Can i read files (movies, series, music etc.) from a NTFS drive through Apple, Android and Linux devices?

[Awman]

Hello

 

I'm in a process of building either a NAS or a file server ((or maybe jsut putting Hard Drives in my PC), but i do'nt like the idea of using ZFS, ex-fat or a file format other than NTFS, simply for practical purpose, as with NTFS, as i use windows, if something fails like if the all NAS fail, my main PC fails etc. i can easily access the files on the NTFS drive (whereas i couldn't do that throught windows, if it was in ZFS or something else) through another windows devices.

 

So yeah i'm set for NTFS but can Apple computers and devices (macbook, imac, iphones etc.) AND android devices AND Linux PC and devices access files on a NTFS Formatted drive if be it on a file server, on a NAS or even just on a PC ? (i have no apple products, no linux products etc. to check that)

 

My HDD will host only multimedia files (movies, series, music)

 

Thanks

[Noah0302]

I have not tested it myself, but this guide should work for Linux.

 

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-mount-partition-with-ntfs-file-system-and-read-write-access

[WereCatf]

7 minutes ago, Awman said:

can Apple computers and devices (macbook, imac, iphones etc.) AND android devices AND Linux PC and devices access files on a NTFS Formatted drive if be it on a file server, on a NAS

If the files are accessed over the network, then it doesn't matter what filesystem is in use.

[Awman]

 

3 minutes ago, Noah0302 said:

I have not tested it myself, but this guide should work.

 

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-mount-partition-with-ntfs-file-system-and-read-write-access

This is not related at all. I'm not looking for a guide to set up ntfs drives on Linux or something, i don't want to build a linux PC or buy an apple PC to know if i can do that, i just need to know if it's possible or not, but thanks.

[LIGISTX]

6 minutes ago, Awman said:

Hello

 

I'm in a process of building either a NAS or a file server ((or maybe jsut putting Hard Drives in my PC), but i do'nt like the idea of using ZFS, ex-fat or a file format other than NTFS, simply for practical purpose, as with NTFS, as i use windows, if something fails like if the all NAS fail, my main PC fails etc. i can easily access the files on the NTFS drive (whereas i couldn't do that throught windows, if it was in ZFS or something else) through another windows devices.

 

So yeah i'm set for NTFS but can Apple computers and devices (macbook, imac, iphones etc.) AND android devices AND Linux PC and devices access files on a NTFS Formatted drive if be it on a file server, on a NAS or even just on a PC ? (i have no apple products, no linux products etc. to check that)

 

My HDD will host only multimedia files (movies, series, music)

 

Thanks

I think your reasoning for using NTFS is a bit false. Yes, you can access the files by plugging the drive directly into a windows PC where ZFS or other wouldn’t be able to, but this would only matter if the NAS died, not your windows PC… if your windows PC died you can still access the nas via any and all devices.

 

With that said, given your use case, or at least the small explanation of use case, I wouldn’t go with ZFS. ZFS requires a lot of overhead and is more suited for large raid arrays. I run ZFS and love it, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.

 

Either way tho, the format of the drive doesn’t “matter” when connecting over a network connection like that. You will mount the device via SMB (most likely, and what I recommend) or NFS. The actual way the drive is formatted is not exposed to the clients, it’s just how the server interacts with the drive. SMB is the network share protocol the clients will use to exchange data. So, “yes?” It will work fine regardless of how the drive is formatted, assuming you set up the drive as a network share correct. 

[Awman]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

If the files are accessed over the network, then it doesn't matter what filesystem is in use.

What if the device is an android phone (so not connected wirelessly) can i read the files on NTFS drives on my PC or NTFS Nas or NTFS File server?

What if i'm away from home but that that NTFS PC is on, i can't access it through internet?

[Awman]

1 minute ago, LIGISTX said:

I think your reasoning for using NTFS is a bit false. Yes, you can access the files by plugging the drive directly into a windows PC where ZFS or other wouldn’t be able to, but this would only matter if the NAS died, not your windows PC… if your windows PC died you can still access the nas via any and all devices.

