Hi,

I've used ntfs-3g successfully in the past without any problems but have recently encountered some issues when using Windows 2008 R2.

Reproduction Steps:

• I create a file in windows (for example c:\Test.txt) with the contents "Test".
• Shutdown windows
• Mount the drive with ntfs-3g (which appears to always complain that the drive hasn't been unmounted cleanly: The disk contains an unclean file system (0, 1). The file system wasn't safely closed on Windows. Fixing.)
• Edit the file (contents are now "Test 2")
• Unmount the drive and restart windows
• Open the file in windows, contents will still show "Test"
• Shutdown windows
• Mount the drive with ntfs-3g again
• Open the file, contents will show as "Test 2"

If the file is edited in windows, then ntfs-3g will still continue to show "Test 2"

Any files created by ntfs-3g are not visible in windows, and after starting and shutting down windows, they are no longer visible by ntfs-3g either, futher to this if a file is created in windows with the same name, ntfs-3g will be unable to see it.

I have tried using the latest test version (the link to the latest stable 404s) and the advanced version of the latest stable.

Hi,


The help I can provide will be limited as I am not to have Windows 2008 in a foreseeable future...


This looks to me like Windows rexecuting the logged transaction after mounting again. I have frequently seen Windows not actually writing to the files, only to the journal, in order to write faster in a sequential log and group all the writings later. Usually Windows cleans the log when shutting down, leaving files in a clean state.

What you report looks like Windows delaying the log processing after shutting down. Maybe this is a shutting down option (fast shutdown ?).

Anyway, ntfs-3g is not to process the log in the near future. If my suspicion is confirmed, you have to find a way to process the log before shutting down.

Regards

Jean-Pierre

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, Is there any way I can prove if this is actually the case or not?

Hi,

The incorrect link was fixed, thanks.

The issue can't be log file related because NTFS-3G resets it during mount. You must have some caching somewhere and somehow (flash, etc) which doesn't synchronize properly with the device content. Remove the device, put into another Windows computer and you will see that NTFS-3G is showing the real device content. That's the proof.

Best regards, Szaka

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, I have tried connecting the drive to a different windows 2k8 r2 server and the other server shows the same content as the first.

ntfsmount and the built in kernel ntfs driver agree with ntfs-3g.

Some more background that may or may not be relevent, but the servers are actually virtual xen instances running on a debian lenny host, and the disks are lvm volumes.

Please try a different Windows, like XP, Vista, Windwos 7. Microsoft must be compatible not only with NTFS-3G but also with their other own operating systems.

This is not a big surprise because we wrote all of them.


This can very much matter and I think it's the real explanation. Many companies are doing such kind of virtualizations and they do not always get things right. Please don't make the proof tests in the same virtualized environment. They could only confirm that the issue is with virtualization. You need a real hardware to get proof and eliminate potential virtualization problems.