede it's value.

However, my weapon of choice to READ (not write!) ext/2/3/4 is
7-Zip. Both the command line program (7z.exe) and the 7z file
manager (7zFM.exe) support full read access to physical drives
(and files) in ext2/3/4 format. I've never seen the need to use
any other tool for that purpose. And I would never use a Windows
app to WRITE to an ext2/3/4 file system.

Wow! That's a neat idea, if it works!

It does. You'll notice, they specifically (like myself) do NOT
encourage the use of ANY linux based software to WRITE to any NTFS
based file system. There IS a valid reason for that.

Thank you for potentially furthering our knowledge. I already had
7Zip so I brought up the GUI, but it's not obvious to me what's
the first step after bringing up 7Zip on Windows to access a
foreign file system such as the dual-boot Linux partition is:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=56940667zip.png

You keep using our/we, etc.. Do you have a turd in your pocket or
something? On this thread, I haven't seen you contribute tribal
knowledge (wtf is that exactly?). I've seen various others share
(except for 7zip, I'll give you that's probably not completely common
knowledge, but it is mentioned in their faq; if anybody reads those
(I do) what I consider to be common knowledge and vary sound advice.

Can you give us a hint as to the next step in 7Zip to access the
Linux partitions under a typical dual-boot of Windows 10 and
Ubuntu 18.04?

Is google broken?

What exactly are you calling a typical dual boot configuration? I'll
give you a cluebyfour for free, no charge. not even shipping and
handling; there's no such thing. Each one is going to be a little
different, based on internal hardware and drive geometry differences.
Not to mention user choice when it comes to kernel selection on
Ubuntu.

I'll let you slide on those pesky details because I haven't seen you
claim to be anything more than a power level end user. Had you
claimed to be a technician or something instead, I'd show you no
mercy.


--
To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber
stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he
https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php
================================================== =
You can't step twice in the same river twice.

Removed the "freeware" newsgroup, as the question is Windows only

Diesel,

You have to understand that NTFS isn't public/open source.
....
Changes in the NTFS file system are known to occur from time
to time. Some are larger than others, but, any is enough to make
a driver unsafe to use for writing.

Thanks for the warning. And yes, I was also assuming (mistaken, as it turns
out) that NTFS was a well-documented and unencumbered filesystem.

But I have to ask: As FAT32 is whoofully shortfalling in regard to being
able to handle the large disks of nowerdays (even a single Terrabyte drive
would easily exhaust all available drive letters), what filesystem would you
advice to use on Windows if-and-when someone would not like to be bound to
the OS ?

I could use a(n ofcourse Linux based) NAS, but would like to keep it locally
(don't really want to keep the NAS running when its not used, but have no
desire to switch on (and off) two machines just to be able to use a single
one).

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

P.s.
You can't step twice in the same river twice.

Some deeper meaning of using the word "twice" twice, or just a mistake ?

Hmmm, I just noticed (googled) that its something an ancient philosopher
named Heraclitus said - most likely referring to the same bit of river
water, not the river in its whole. Context, context. :-)