 

With that said, given your use case, or at least the small explanation of use case, I wouldn’t go with ZFS. ZFS requires a lot of overhead and is more suited for large raid arrays. I run ZFS and love it, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.

 

Either way tho, the format of the drive doesn’t “matter” when connecting over a network connection like that. You will mount the device via SMB (most likely, and what I recommend) or NFS. The actual way the drive is formatted is not exposed to the clients, it’s just how the server interacts with the drive. SMB is the network share protocol the clients will use to exchange data. So, “yes?” It will work fine regardless of how the drive is formatted, assuming you set up the drive as a network share correct. 

That's good then, coz i have no intention to format in ZFS (i'd liek to use NTFS) and i don't intend to ever set up a raid

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Awman said:

What if the device is an android phone (so not connected wirelessly) can i read the files on NTFS drives on my PC or NTFS Nas or NTFS File server?

I don't understand your rambling question. How would the phone be connected, if not wirelessly? Yes, your PC can read files on NTFS-formatted drives. NAS is a file-server, so that part doesn't make any sense, and whether the NAS supports NTFS or not depends on the NAS.

3 minutes ago, Awman said:

What if i'm away from home but that that NTFS PC is on, i can't access it through internet?

Do you mean NAS with "NTFS PC"? If so, that, again, depends on the NAS: most of them do have some sort of a service for remote access even other the Internet.

[LIGISTX]

13 minutes ago, Awman said:

What if the device is an android phone (so not connected wirelessly) can i read the files on NTFS drives on my PC or NTFS Nas or NTFS File server?

What if i'm away from home but that that NTFS PC is on, i can't access it through internet?

Your asking a lot of questions that are not exactly related. Which I understand, your trying to gain knowledge. But your asking to many questions without a clear goal. The answer is likely yes all of that is possible. Is it practical? Is it simple? No and no.

 

Give us clear requirements snd use cases and we can help tell you what you should be looking into and researching. 

[Awman]

4 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

I don't understand your rambling question. How would the phone be connected, if not wirelessly? Yes, your PC can read files on NTFS-formatted drives. NAS is a file-server, so that part doesn't make any sense, and whether the NAS supports NTFS or not depends on the NAS.

Do you mean NAS with "NTFS PC"? If so, that, again, depends on the NAS: most of them do have some sort of a service for remote access even other the Internet.

If not wirelessly? ....USB Cable? You never connect your phone to your PC via a USB cable? Coz i do every single day.
Yes, i know my PC can read files on a NTFS files (all my drives are formatted in NTFS on my windows PC like 99.99% of people do). That was not the question, that's exactly, the opposite question, knowing if i can do that with all other devices that are NOT a Windows PC (android devices wirelessly, apple devices, linux PC)

 

And no, i don't mean a NAS by "NTFS PC" i just meant a regular PC always on and always connected to the internet even when not home (i just specified "formatted in NTS but i shouldn't have as pretty much anyone in the world use NTFS formatted disk on a windows PC.

 

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Awman said:

If not wirelessly? ....USB Cable? You never connect your phone to your PC via a USB cable? Coz i do every single day

I don't understand the relevance, then. If the phone is connected to your PC and you copy files to the phone, then it's your PC that is reading the files, not the phone.

3 minutes ago, Awman said:

knowing if i can do that with all other devices that are NOT a Windows PC (android devices wirelessly, apple devices, linux PC)

As I said, the filesystem does not matter, if you're accessing the files over the network. If you mean that you'd connect the NTFS-formatted drive directly to these devices, well, Linux can read and write NTFS just fine, but I have no idea about Apple-devices and for Android it depends on the manufacturer -- some manufacturers include NTFS-supports, others don't.

6 minutes ago, Awman said:

And no, i don't mean a NAS by "NTFS PC" i just meant a regular PC always on and always connected to the internet even when not home

Well, you'd have to be running some software on your PC that allowed you to access its files remotely over the Internet.

[Awman]

16 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Your asking a lot of questions that are not exactly related. Which I understand, your trying to gain knowledge. But your asking to many questions without a clear goal. The answer is likely yes all of that is possible. Is it practical? Is it simple? No and no.

 

Give us clear requirements snd use cases and we can help tell you what you should be looking into and researching. 

