NTFS-3G(8) System Manager's Manual NTFS-3G(8)
NAME
ntfs-3g - Third Generation Read/Write NTFS Driver
SYNOPSIS
ntfs-3g [-o option[,...]] volume mount_point
mount -t ntfs-3g [-o option[,...]] volume mount_point
lowntfs-3g [-o option[,...]] volume mount_point
mount -t lowntfs-3g [-o option[,...]] volume mount_point
DESCRIPTION
ntfs-3g is an NTFS driver, which can create, remove, rename, move files, directories, hard links, and streams; it can read and write files,
including streams, sparse files and transparently compressed files; it can handle special files like symbolic links, devices, and FIFOs;
moreover it provides standard management of file ownership and permissions, including POSIX ACLs.
It comes in two variants ntfs-3g and lowntfs-3g with a few differences mentioned below in relevant options descriptions.
The volume to be mounted can be either a block device or an image file.
Windows hibernation and fast restarting
On computers which can be dual-booted into Windows or Linux, Windows has to be fully shut down before booting into Linux, otherwise the
NTFS file systems on internal disks may be left in an inconsistent state and changes made by Linux may be ignored by Windows.
So, Windows may not be left in hibernation when starting Linux, in order to avoid inconsistencies. Moreover, the fast restart feature
available on recent Windows systems has to be disabled. This can be achieved by issuing as an Administrator the Windows command which dis-
ables both hibernation and fast restarting :
powercfg /h off
Access Handling and Security
By default, files and directories are owned by the effective user and group of the mounting process, and everybody has full read, write,
execution and directory browsing permissions. You can also assign permissions to a single user by using the uid and/or the gid options
together with the umask, or fmask and dmask options.
Doing so, Windows users have full access to the files created by ntfs-3g.
But, by setting the permissions option, you can benefit from the full ownership and permissions features as defined by POSIX. Moreover, by
defining a Windows-to-Linux user mapping, the ownerships and permissions are even applied to Windows users and conversely.
If ntfs-3g is set setuid-root then non-root users will be also able to mount volumes.
Windows Filename Compatibility
NTFS supports several filename namespaces: DOS, Win32 and POSIX. While the ntfs-3g driver handles all of them, it always creates new files
in the POSIX namespace for maximum portability and interoperability reasons. This means that filenames are case sensitive and all charac-
ters are allowed except '/' and '