I'm currently running a dual boot system with Windows 11 and Ubuntu. I've set up a RAID configuration with two 2TB SSDs for Windows, and I've created a separate 500GB partition within that setup specifically for virtual machines and file sharing. Additionally, I have another 500GB SSD dedicated to Ubuntu. I'm looking for guidance on how to establish a file sharing system between these two operating systems using the partition I've created. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
4 Answers
A word of caution: DO NOT mix Windows RAID with Linux MDRAID. This can lead to data loss over time since Linux doesn't interact well with Windows RAID configurations. I strongly advise setting up a separate low-power NAS (Network Attached Storage) to handle the file sharing—this can simplify things a lot!
After I got worried about Windows messing up my drives, I switched everything to EXT4. I now use a program called EXT4toFSD to access those files from Windows. If you primarily use Windows for gaming, it might be wise to keep an NTFS partition since Linux can read and write to that format just fine.
I do mostly game on Windows right now. I'm gradually transitioning my work over to Ubuntu, so I just want a reliable way to transfer files between the two.
Windows NTFS partitions are automatically accessible by Ubuntu for both reading and writing, and they'll pop up in the Ubuntu file explorer. To make things easier, you can set them to automount to standard folder names by editing fstab or using the Disks utility in Ubuntu. I recommend sticking with NTFS, as Windows doesn't recognize EXT4 format at all.
If you only need to share basic data (not for games), consider formatting the partition as exFAT. Just remember to disable Windows' Fast Startup feature. You can set it up to automount in Ubuntu by configuring your fstab file or using the GUI tool that Ubuntu provides for disk management. Otherwise, you would have to mount it manually every time you boot into Ubuntu.
Only my Windows setup is in RAID, while Ubuntu is on its own SSD. The shared partition is part of the Windows RAID. I do have an old desktop I plan to repurpose for cloud storage, but I've been advised to enhance my firewall setup before diving into that. People suggested using pfSense, so I'm on the lookout for a budget-friendly device to install it on.