Ext2Fsd: Difference between revisions

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{{Cleanup bare URLs|date=August 2022}}

{{Infobox software

| logo =

| name = Ext2Fsd

| logo caption =

| title =

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| logo_alt =

| logo caption =

| screenshot = <!-- Image name is enough -->

| logo_size =

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| author = Matt Wu

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| developer = Matt Wu

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| released = {{Start date and age|2002|01|26}}

| author = Matt Wu

| discontinued = yes

| developer = Matt Wu

| latest release version = 0.69 <ref name="latestrelease">{{cite web |url=http://www.ext2fsd.com/?p=236 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125125212/http://www.ext2fsd.com/?p=236 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2019-01-25 |title=Ext2Fsd 0.69 released ! |date=2018-01-13}}</ref>

| released = {{Start date and age|2002|01|26}}

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|20142017|0811|262}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 0.53

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2014|08|26}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->

| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]<ref>http://www.ohloh.net/p/ext2fsd</ref>

| frequently updated = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->

| operating system = [[Microsoft Windows]]

| status = active

| platform =

| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]<ref>http://www.ohloh.net/p/ext2fsd</ref>

| size =

| operating system = [[Microsoft Windows]]

| language = [[English language|English]], [[Simplified Chinese]]

| platform =

| frequently updated language count = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->

| size =

| language footnote =

| language = [[English language|English]], [[Simplified Chinese]]

| genre = [[Installable File System]]

| language count = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->

| license = [[GNU General Public License#Version 2|GNU GPL v2]]

| language footnote =

| repo = {{URL|https://github.com/matt-wu/Ext3Fsd}}

| genre = [[Installable File System]]

| website = {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20240805114013/https://www.ext2fsd.com/ Archive of the original website]}}

| license = [[GNU General Public License#Version 2|GNU GPL v2]]

| website = {{URL|http://www.ext2fsd.com/}}

}}

'''Ext2Fsd''' (short for '''Ext2 File System Driver''') is a [[free and open-source software|free]] [[Installable File System]] driver written in [[C (programming language)|C]] for the [[Microsoft Windows]] operating system family. It facilitates read and write access to the [[ext2]], [[ext3]] and [[ext4]] [[file system]]s.

The driver can be installed on [[Windows 2000]], [[Windows XP]], [[Windows Server 2003]], [[Windows Vista]], [[Windows 7]], [[Windows 8]],<ref>{{cite web |url=httphttps://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTcyMjg |title=Ext2Fsd: EXT3/EXT4 Support Now Works On Windows 8 |date=2014-06-19}}</ref> [[Windows 10]], [[Windows Server 2008]], [[Windows Server 2008 R2]].<ref name="latestrelease" /> Support for [[Windows NT]] was dropped in version 0.30.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/index.htm |title=Ext2fsd|date=2009-07-27}}</ref>

The program ''Ext2Mgr'' can optionally be installed additionally to manage drive letters and such. Since the final release in 2017, no further updates have been made to Ext2Fsd. The official website succumbed to [[link rot]] in 2024.

== Reception ==

The German computer magazine [[PC Welt|PC-WELT]] reported frequent program crashes in 2009. The program was not able to access ext3 partitions smoothly. This often led to a [[Blue Screen of Death|blue screen]]. Crashes of this type can lead to data loss, for example if there is not yet permanently stored data in the main memory. The program could only access ext2 partitions without errors.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pcwelt.de/ratgeber/Ext2fsd-Absturzgefahr-Windows-396374.html|title=Ext2fsd - Absturzgefahr|last=Donauer|first=Jürgen|work=PC-WELT|access-date=2018-08-25}}</ref> In 2012, [[Computerwoche]] warned that access to ext3 partitions was "not harmless". Data loss may occur.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerwoche.de/a/power-tools-fuer-windows-7,2488466,8|title=Ext2fsd: Zugriff auf Linux-Partition - Tuning für Microsoft Windows: Power-Tools für Windows 7 - computerwoche.de|website=www.computerwoche.de|language=de|access-date=2018-08-25}}</ref>

== Features ==

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! dir_index

|-

! [[ext2]] || {{yesya}} || {{yesya}} || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}}

|-

! [[ext3]] || {{yesya}} || {{yesya}} || {{Partial|Limited}} || {{yesya}}

|-

! [[ext4]] || {{yesya}} || {{yesya}} || {{Partial|Limited}} || {{yesya}}

|}

===Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.52===

Source:<ref name="latestrelease" />

* flexible [[inode]] size: > 128 bytes, up to [[Block (data storage)|block]] size

* dir_index: [[HTree|htree]] directory index

* filetype: extra file mode in dentry

* large_file: files> greater4G than 4 [[Gibibyte|GiB]] in size arefiles supported

* sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor

* uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum

* [[Extent (file systems)|extent]]: reading,full writingsupport with no extending and shrinking.

* [[Journaling file system|journal]]: only support replay for internal journal

* flex_bg: first flexible metadata group

* [[Symbolic link|symlink]] and [[Hard link|hardlink]]

* Mount-as-user: specified [[User identifier|uid]]/[[Group identifier|gid]] supported

===Unsupported Ext3/4 features===

* 64BIT mode (to support 2^64 blocks)

* journal: log-based operations, external journal

* extent: size truncating & expanding, file deletion

* [[Extended file attributes]] (EA), [[Access control list]] (ACL) support

* [[symlink]] creation

===Features to be implemented in future===

* Extents management improvement

* EXT3/4 features support (extents, journal)

* EA and ACL security checking

* Documents improvement: clear and elaborate

* Performance improvement, code optimization

== Critical Bug ==

* Automatic check & update of new versions

* [[Logical Volume Manager (Linux)]] support, [[e2fsprogs]] porting for Windows

On November 2, 2017, a warning was issued with the release of version 0.69:

<blockquote>Don't use Ext2Fsd 0.68 or earlier versions with latest Ubuntu or Debian systems. Ext2Fsd 0.68 cannot process EXT4 with 64-BIT mode enabled, then it could corrupt your data. Very sorry for this disaster issue, I'm working on an improvement.<ref name="latestrelease" /></blockquote>

While it is not very clear whether v0.69 corrects this deficiency, users have reported <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/p/ext2fsd/discussion/143329/thread/ae5685f415/?limit=25#dd5d|title=Ext2 File System Driver for Windows / Discussion / Ext2Fsd: You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it|website=sourceforge.net|access-date=2019-10-07}}</ref> that Windows 10 prompts them to format the ext4 drive even with the 0.69 version. The known solution is to convert the said ext4 drive to a 32 bit version.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/p/ext2fsd/discussion/143329/thread/ae5685f415/#dd5d|title=Ext2 File System Driver for Windows / Discussion / Ext2Fsd: You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it|website=sourceforge.net|access-date=2019-10-07}}</ref>

==See also ==

{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

*Ext2Fsd

*[[explore2fs]]

*[[Ext2IFS]]

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==External links==

*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20240805114013/https://www.ext2fsd.com/ Archive of the original website]}}

*{{Official website|http://www.ext2fsd.com/}}

*[http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/index.htm Old website]

*{{SourceForge|ext2fsd|Ext2 File System Driver for Windows}}

[[Category:Free software programmed in C]]