NTFS Plus is ushering in a new era for Linux’s handling of NTFS file systems, built on the foundation of the classic read-only NTFS driver while incorporating modern enhancements. Developed by Namjae Jeon, renowned for his previous work on the exFAT driver and his role as the KSMBD maintainer, NTFS Plus emerges as a promising alternative to the existing NTFS3 driver, which was integrated into Linux in 2021.
A key part of NTFS Plus’s innovation lies in its shift from buffer heads to the folio-based memory management system. It also adopts the I/O map mechanism and delayed allocation, significantly boosting performance. Benchmarks indicate that NTFS Plus delivers a groundbreaking improvement in multi-threaded write operations ranging from 35% to 110% faster speeds, along with 12-14% quicker file browsing and improved mount times compared to NTFS3.
More than performance, NTFS Plus targets enhanced maintenance and stability. It benefits from a cleaner, read-only NTFS codebase and has been submitted as a substantial 34.5k line patch series, offering read/write support with modern features including IDMAPPED mounts. The driver also seeks to improve upon ntfs3 by addressing prior maintenance issues and code quality criticisms. Although NTFS Plus is not yet feature-complete, notably lacking full journaling support, it represents a significant step forward with improved XFS test coverage; it passes 287 tests compared to NTFS3’s 218.
Moreover, NTFS Plus introduces a suite of user-space utilities known as NTFS progs plus, which includes file system checking capabilities to boost Windows-Linux interoperability. The Linux community’s response to NTFS Plus has been cautiously optimistic, given the historical challenges with NTFS drivers that ultimately were not maintained. However, the modern features and significant performance improvements position NTFS Plus as a formidable and much-needed update to NTFS support in Linux systems.

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NTFS Plus is a new Linux driver for NTFS file systems developed by Namjae Jeon, offering significant performance improvements over the existing NTFS3 driver. It uses modern memory management with folio-based systems and I/O mapping, delivering 35-110% faster multi-threaded writes and 12-14% quicker file browsing. The 34.5k line patch includes read/write support, IDMAPPED mounts, and passes 287 XFS tests compared to NTFS3's 218. While lacking full journaling support, it provides improved code quality, maintenance, and includes user-space utilities for better Windows-Linux interoperability.

Introducing NTFS Plus: A Modern NTFS Driver for Linux with Boosted Performance