Slashdot have got the story that the Linux NTFS Project are now close to making a beta release of their software to allow easy access to Windows data on a dual-boot Windows + Linux system.

NTFS (an acronym for the New Technology File System) is the file system technology used by recent versions of Windows to store files on hard drives. It was introduced with Windows NT, and is in use today in Windows XP and will be the only file system that can be used in Windows Vista. It was actually originally adapted by Microsoft from HPFS (High Performance File System) which debuted in IBM’s OS/2 operating system.

Anyway, while Linux can reliably read and write the FAT file system (used on older Windows operating systems and most USB flash drives/camera cards etc.), it has only had reliable capabilites for reading the NTFS file system. If you’re running a dual-boot Windows + Linux system, this means that you won’t be able to change your Windows files while using Linux, but you’re usually able to the other way round (see here).

The Linux NTFS Project aims to prevent this by building a driver to let Linux address NTFS data with read and write capabilities. This means that dual-boot users will no longer be locked out of writing to their Windows files whilst in Linux.

Needless to say, what they’ve got at the moment is pre-release, and you should be careful to back up your data before trying it out, which you can do here. I might give this a try at some point (as I’m running a dual boot), but I’m going to get in a full backup of everything first.

If any readers have any success with using the Linux NTFS Project’s work, drop us a comment.