Comments on Three Ways To Access Linux Partitions (ext2/ext3) From Windows On Dual-Boot Systems

None of the options above helped me access my ubuntu files (ext3).

They don't work for me either. Using dual boot, with Ubuntu 9.04, and ext3. The only way to access the files is to boot into Ubuntu, copy the files to the Windows partition and restart into Windows. Tedious!

ext2fsd supports read/write access to ext2/ext3 partitions (including non-English file name encoding).

ext2ifs development seems to have stopped for more than a year now.

ext2ifs does have a new version on the way. Just taking some time from what the developer said when i emailed him. Next version is to support utf-8, xp x64, vista x86 and x64 as well as few little other fixes and features.

It's been bugging me for such a long time, because I made my user profile's "Documents" point to my documents folder on my ubuntu partition. Unfortunately all those names are in UTF-8, and Vista writes them in cp1251 (or sth like that) - essentially an iso8859-1 extension. All in all it makes have to name all my docs with standard A-Z latin characters, which blows if you're not in an English speaking country!

 As for EX2IFS supporting EXT3 - that is totally NOT true. The log is never touched, and therefore out of sync whenever a change happens, so each time I reboot into Linux I go through a loooong fsck...

It is a security risk, though. Having a dual boot computer all in all, but also installing these programs.

I had used Ext2 and it doesn't request any passwords when you mount your password protected partitions. This means the linux drives are vulnerable to attacks.

changemod 

You can access that partitions with colinux and Virtualbox and then just share the folders form the linux VM. That way you can just share what you need.

If a 3rd party application can mount and share the ext partitions to users without needing passwords, then the ext partitions were NOT protected with passwords. One can have an 'agreement to check login info to access' but if its not enforced on the disk volume, its just that 'an option'.

Please note that EXT2IFS won't work when the number of inodes is not exactly 128, which is the case in my default Fedora installation for some reason.

A fourth option would be to use Total Commander (shareware), which has an EXT2 plugin. At least that's what I've been told ;-)

Falko, thanks for this excellent summary!

Hello!

I Just wanted to say that I tried all of them (plus Ext2fsd - http://ext2.yeah.net) and none worked (don't know why, but most only listed my linux partitions, but could not open them).

The thing that did work is the plugin for Total commander mentioned in one of the previous comments.

Btw, I do not know if this matters, but I have a 64 bit system, where the ext3 partition was formated when installing a 64 bit Ubuntu, while I tired these software WinXP (32 bit).

worked great on my laptop, slightly older version of suse on there tho.. 10 i think? Then i went to try it on my pc with suse 11... fail.. to bad tho, it is a nice simple lil proggie, and backing up all my partitions is like a joke haha. I hope to see it updated to be more compatible with the 256!! Keep up the good work!!

Seems like the third method is better than the others all around.  Why bother even mentioning them?

Because the third method uses the FS driver which only supports inodes of 128, but some newer Linux distros will use twice that amount and it will not work. Virtual Volumes is the only one that can do the job right.

I tried the first two as well: Disk Internals Linux Reader, and explore2fs. Neither one seemed to be able to read my 256-byte inode ext3 and ext4 fs's.

Thanks for the pointer to Virtual Volumes. I'll give it a try.

P.S. I tried Virtual Volumes, and indeed it does seem to work for accessing my ext3 fs with 256-byte inodes! Hoorah.

But it does not recognize my ext4 fs. (Which is ok for me, but I'm lucky that I didn't make my home partition ext4.)

Also, VV is still in beta, so beware. There is still definitely a need out there for mature ext* fs access software that is *known* (and documented) to work for ext4, and for 256-byte-inode ext3. Whoever does this work will be benefiting a lot of people as newer versions of Linux are being installed alongside Windows.

Let's all donate to Virtual Volumes! :-)

If Explore2fs is not working for you, you can try Virtual Volumes. This is the new version of Explore2fs. It has many new features and I am happy to add more if your filesystem is not yet supported.

 http://www.chrysocome.net/virtualvolumes

John. 

your program worked for me when the others wouldn't.  ubuntu 9.10

Ext2IFS works with Windows 7 64-bit, just make sure that before you install it you set it run in Compatibility mode.  mine worked by choosing Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)

 btw,  does anyone know which one of 3 is the fastest during file transfer?  i'm using e-sata and speed is just about 3MB/s

Thanks! It worked for me running windows 7 64 bit. I had to change the compatibility for all users so when I put in the administrator password that account was running in the same mode I had selected with my non admin account.

linux dont like getting humped buy windows

you just cant mount from/with windows

such dirty talk

mounting this and mounting that lol

thank for tip though it willo come in handy since im only running a 10 gig partion of nix

even if it dose have to scan the whole thing each time

Well, it's all said in the subject. Every time I access a file on my Linux partition (ext3) from Windows, at the next reboot into Linux the filesystem gets checked. It takes quite a while to check a 300GB hard disk, so it's quite annoying.

