NTFS3

Summary and Features

NTFS3 is fully functional NTFS Read-Write driver. The driver works with NTFS versions up to 3.1. File system type to use on mount is ntfs3.

  • This driver implements NTFS read/write support for normal, sparse and compressed 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 between sparse(0x200), compressed(0x800) and normal.

Mount Options

The list below describes mount options supported by NTFS3 driver in addition to generic ones. You can use every mount option with no option. If it is in this table marked with no it means default is without no.

iocharset=name

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

Example: iocharset=utf8

uid=

gid=

umask=

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

dmask=

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

fmask=

noacsrules

“No access rules” mount option sets access rights for files/folders to 777 and owner/group to root. This mount option absorbs all other permissions.

  • Permissions change for files/folders will be reported as successful, but they will remain 777.

  • Owner/group change will be reported as successful, butthey will stay as root.

nohidden

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

sys_immutable

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

discard

Enable support of the TRIM command for improved performance on delete operations, 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 mounted NTFS partition. By default, all meta-files are hidden.

prealloc

Preallocate space for files excessively when file size is increasing on writes. Decreases fragmentation in case of parallel write operations to different files.

acl

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

Todo list

  • Full journaling support over JBD. Currently journal replaying is supported which is not necessarily as effectice as JBD would be.

References