Well, my curiosity eventually became sufficiently piqued about the Paragon ExtFS program that I decided to give it a try, which worked out very nicely.
I formatted a small (26 GB) Linux Ext4 partition on one of the three internal hard drives I have in one of my Windows 7 computers. After installing and then opening the ExtFS program, that partition immediately became visible to Windows, no differently than all of the standard Windows NTFS partitions on the three drives.
I then copied a .wav file to that partition, double-clicked its icon, and it played successfully in the default player (Windows Media Player). I then copied that file from the Ext4 partition to a Windows NTFS partition, and played it there as well.
When ExtFS is closed, which is done by right-clicking an icon it places in the "systray" area in the lower right corner of the screen when it is opened, and then selecting "exit," the partition "unmounts" from Windows, and can of course no longer be accessed by Windows until the program is re-opened.
A setting is available in the program to specify whether it starts automatically when the computer is booted, or manually when its icon or program group listing is clicked. I chose the latter.
During the process of installing the program a simple registration process is required, in which you enter into a page at their site your name, email address, country and state, and if you want to opt-in to receiving emailed announcements from them.
Cool! Best regards,
-- Al
I formatted a small (26 GB) Linux Ext4 partition on one of the three internal hard drives I have in one of my Windows 7 computers. After installing and then opening the ExtFS program, that partition immediately became visible to Windows, no differently than all of the standard Windows NTFS partitions on the three drives.
I then copied a .wav file to that partition, double-clicked its icon, and it played successfully in the default player (Windows Media Player). I then copied that file from the Ext4 partition to a Windows NTFS partition, and played it there as well.
When ExtFS is closed, which is done by right-clicking an icon it places in the "systray" area in the lower right corner of the screen when it is opened, and then selecting "exit," the partition "unmounts" from Windows, and can of course no longer be accessed by Windows until the program is re-opened.
A setting is available in the program to specify whether it starts automatically when the computer is booted, or manually when its icon or program group listing is clicked. I chose the latter.
During the process of installing the program a simple registration process is required, in which you enter into a page at their site your name, email address, country and state, and if you want to opt-in to receiving emailed announcements from them.
Cool! Best regards,
-- Al