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Windows on Btrfs

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Re: Windows on Btrfs

#71

Post by doublepg23 »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #5

Interesting, I would've expected more Windows software to just assume NTFS with some fallbacks for (ex)fat given how there haven't really been any other options for quite some time. How stable is Btrfs these days? Remember reading years ago that it was bad about spontaneously corrupting itself for no apparent reason. Curious if something similar is possible with ZFS.

I enjoy it as ext4++. Would I trust it for RAID? Not particularly. There seems to be a decent amount of foot-guns still and I would greatly prefer just using ZFS.

Granted, I do trust Synology using btrfs but they are also subject matter experts on the topic.

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#72

Post by apatheticonion »

Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer.

Surely, given the Linux native file system is open source, adding the ability to mount ext4 partitions natively should be something people can add to Windows?

I have seen third party applications with custom file explorers that can open ext4 partitions (in the same way you open a 7zip file) and I also understand you can mount linux partitions via WSL to access them via explorer - I would just love it if there was a way to natively mount ext4 in the Windows shell.

Up until now I have been using NTFS as my "universal" format - for drives shared between Windows, Linux and MacOS. I think exfat has recently gained support in all three platforms but it's not reliable for an internal hard drive (I think?).

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#73

Post by dale_glass »

apatheticonion wrote: post #72

Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer. Surely, given the Linux native file system is open source, adding the ability to mount ext4 partitions natively should be something people can add to Windows? I have seen third party…

> Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer.

Such projects have long existed, but I suspect there's a lack of interest.

It's a difficult technical problem with a narrow usage niche. You need somebody who wants both Windows and Linux, and wants to use the same physical disks. Today, why bother? You can use a NAS, cloud storage, virtualization, etc.

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#74

Post by infogulch »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #36

This is really cool and speaks to the modularity of the Windows file system stack. I love projects that customize Windows (working against its closed-source nature). There’s an OpenZFS port to Windows[0]. I wonder if my hopes of having ZFS on Windows (including the boot drive, because I would love to be able to snapshot and rollback) would actually be possible. [0] https://github.com/openzfsonwindows/openzfs

The author has refactored their branch with guidance and promoted their draft pr to open last month. https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/pull/14034

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#76

Post by leoc »

dale_glass wrote: post #73
apatheticonion wrote: post #72

Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer. Surely, given the Linux native file system is open source, adding the ability to mount ext4 partitions natively should be something people can add to Windows? I have seen third party…

> Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer. Such projects have long existed, but I suspect there's a lack of interest. It's a difficult technical problem with a narrow usage niche. You need somebody who wants both Windows an…

Wanting to dual-boot sometimes isn't that rare, surely. And local storage for documents remains popular too. It seems to reflect the reality that serious Linux development effort has been very server-focussed for a long time.

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#77

Post by viraptor »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #56
csdvrx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am sure this will break the second time you run Windows Update. Then you are confidently wrong, because Windows Update rarely (if ever) touches the bootloader, while this is the main innovation of the WinBTRFS project.

Until the day it touches it and replaces your selection from the UEFI firmware. Or repartitions the recovery partition. Or decides to move the recovery partition from the beginning of the disk to the end of the disk. All stuff I have personally seen Windows Update do. I am sure your custom bootloader will not be overwritten. All types of hell can happen, borking the entire installation -- and your bootloader will sti…

Windows update moving partitions around automatically? Have you got a reference for that?

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#78

Post by dale_glass »

leoc wrote: post #76
dale_glass wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer. Such projects have long existed, but I suspect there's a lack of interest. It's a difficult technical problem with a narrow usage niche. You need somebody who wants both Windows an…

Wanting to dual-boot sometimes isn't that rare, surely. And local storage for documents remains popular too. It seems to reflect the reality that serious Linux development effort has been very server-focussed for a long time.

These days probably quite rare, except for gaming. Virtualization is far more convenient.

Re: Windows on Btrfs

#80

Post by viraptor »

apatheticonion wrote: post #72

Related tangent: Something I don't fully understand (perhaps I just haven't found a project that facilitates it) is why there isn't a Windows extension (driver?) that allows for native mounting of ext4 partitions within Windows explorer. Surely, given the Linux native file system is open source, adding the ability to mount ext4 partitions natively should be something people can add to Windows? I have seen third party…

Paragon has been doing it for quite a while. You just need to pay extra. https://www.paragon-software.com/business/extfs-for-windows/
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