I have the same problem, too, using ext2ifs.  If you find a solution, please post.

DiskInternals Linux Reader (#2) worked perfectly for me on Windows 7. Thanx a lot!

#1 & #3 unfortunately didn't.

lucky you. mine does not work on 7. already install it as administrator, even try to run it as administator. *sigh

#2 was an absolute life saver! Thanks!

This worked perfectly for me (from Windows XP - haven't tried Windows 7 yet. I have seen no problems with ext3 file systems and fsck.

Thanks!

DiskInternals could not break the security on my Linux drive.

Explore2fs, however, worked perfectly under Win7 64.  Remember to run it as administrator.  Toodles.

DiskInternals' Linux Reader raises several alerts on VirusTotal.  If there's a legitimate reason for it, then the author should file the anomaly with the AV vendors in question to remove the alert.

If a tool can't be located via CNet, SoftPedia, or one of the other "virus-free" sites, there might be a very good reason, since their mission is to make useful software available.

Be wary when downloading "free" software directly from an independent site.

Against my better judgement I purchased a WD NAS drive and you guessed it. The darn thing turned itself into a brick. Fortuneately the driv is still working, the NAS connection circuits are very dead.

After a bit of searching I found Explore2FS and it reads the WD NAS drive fine. Now just to sit back for 10-20 hours and wait for it to all copy to a new drive.

Hey!

I have the same problem as you...

A bricked MyBook World where the drives were in RAID1 mode...

Now I installed the "explore2f" and it finds the drive and the folders,

but I can't locate the files! Do you know were to find the Shared-folders?

Were I find the partitions like the "Public" folder it is just empty... Do I have to "mount" the drive?!

 Appriciate your help!

/Andréas

I'm in the same boat:  Dealing with a WD NAS that was RAID 1.

 Did you ever find a solution to this?  I can read the Shares folders (They were the partitions) but they are empty; no files.

 Anyone have a solution?  The Virtual Volumes, Expolor2fs, Ubuntu, etc all see the same info, but not the files.

TIA

very good post, thanks

Hello There ! I just wanted to say Thanx for this post, Coz this helped me a lot lot lot, Other wise I almost lost my files at Linux partition. Thanx a billion again . GOD Bless U.

thanks ... 2nd method worked for me 

What can I say..... but thanks for this !!  Another WD NAS unit fail.... Just glad the unit failed before the drive..... Got all my goodies back...

Thanks a million!

Phil

Verry helpful. Thank you

I’ve received a 500GB HDD with a Digital Cinema Package and I’ve tried to check contents under Windows. First I’ve tried Ext2ifs, because it looks the most integrated solution of all. It detects the drive and partition, but when trying to access it, raises an error and refuses to show any contents.

Next I’ve tried explore2fs. It detects partition, shows no error but drive is empty (and I know it’s not).

Finally, Linux Reader shows and reads all expected contents from the drive.

Great! I came across this software ("http://techwikasta.com/2012/05/how-to-access-linux-files-from-windows/") and installed it. It made my access to linux though windows much easier ! :)

I’ve tried new free Paragon Extfs for Windows and it seems to be working well. Read write operations as well as support ext4 and also ext3 and ext2. Very easy compare to these ones above.

So helpful thanks a log.

Brilliant> My WD mybook world (blue rings) unit completely failed but the drives were fine. WD said I had to send it into a $$$ Data Recovery service. I knew this type of software existed so I just persisted until this came up. Exploref2 did not work so I used DiskInternals Linux Reader which worked perfectly. Simple set up and easy copying of files.

 Thank you again. I will post a link to this page and hopefully it will help others.

Thank you. It helps lot.

Ok, so this article is old, but if you don't mention the source forge project Ext2fsd then you are missing out. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/ . Hardly anything has write support and the one listed on this article doesn't have windows 8 support. Check out Ext2fsd. You'll be glad you did. I use it. :)

My Seagate Central 3T NAS internal power module died. I have to unload data from disk before sending in for warranty. Seagate told me it is a linux drive. So, I have to buy a 3.5" drive enclosure and dismantle the 3T drive from the NAS. Downloaded DiskInternals sw and hope for the best.

Well, it works. Although sw shows a lot of linux folders on the drive, just the /data folder is all I needed.

Thanks DiskInternal.

April 2016

Try to get into /mnt or see /home directory.

What about Paragon ExtFS?

I'm Tecnio y necesito otro Tecnico tenia Delphi Eudora y linux Le hicieron una aberia a mi hard drive MD8400AkAAS Hp

how much is it

Ext2 Volume Manager will not run on W10.