Subj : Re: backing up windows on linux - fs and sharing question
To   : comp.os.linux
From : Larry I Smith
Date : Wed Nov 03 2004 10:51 pm

Eric Peterson wrote:
> I'm setting up an old box with a large hard drive to automatically back up
> documents from Windows boxes (mostly XP) in our office.  I'll have linux
> installed on the older, fairly small hd, and be getting a new hd for large
> storage capacity.  I am a newbie, but think I understand how to do the
> backing up with connections using Samba and backing up with rsync.  So that
> is not my question.  Consider that maybe someday I'll go to a different job,
> no one in the office will know how to use the linux system, it may crash,
> and then the non-linux users will want to recover data from the hd.
> 
> What I am wondering is:
> 
> Can I use NTFS on the second hd, mount it to /home, and share it back so
> that the windows boxes will see it like they see shared folders on other
> windows boxes?
> 
> More importantly, would it then be theoretically possible to take the second
> hd out, put it in a windows box, and read the files just fine?
> 
> Thanks!
> -Eric
> 
> 

No, not really.  NTFS is currently read-only in Linux; you can
read it but you can't write to it.

There is some work going on to enable NTFS writing, but it's
still in the early stages (MS won't release the required specs).
So, even if you went that route (modifying your linux kernel
to add NTFS write support), it's probably not a wise thing to
do for your critical backups.

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