I have a Windows PC with a Ryzen 7 9700X, an RX 9070 GRE, and 16 GB of DDR5 RAM. I installed CachyOS on a second SSD, while my other drives and partitions use NTFS.
For now, I still need Windows for work, but I want to learn Linux gradually before eventually switching over. Is it safe to access my NTFS partitions from Linux for read-only activities such as watching movies, listening to music, and viewing photos? Could simply opening files cause corruption?
I would keep any files that need editing on a Linux-native partition, avoid running programs from NTFS, disable Windows Fast Startup, never use hibernation, and safely unmount external drives. I also plan to run Windows disk checks periodically.
3 Answers
Using NTFS external drives for bulk videos, photos, and other storage is generally fine. Many people use them for years without trouble. For your situation, watching movies, playing music, and viewing images should not cause corruption, especially when you keep the access read-only.
Just unmount external drives properly, avoid disconnecting them during activity, and keep backups of anything important. Running regular Windows filesystem checks is fine, but it is not a substitute for backups.
The main extra precaution is to avoid installing or running Linux applications and games directly from NTFS. NTFS works well enough for shared personal data, but Linux-native filesystems are preferable for Linux programs and files that Linux will frequently modify. Keeping Linux on its own SSD and using NTFS mainly as shared media storage is a sensible setup.
Yes, read-only use of NTFS for media and photos is generally safe. Linux can normally read NTFS without problems, and the risk is especially low if you are only opening files rather than modifying them or running programs from the partition.
The important part is to disable Windows Fast Startup and avoid hibernation. Fast Startup partially hibernates Windows and can leave the NTFS filesystem marked as still in use. Linux may then refuse to mount it, and forcing access while Windows is hibernated can risk filesystem inconsistencies. A separate data partition is also a better choice for files that need to be shared between Windows and Linux, rather than relying on the Windows system partition.
Fast Startup is already disabled, and I do not use hibernation. My PC starts quickly enough from the SSD that I do not really need either feature.