Maybe it's because english is not my mother tongue, but i'll try to be more clear if all i said was not enough.

 

I have a PC (windows 10) with all my  NTFS drives inside, that contains my movies, series, photos music etc. (let's forget the NTFS NAS example, as it seems to confuse everybody).

I just want to know if i can access the content of this drive (that are formatted in NTFS) through Apple devices (their computers and smartphone), android devices (smartphones and tablet) and Linux computers (even though chances that i'll build a linux computer are very slim)

 

Like for example my gf will have a macbook, and want, confortably seated on the couch; to access a movie that is located on the NTFS drives (i do'nt think mac support NTFS) on my windows 10 PC, can she do that AND do that without having to conenct any cable to my PC, jsut through wi-fi ? (same questions for all devices i mentioned)

 

Also, is it possible to access the same files, from outside home, through internet, if the PC is always on and always conencted to internet

 

Hope it's more clear

[WereCatf]

10 minutes ago, Awman said:

Like for example my gf will have a macbook, and want, confortably seated on the couch; to access a movie that is located on the NTFS drives (i do'nt think mac support NTFS) on my windows 10 PC, can she do that AND do that without having to conenct any cable to my PC, jsut through wi-fi ? (same questions for all devices i mentioned)

As I said, the filesystem does not matter when transferring files over the network and yes, that applies to all of these devices.

 

What matters is how the files are shared, like e.g. Windows uses a file-sharing protocol called SMB -- SMB is supported by Android and Linux, but I have no idea about Apple. SMB is not suitable for access over Internet, though, so you'd need something else for that.

[LIGISTX]

17 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

As I said, the filesystem does not matter when transferring files over the network and yes, that applies to all of these devices.

 

What matters is how the files are shared, like e.g. Windows uses a file-sharing protocol called SMB -- SMB is supported by Android and Linux, but I have no idea about Apple. SMB is not suitable for access over Internet, though, so you'd need something else for that.

This is the exact answer. Also yes, Apple supports SMB. I have a network populated with windows, Apple and linux, iPhone as well (not that it matters, cuz iPhone doesn’t have an easy way to network share data….) and all of my network shares are SMB. Works perfect across all devices. 

 

30 minutes ago, Awman said:

Maybe it's because english is not my mother tongue, but i'll try to be more clear if all i said was not enough.

 

I have a PC (windows 10) with all my  NTFS drives inside, that contains my movies, series, photos music etc. (let's forget the NTFS NAS example, as it seems to confuse everybody).

I just want to know if i can access the content of this drive (that are formatted in NTFS) through Apple devices (their computers and smartphone), android devices (smartphones and tablet) and Linux computers (even though chances that i'll build a linux computer are very slim)

 

Like for example my gf will have a macbook, and want, confortably seated on the couch; to access a movie that is located on the NTFS drives (i do'nt think mac support NTFS) on my windows 10 PC, can she do that AND do that without having to conenct any cable to my PC, jsut through wi-fi ? (same questions for all devices i mentioned)

 

Also, is it possible to access the same files, from outside home, through internet, if the PC is always on and always conencted to internet

 

Hope it's more clear

Not an issue about English not being native for you . Your English is actually fantastic, better then mine cuz us Americans tend to talk like idiots.

 

But anyways, your question is just a bit… wrong. I do understand what your asking though, and I believe @WereCatfanswered it perfectly above. When you transfer data over a network, or plug a phone into the PC, the actual way the OS of the PC is interacting with the hard drives file system is not a concern. Your GF’s MacBook has no idea what the file system of the network drive it’s connecting to is, it only sees the SMB network layer and does it’s communications over that. For instance, my Freenas ZFS NAS… it has many network shares shared via SMB, my MacBook doesn’t know they are being handled via ZFS, it just sees a SMB share and goes “oh, I know what that is, I can connect to that!”. 
 

As far as physically plugging your phone into a USB to SATA adapter and reading the data, that is a different story. I have no idea, and that will not be a standard use case. Is it possible, probably. Is it normal, no, thus it may or may not work with your phone hardware or your phone OS.

