Read AND write to an EXT3 partition through Windows 7 Professional

[Calubuntu]

Dear fellow dual-booters,

I have a question related to accessing an EXT3 partition from within Windows 7 Professional. I will first present what I would like to accomplish. Then I will elaborate what I already have done. Finally I will pose some questions. Your help, tips and experience is much appreciated!

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I want to establish a dual-boot system running on Windows 7 Professional 64 bit and Kubuntu 11.10. Kubuntu will be my primary OS. Windows is only to be used for Windows-only applications and games (I want to avoid having to use Wine). My data (documents, photos, videos etc.) is to be stored on a partition shared by Windows and Kubuntu, formatted with the EXT3 file system.

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The dual-boot system has already been set-up using the fifth partitioning scenario described on:

psychocats.net/ubuntu/partitioning

The current partitions are:

partition 1: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit (80 GB, NTFS)
partition 2: /home (500 GB, EXT3)
partition 3: / (100 GB, EXT4)
partition 4: swap (+- 18 GB)

In order to read AND write to the /home partition from within Windows, I was about to use FS-Driver. Unfortunately, this application cannot be installed on Windows 7. Only Windows NT4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 are supported (yes I have already tried to install the application in vain).

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I have looked on the web for other applications which could grant Windows the same capabilities as FS-Driver. However, the alternatives I found provide only reading capabilities but no writing capabilities. Therefore I have the following questions:

1. Do application(s) exist for Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, which allow Windows to read from AND write to an EXT3 partition?

2. In the case the answer to 1. is no, can I delete the /home partition and create a new one with the NTFS file system, using my Kubuntu 11.10 installation DVD? Or do I have to remove Kubuntu entirely and perform a clean install?

NOTES: I do not want to use Wine and I prefer to have a shared EXT3 partition instead of NTFS.

Thank you all for your time!

regards,

Calubuntu

[darkomano]

I am using ext2fsd v0.51 without problems from Windows 7.

[Calubuntu]

Nice! Is it able to read AND write, or only read?

[darkomano]

read and write, see link for full spec
ext2fsd . com/?page_id=2
(cannot post real link as not enough posts)

[Calubuntu]

Yes I have that same problem. 10 more posts to go =D

Thank you very much darkomano! Ext2fsd worked like a charm. Cannot believe how easy it is! My dual-boot is finally fully operational =D

[zsycho]

I was looking for such app. . .thanks!!!