Linux File Systems for Windows: Use EXT4 / XFS / Btrfs On Windows

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Storage on 8 December 2017 at 12:39 PM EST. 26 Comments
LINUX STORAGE
For those bound to using Microsoft Windows but needing to access EXT4/Btrfs/XFS partitions, the commercial Linux File Systems for Windows eases the headache of using Windows.

Hot off their recent release of bringing an Apple APFS driver to Linux, German-based Paragon Software has now released Linux File Systems for Windows.

Paragon has long offered Linux file-system support to Windows while now they have bundled up ExtFS, Btrfs, and XFS file-system support together. ExtFS is what they are using to refer to EXT2 / EXT3 / EXT4. Paragon's Windows driver allows read/modify/copy/delete capabilities for EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 from Windows. But for the Btrfs and XFS file-system support, it's read-only access from Windows.

The company has made their Linux file-system support compliant with Secure Boot for those in a locked-down Windows environment. This Linux File Systems for Windows supports Windows 7/8/10 and Windows Server 2008/2012/2016.

More details can be found via Paragon-Software.com. The company offers a 10-day trial while after that the cost of this commercial-grade Linux file-system support is $19.95 USD.

For those wanting something free/open-source, there are community projects like the WinBtrfs initiative that offers both read/write support for Btrfs under Windows, along with other features like RAID support, etc. On the EXT4 front are also projects like Ext2Read, albeit without commercial support.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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