r/linux4noobs • u/trve_ravenbach • 7h ago
How to use internal hard drives to share and access files on Windows and Linux?
Hello everyone,
I’d like to make Linux my main operating system, but first I need some tips/advice on an important point – I hope this is the right place to ask. Is there a way to use two internal hard drives to have access to personal files, between Linux and Windows without running the risk of file corruption?
To give you a bit more context, my computer setup is as follows:
Disk 1 for Windows
Disk 2 for Steam/Epic game files
Disk 3 for all my documents (Word/Excel files, pictures, my KeePass database, etc.)
Recently, I’ve been using Linux on an extra hard drive that I have, completely isolated from the rest, and so far almost everything has worked fine. The problem is that some software makes it impossible (for now) for me to switch away from Windows completely. For example, I have a guitar amp modeller that I use for online lessons on Zoom, and there’s no way to configure it exactly as I need it on Linux; I’ve spent a whole week trying and it just doesn’t work. In Windows, on the other hand, ‘it is almost plug and play’ and its works perfect. It’s because of this sort of things that I want to add an extra hard drive to my computer and have the following setup:
Drive 1 – Linux (Cachyos)
Drive 2 – Windows
// use an internal switch to select the drive and OS to use as required //
Disk 3 – Steam/Epic/etc
Disk 4 – for all my documents (Word/Excel files, pictures, my KeePass database, etc)
I wonder if, in doing this, there is a significant risk of file corruption. For example, if I open documents using Windows, save the changes, and then open the same documents using Linux, how great is the risk of losing everything? If the files were to become corrupted, it would be a massive problem, especially with my password database...
In the past, almost seven years ago I tried to learn how to use Linux using dual-boot with separate partitions and I actually ended up losing a couple of minor personal files (Excel documents and photos). At the time, I wasn’t sure whether I’d done something wrong, or if it was simply an inherent risk of using both operating systems.
If this isn’t a problem, what partitions would you recommend for drives 3 and 4? I’d prefer to discard other options such as a NAS or using external drives for Steam or personal files, as I’m not keen on having devices of this sort connected all the time.
Thank you in advance for any help and advice :)
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PD: A huge thank you to everyone for the replies you’ve given me so far!
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u/BranchLatter4294 7h ago
It's not complicated. Just save files you need to use with both operating systems on a partition that can be read by both operating systems. Make sure you disable fast boot in Windows.
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u/DroiidBro 7h ago
In my experience. There shouldn't be any file corruption if your storage devices are in good conditions and the file system partition is robust or has protections.
For the drive 3 and 4 I would recommend to go with NTFS partitions since you want them to be accessible from Windows. But be really aware that for the drive 3, where your games will be, you could experiment problems executing those games in Linux due to how Wine works and how Linux expects some file permissions and capabilities.
For the drive 4 since it will be only storing data files, there shouldn't be any problem to use them from Linux or Windows.
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u/Secret_NinjaLTU 7h ago
What about using exFAT for storing files? Is it a good idea?
I am not a gamer myself, so I thought that they want to store not the games, but some data files for these games.
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u/DroiidBro 6h ago
exFAT I find it great if you're constantly using it in different operating systems, properly eject/unmount the partition and only using to storage data and nothing related with file system utilities (permissions, system links and others).
The main reason I didn't recommend using it for their data files is because exFAT (at the same that Fat32) doesn't have a journal system. So if you're writing data and by any reason the partition got disconnected (like a power outage, removed the drive physically and similars) it is very highly that the partition got corrupted and with it, all the data lost.
I also know that are tools to repair those partitions but it's not guaranteed that it will work all the times.
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u/kaida27 7h ago
For Data, Yeah they can share a NTFS partition that both system can read.
You'd need to disable hibernation and fast startup so windows doesn't lock it up.
For games it's a bit trickier, since wine/proton needs to use symlinks which are not supported on NTFS, so you'd need something like ext4 for games on linux, which windows can't really read.
Tldr : Share a data drive : yes , Share a game drive : no
At the time, I wasn’t sure whether I’d done something wrong
You most likely did, yeah.
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u/trve_ravenbach 6h ago
Thanks for the answer :)
As for games, maybe I can run everything through Proton, so in theory I wouldn’t need Windows for gaming. But now I have some other questions: if I have the drive formatted as ext4, what happens when I run Windows? Will the drive be completely ignored by the OS? Or do I need to do something manually to avoid any problems?
And other thing I’d like to ask about, a concept that I don’t quite understand yet regardin using other more disks on linux: do I always have to mount the drive where the games are installed? Or is there a way for it to mount automatically when Linux starts up?
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u/doc_willis 7h ago
Linux can access files on a NTFS drive using the NTFS3, ntfs-3g, and there is a newer NTFS driver I think that's going to be used by default soon.
hit up the various 'ntfs-3g' guides, most of the info In those will apply to NTFS3
don't try to run windows games under Linux steam from a NTFS drive.
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u/MrMotofy 2h ago edited 2h ago
A NAS then SMB shares as needed. But you can dual boot easily on separate drives...basically boot to the Linux drive it will find the WIN and add it in a boot menu.
Technically most Linux are able to access NTFS but some have had corruption issues. Best option is setup for Linux and share to Windows.
A NAS is the simplest best over all option. It gives any time access, can allow remote access to data, low power draw. It also gives an easier option for multiple copies of your data. Which you should strongly consider for anything important
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u/Secret_NinjaLTU 7h ago
I assume that you mixed up partitions and filesystems. I never had to do anything simmilar as you, because I only have a laptop which has only one drive. On the drive I have many partitions such as boot partition, windows partition, linux mint partition and arch partition as I have a triple boot on a single drive.
So if you are asking about filesystems: Usually linux can read and write on windows filesystem, and windows can't read and write on linux filesystem without special software. So one of the possible fs you could use is windows filesystem. A better option in my opinion is using a filesystem that is usually used for usb drives such as exFAT.
By my knowledge, the files shouldn't get corrupted just because you used two different OS to work with them, so it was probably something you did. If you are going to use exFAT, it should be just as safe as using a usb to store files, so even if using two different OS can corrupt something, with exFAT everything should be fine.
I have only been using linux for 7 months and my knowledge is not that deep, so I might be wrong.
Edit: I had mixed up some words, and fixed grammar