NTFS support, three options: native kernel support, ntfs-3g and ntfs3 from Paragon

If I just want read-access to ntfs storage what is you recommendations in terms of performance and stability on current 15.4?

Native kernel-support:
Native kernel-support is blacklisted in OpenSUSE but it should be possible to whitelist using modprobe ntfs, but I get and error saying the module doesn’t exist in /lib/modules/5.14.21-150400.22-default and I can’t find it on software.opensuse.org
How can I fix this?

ntfs-3g:
How is ntfs-3g compared to the native-kernel support (in terms of read of course).

ntfs3/ufsd (paragon):
Can only find source-files. Tried to build it myself install kernel-source but I still get errors:
Running install.sh: Can't prepare driver configuration
Running configure: Can't find kernel source files
I wonder why I can’t find a package, at least on software.opensuse.org)

Since kernel 5.15:

modinfo ntfs3
filename:       /lib/modules/6.1.1-lp153.2.ge71748d-default/kernel/fs/ntfs3/ntfs3.ko.zst
alias:          fs-ntfs3
author:         Konstantin Komarov
compression:    Read-only lzx/xpress compression included
behaviour:      Enabled Linux POSIX ACLs support
description:    ntfs3 read/write filesystem
license:        GPL
suserelease:    openSUSE Tumbleweed
srcversion:     B818A19F69A78B52D447964

You can also use kernel:stable:backports.

Yes, I know and OpenSUSE 15.4 runs 5.14
Not sure what kind of issues I can run into if using backport kernel version, especially with future updates of 5.14.

I recommend ntfs-3g.

It works reliably (at least for me) since many years.

FWIW from a know-little user like me: I’ve never had trouble reading and writing to NTFS formatted partitions since I transitioned to openSUSE in 2017. No missing files, no file corruption issues. I see now that I have ntfs-3g installed, but may never have checked before.

I succeeded building the Paragon so-called UFSD -driver for OpenSUSE 15.4 (i.e. their pendant to the native NTFS3 kernel-driver in version >= 15.5).
More precise build agaisnt kernel 5.14.21-150400.24.38, but I guess/hope it will work for all 15.4 builds (?)
UFSD will have better performance and better NTFS support then NTFS-3G as it run at kernel whereas NTFS-3G run in userspace.

The binary is available here: https://f003.backblazeb2.com/file/WIT-PUBLIC/linux/ufsd_OpenSUSE_15.4.tar.bz2 (393KB)
SHA1: 028c8ac0e210e0759e0713d587146f4d50ac4094

It consist of two files: ufsd.ko and jnl.ko
Extract them to e.g. /lib/modules/
Then load into kernel:

insmod /lib/modules/jnl.ko
insmod /lib/modules/ufsd.ko

Mount command

mount -t ufsd /dev/sdb1 /mnt/ntfs

Build yourself:
Install these packages:

kernel-source 
gcc
gcc-c++
make
binutils
suse-module-tools
dkms

Download source from Paragon:
https://dl.paragon-software.com/free/Paragon_NTFS_for_Linux_driver_Retail_Express_lke_9.7.10.tar.gz
Extract to the file to e.g. /tmp/ufsd/

Goto folder (important) and execute ./configure and thereafter ./make driver

Now you have your own jnl.ko & ufsd.ko in same folder.

Performance?
NTFS-3G: Write 200MB/s, READ: 1,4GB/s
UFSD: Write 690MB/s, READ: 2,6GB/s

:slight_smile:

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