NTFS3

Summary and Features

NTFS3 is fully functional NTFS Read-Write driver. The driver works with NTFSversions up to 3.1. File system type to use on mount isntfs3.

  • This driver implements NTFS read/write support for normal, sparse andcompressed files.

  • Supports native journal replaying.

  • Supports NFS export of mounted NTFS volumes.

  • Supports extended attributes. Predefined extended attributes:

    • system.ntfs_security gets/sets security

      Descriptor: SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR_RELATIVE

    • system.ntfs_attrib gets/sets ntfs file/dir attributes.

      Note: Applied to empty files, this allows to switch type betweensparse(0x200), compressed(0x800) and normal.

    • system.ntfs_attrib_be gets/sets ntfs file/dir attributes.

      Same value as system.ntfs_attrib but always represent as big-endian(endianness of system.ntfs_attrib is the same as of the CPU).

Mount Options

The list below describes mount options supported by NTFS3 driver in addition togeneric ones. You can use every mount option withno option. If it is inthis table marked with no it means default is withoutno.

iocharset=name

This option informs the driver how to interpret path strings andtranslate them to Unicode and back. If this option is not set, thedefault codepage will be used (CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT).

Example: iocharset=utf8

uid=

gid=

umask=

Controls the default permissions for files/directories created afterthe NTFS volume is mounted.

dmask=

Instead of specifying umask which applies both to files anddirectories, fmask applies only to files and dmask only to directories.

fmask=

nohidden

Files with the Windows-specific HIDDEN (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN) attributewill not be shown under Linux.

sys_immutable

Files with the Windows-specific SYSTEM (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM) attributewill be marked as system immutable files.

hide_dot_files

Updates the Windows-specific HIDDEN (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN) attributewhen creating and moving or renaming files. Files whose names startwith a dot will have the HIDDEN attribute set and files whose namesdo not start with a dot will have it unset.

windows_names

Prevents the creation of files and directories with a name not allowedby Windows, either because it contains some not allowed character (whichare the characters “ * / : < > ? \ | and those whose code is less than0x20), because the name (with or without extension) is a reserved filename (CON, AUX, NUL, PRN, LPT1-9, COM1-9) or because the last characteris a space or a dot. Existing such files can still be read and renamed.

discard

Enable support of the TRIM command for improved performance on deleteoperations, which is recommended for use with the solid-state drives(SSD).

force

Forces the driver to mount partitions even if volume is marked dirty.Not recommended for use.

sparse

Create new files as sparse.

showmeta

Use this parameter to show all meta-files (System Files) on a mountedNTFS partition. By default, all meta-files are hidden.

prealloc

Preallocate space for files excessively when file size is increasing onwrites. Decreases fragmentation in case of parallel write operations todifferent files.

acl

Support POSIX ACLs (Access Control Lists). Effective if supported byKernel. Not to be confused with NTFS ACLs. The option specified as aclenables support for POSIX ACLs.

Todo list

  • Full journaling support over JBD. Currently journal replaying is supportedwhich is not necessarily as effective as JBD would be.

References