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I just installed Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS alongside my W7 drive so they're on separate partitions (I let it do the paritioning automatically from the disc). On the launcher in Ubuntu it created a shortcut to browse my Windows 7 stuff. I'm able to view Program Files, Users folders (Desktop, Documents, etc). Just wondering is it safe (I'm assuming they're formatted differently so don't want problems) to access all these files from Ubuntu?

On another note, where can I access Ubuntu folders from Windows 7? When I launched my W7 boot, it just showed my C drive and not the Ubuntu partition.

Thanks

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Safety is relative, not absolute; thus, there is no correct "yes/no" answer to your question.

Many people use the NTFS-3g driver that Ubuntu provides for accessing NTFS volumes without problems; however, that driver is a third-party reverse-engineered implementation, and problem reports (including reports of data loss) do occasionally crop up. Furthermore, Linux doesn't recognize the NTFS security model, so if you make a habit of regularly accessing your Windows boot partition from Linux, you run some risk of accidentally trashing things because of an errant command.

Of course, even Windows-only installations also encounter filesystem corruption, accidentally-deleted files, and so on. It's unlikely to be as safe to access an NTFS volume from Linux as it is from Windows, though. Unfortunately, I know of nobody who's attempted to quantify the risk, so it's impossible for me to say how much that risk increases. Does the risk of data loss in a year increase from 0.10% to 0.11%, from 1% to 50%, or something else? I don't know.

In any event, my recommendation, if at all possible, is to use a separate data-exchange partition, and leave the Windows boot volume unmounted in Linux. FAT is the safest and fastest filesystem for this purpose, at least from a Linux perspective; but FAT has file-size limitations and isn't as flexible in Windows.

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Yes it is safe unless Windows is not in hibernated state, Ubuntu supports all major formats including windows native format, NTFS and FAT. Although Ubuntu by default uses ext filesystem like ext4 ext3 or ext2.

You cannot browse Ubuntu files directly from Windows unless you use some third party software like Paragon since Windows doesn't support ext formats.

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  • If it solves your problem dont forget to click the grey ☑ under the "0" at the left of this text, which means "I accept the answer".
    – Faizan Akram Dar
    Mar 27, 2015 at 11:36

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