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HarrrisFlag for Cyprus

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Linux questions

I am currently using windows XP. I have two partitions on my hard disk, one for the OS and one for my data. I want to create a third partition and install Linux on it (the disk is very big so I don't have a capacity problem).

I want the "data" partition which is NTFS (it is 300GB) to be accessible (for read and write) from Linux as well. As I know, NTFS partitions can be mounted only as read-only in Linux. What I'm thinking to do is make that partition FAT32, so the data on it will be accessible both from windows and Linux. Is there any better way to do it ? am I going to have any problems with the data if I convert the file system to FAT32 ?

Also, with windows I'm using software (usually Norton Ghost) to make image files of the OS partition, so I can restore the OS partition if there is any problem. Is there any tool in Linux that can be used to do the same thing ? To make image files of the Linux partition, store them in another partition and restore them in the future.

Is there any Linux distribution which is most suitable for solving the above problems ?
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psyclown-
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The biggest problem in changing your filesystem from NTFS to FAT32 is that, you will get a problem with files bigger than 2GB, and the security would be greatly lowered.

For linux i would recommend CloneZilla for cloning linux partitions.

Read more about it here:
http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/

Hope this answers your questions.
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Chatable

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> Windows ext2 driver (from http://www.fs-driver.org/)
Just a warning, I found it very unstable. I would recommend http://www.crossmeta.com/crossmeta.html for such purpose.
I wrote that FAT32 only supported 2GB, i meant 4GB.
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Windows allows you to convert FAT to NTFS without losing data. To do it the other way (NTFS to FAT) you need a third party utility such as PartitionMagic or Disk Director Suite. Then you should be able to do this without losing data as well.
However in all cases there have been problems (for instance, power failure = bye bye data) so I'd backup before trying either of these.
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it seems that the better solution is to make the data partition ext3 and use some
Windows ext3 driver (given that it is stable enough and not going to cause any problems).

Can I convert the partition from ntfs to ext3 without formating/losing any data ?
if yes, how ? do I have to do it from linux, or windows ?

b.t.w. even if ntfs is read-only in LInux, is there any danger when copying data from an
ntfs partition to an ext3 ?

and do you think I'll have any performance issues if I use an ext3 driver in windows ?
i.e. is it possible that the disk will be slower ?
> Can I convert the partition from ntfs to ext3 without formating/losing any data ?
No.

> b.t.w. even if ntfs is read-only in LInux, is there any danger when copying data from an ntfs partition to an ext3 ?
Not really.

> and do you think I'll have any performance issues if I use an ext3 driver in windows ?
No. But as I pointed out, the driver is unstable. I have tested three different ext3 windows drivers - unstable.
The transmeta seems to be best choice.
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Yes there is a FUSE driver now that allows writing no NTFS but I still think there is some risk. Better stick with officially documented file systems.
This of-course does not apply to reading. If you mount read-only then you can rest assured that not a single bit on your NTFS partition will be modified.
You can get a Windows ext3 driver at http://www.fs-driver.org/
ntfs-3g works flawlessly.

You will find this in the most recent flavors of Linux. Some Linux distributions even make it easy to mount the NTFS partitions  rw (read, write) by default (provide an icon of the NTFS drive that mounts it when you click on it).

--Linuxio