 

As far as accessing the data over the internet. That is now a totally different question. You need to expose the data to the internet somehow, and that can have security implications you need to seriously understand before you do this. That is why things like Dropbox or nextcloud exist; they handle that security stuff for you. Nextcloud is like a self hosted Dropbox, but it does take some setup on your end, but look into that. 
 

Hopefully this helps. Your asking good questions, your just not quite there yet and thus the questions can be a bit difficult for us to answer. But, yes, what you want to do is possible, in many ways. Just have to figure out what way is best for you

[WereCatf]

4 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Also yes, Apple supports SMB. I have a network populated with windows, Apple and linux, iPhone as well (not that it matters, cuz iPhone doesn’t have an easy way to network share data….) and all of my network shares are SMB. Works perfect across all devices.

I'll have to try to remember that, just in case I ever need to answer similar questions again. I don't have any Apple-devices, so my knowledge of their devices and supported features is rather limited.

9 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Not an issue about English not being native for you . Your English is actually fantastic, better then mine cuz is Americans tend to talk like idiots.

I ain't a Murican and I don't speak English natively, either, and thus also make a ton of mistakes all the time. Let's just all be imperfect together, eh.

[Awman]

Thanks for the answers guys

 

If i might add another question : IF used for the same purpose as i described, meaning just to read movies, series, music etc. (no transcoding needed) with a local player (like the player on an adroid device, or a HTPC in the living room or a Nvidia Shield for example), besides the power consumption (which can be a great factor, but let's forget that) and the need of redundancy, why do so many people invest in NAS when they already have a PC that could host hard drives and serve the same purpose with sharing drives over the local network then. Is there something i missed ? 

[LIGISTX]

8 minutes ago, Awman said:

Thanks for the answers guys

 

If i might add another question : IF used for the same purpose as i described, meaning just to read movies, series, music etc. (no transcoding needed) with a local player (like the player on an adroid device, or a HTPC in the living room or a Nvidia Shield for example), besides the power consumption (which can be a great factor, but let's forget that) and the need of redundancy, why do so many people invest in NAS when they already have a PC that could host hard drives and serve the same purpose with sharing drives over the local network then. Is there something i missed ? 

The ability to have the nas on 24/7, and to populate it with more drives and use RAID. You can accomplish your goals with just a PC and network sharing a drive, yes. But I run a 50TB homelab, and I want the data to be redundant and “properly setup” via ZFS. ZFS does a very, very good job of making sure your data stays “healthy” (no errors or corruption), and I wanted that. That necessitates the use of a different machine. You can virtualize it all on one machine (my freenas is actually virtualized under esxi on my homelab), but, that’s a topic for another day. Lol. 

[WereCatf]

8 minutes ago, Awman said:

why do so many people invest in NAS when they already have a PC that could host hard drives and serve the same purpose with sharing drives over the local network then. Is there something i missed ? 

There are a billion different reasons. Just speaking for myself, I use my NAS for a lot more than just sharing files with. I also don't want my PC running at all times, since it's close to my bed. The NAS is in a different room, so it doesn't matter that it's noisy 24/7. The NAS is used by multiple people, so me rebooting my PC doesn't affect them. My desktop is built for gaming, the NAS isn't. And so on and so forth.

[LIGISTX]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

There are a billion different reasons. Just speaking for myself, I use my NAS for a lot more than just sharing files with. I also don't want my PC running at all times, since it's close to my bed. The NAS is in a different room, so it doesn't matter that it's noisy 24/7. The NAS is used by multiple people, so me rebooting my PC doesn't affect them. My desktop is built for gaming, the NAS isn't. And so on and so forth.

Also all of those reasons as well.  My nas/homelab lives in a closet, and it also does much more then just share files. It really is more of a homelab; multiple VM’s doing different things, and freenas for “nas” work. 

[Jarsky]

10 hours ago, WereCatf said:

If the files are accessed over the network, then it doesn't matter what filesystem is in use.

this ^

 

The filesystem doesnt matter, what matters is the network sharing protocols. SMB (CIFS) is the most widely supported, with Windows, Linux and Apple, but also NFS and apple has AFP. You could have different network protocols running simultaneously though it does become more complicated