Indeed. But I think some confusion will still remain as long as the ntfs-3g FUSE driver is still included by distros. Because right now, you have to explicitly specify the filesystem type as ntfs3 if you want to use the new in-kernel driver, otherwise it would use ntfs-3g. And most guides on the web still haven’t been updated to use ntfs3 in the fstab, so I’m afraid this confusion will continue to persist for some time.
I’ve had bad experiences with ntfs3 anyway, so it’s probably for the best that ntfs-3g is the default. Also last I checked ntfs3 had effectively been orphaned by paragon (the developers), is that still the case?
ntfs3 has had several improvements in 6.2 and 6.8, and it’s been pretty stable for me of late. I use it to share/backup my Steam game library mainly + for my portable drives for general data storage/local backups, and haven’t had any issues.
It’s not orphaned. There was a bit of lull after it was introduced in kernel 5.15, and yes it was a bit unstable in the 5.x series, but it’s been pretty good since 6.2 where they finally introduced the nocase and windows_names mount options. The performance improvements are worth it if you use NTFS heavily, so I would personally recommend switching.
For me, Steam (on Linux) has been periodically corrupting the ntfs disk, I do use it on windows too and not even win hybrid/fastboot/hibernation disabled helps.
May I see what mount options you use for the ntfs3 driver in fstab? I do not currently have the nocase and windows_names …
If you’re copy-pasting this, make sure your uid and gid matches of course.
But the key thing for Steam is you need to have your compatdata folder on a Linux partition, because Proton creates folders with invalid characters (like :). windows_names would prevent that of course, and thus prevents corruption, but it would cause Proton to fail since if can’t create those folders/files. So you’ll need to symlink that folder on your NTFS disk to point to a folder on a Linux partition.
It’s r/w, if you specify the filesystem type as ntfs3. I believe if you use just ntfs it’ll be read-only, to mimic the behaviour of the old driver, for compatibility reasons.
You know I didn’t realize until now there was actually “confusion”. I just thought I was a dolt for forgetting the package name or confusing the command name. Heh!
Good stuff. Hasn’t there always been confusion on mounting your NTFS drive using the old driver vs the new?
Indeed. But I think some confusion will still remain as long as the ntfs-3g FUSE driver is still included by distros. Because right now, you have to explicitly specify the filesystem type as
ntfs3if you want to use the new in-kernel driver, otherwise it would usentfs-3g. And most guides on the web still haven’t been updated to usentfs3in the fstab, so I’m afraid this confusion will continue to persist for some time.I’ve had bad experiences with
ntfs3anyway, so it’s probably for the best thatntfs-3gis the default. Also last I checkedntfs3had effectively been orphaned by paragon (the developers), is that still the case?ntfs3has had several improvements in 6.2 and 6.8, and it’s been pretty stable for me of late. I use it to share/backup my Steam game library mainly + for my portable drives for general data storage/local backups, and haven’t had any issues.It’s not orphaned. There was a bit of lull after it was introduced in kernel 5.15, and yes it was a bit unstable in the 5.x series, but it’s been pretty good since 6.2 where they finally introduced the
nocaseandwindows_namesmount options. The performance improvements are worth it if you use NTFS heavily, so I would personally recommend switching.I would have loved to take that performance before I converted my data drives to ext4, however it’s just inherently not stable.
Sometimes If you have a power loss you have to run chkdsk on Windows to get out of ro mode, no?
There’s no need to run
chkdskfrom Windows, you can runntfsfixdirectly from Linux:sudo ntfsfix /dev/path --clear-dirtyFor me, Steam (on Linux) has been periodically corrupting the ntfs disk, I do use it on windows too and not even win hybrid/fastboot/hibernation disabled helps.
May I see what mount options you use for the
ntfs3driver in fstab? I do not currently have the nocase and windows_names …Mine looks like this:
UUID=blah /media/games ntfs3 uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=000,rw,user,exec,nofail,nocase,windows_names 0 0If you’re copy-pasting this, make sure your uid and gid matches of course.
But the key thing for Steam is you need to have your
compatdatafolder on a Linux partition, because Proton creates folders with invalid characters (like:).windows_nameswould prevent that of course, and thus prevents corruption, but it would cause Proton to fail since if can’t create those folders/files. So you’ll need to symlink that folder on your NTFS disk to point to a folder on a Linux partition.Eg:
$ mkdir -p ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata $ ln -s ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata /media/games/Steam/steamapps/Of course, before you run the above, you’ll need to delete the existing
compatdatafolder from the NTFS disk.Is this for read-only use? Or is it usable also for modifying files?
It’s r/w, if you specify the filesystem type as
ntfs3. I believe if you use justntfsit’ll be read-only, to mimic the behaviour of the old driver, for compatibility reasons.Ahh thanks! That’s good to know!
You know I didn’t realize until now there was actually “confusion”. I just thought I was a dolt for forgetting the package name or confusing the command name. Heh!