Easy way of using EXT3 in Windows?

TheBigCheese · 14 Mar 2012 at 12:40

Not sure if this thread should be here, in the Linux thread or in the home cinema section! :confused:

We've got a new Panasonic Smart TV and a Humax Freeview HD box.

Both devices have USB on them so I thought I would be able to watch digital copies (ripped from discs - both DVDs and Blu-Ray)...but it's not so simple.

Neither system supports NTFS, only FAT16 and FAT32 so I can't add full size Blu-Ray films as the size is too big.

They both support EXT3 which I believe will support huge files so I'm looking for a way that I could transfer a film held on an HDD onto a pen drive or external HDD (though apparrently the TV doesn't support external HDDs :rolleyes:

) that's formatted to an EXT3 filing system.

The guides Google is throwing up all seems to be from a few years ago, there must be a more elegant way than that these days?

Thanks!

Uhtred · 14 Mar 2012 at 12:56

first off, do either support exfat?

second, you could use a vm of some sort

third thought is a linux live cd (try using http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/)

anything I don't mind · 14 Mar 2012 at 13:07

Total commander has an ext3 plugin that i have used to access linux partitions before.

http://www.ghisler.com/

http://ghisler.fileburst.com/fsplugins/ex2fs.zip

not sure how to format a drive with ext 3 in windows, but if you can get an external drive with ext3 plugged in to the pc that plugin should allow you to transfer things to it.

Just looked the plugin is read only. sorry.

http://uranus.chrysocome.net/linux/explore2fs.htm

Have a look at that.

Other way to do it would be to get a video file splitter that does direct stream copies and splits the videos in to smaller sizes then just playlist them.

CaptainCrash · 14 Mar 2012 at 13:23

groen said:
http://uranus.chrysocome.net/linux/explore2fs.htm

I could be wrong, but it looks like explore2fs is read-only as well... this seems to provide read & write access (disclaimer: haven't tried it myself).

I guess you'd first need to format the drives as ext3 fusing a Linux live CD though.

TheBigCheese · 15 Mar 2012 at 21:02

Thanks for the posts guys, it's appreciated!

Those do sound a bit complicated for a complete beginners attempt but luckily I've found *ahem* (should have read the manual properly) that the PVR should read standard NTSC discs, I lose some file compatibility so more recoding may be required but I think it's going to be the easiest option for playback for now.

Thanks very much for the replies though!