Kernel developer Namjae Jeon has submitted a patch for ntfsplus, a modernized read-write NTFS driver for Linux. It aims to improve on the existing ntfs3 driver with better performance and cleaner code. Integration into the kernel remains uncertain pending review.
Just under four years after the Linux kernel added read-write NTFS support via the ntfs3 driver in version 5.15 in November 2021, Namjae Jeon has proposed an alternative: ntfsplus. Jeon, a prominent kernel file system developer who previously added exFAT volume repair capabilities and leads the exFAT driver and KSMB3 SMB3 server, submitted the patch to the Linux kernel mailing list.
NTFSplus builds on the old read-only ntfs driver, which was removed from the kernel in version 6.9. It modernizes the code by replacing buffer heads with the iomap mechanism and using folios instead of memory pages, potentially contributing to its reported better performance over ntfs3. Jeon noted that ntfsplus already outperforms ntfs3, with more extensive features and passing additional tests from the file system test suite.
However, the driver is not yet complete. It lacks full NTFS journaling support, offering only journal replay—which does not yet work correctly and appears to be a limitation shared with ntfs3 and the FUSE-based ntfs-3g. The patch includes critical comments, such as 'ntfs3 still has many problems and is poorly maintained' and praises the old ntfs code for being 'much cleaner, with extensive comments, offers readability that makes understanding NTFS easier.'
The ntfs3 driver was donated under GPL by Konstantin Komarov of Paragon Software, replacing the rudimentary read-only ntfs and performance-limited ntfs-3g. In 2022, Jeon stated: 'I'm currently working write support on read-only NTFS(fs/ntfs) with the goal of being released in a few months. And after that, I am planning to start working fsck in ntfsprogs in ntfs-3g to solve the current lack of utility issue.'
Kernel developers typically favor incremental improvements over new replacements, as seen when ntfs3 exceptionally supplanted earlier options. Jeon plans to enhance NTFS repair tools and add full journaling. Review of the extensive code will be complex, and many distributions still use ntfs-3g despite its weaknesses.