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Ext2 Volume Manager Changelog

What's new in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.69 (November 2, 2017)

Nov 2, 2017
  • Features implemented and bugfix:
  • 1FIXME: superblock corruption of EXT4 volumes with 64BIT mode enabled
  • 2FIXME: possible corruption by race conditions in buffer-head reapering
  • 3FIXME: possible deadlock issues (when flushing) caused by BCB locks
  • 4FIXME: miscellaneous minor updates of Ext2Fsd code base
  • Supported Ext3/4 features:
  • 1flexible inode size: > 128 bytesup to block size
  • 2dir_index: htree directory index
  • 3filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • 4large_file: > 4G files supported
  • 5sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • 6uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • 7extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • 8journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • 9flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • 10symlink and hardlink
  • 11Mount-as-user: specified uid/gid supported
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • 164BIT mode (to support 2^64 blocks)
  • 2journal: log-based operationsexternal journal
  • 3EA (extended attributes)ACL support
  • Features to be implemented in next release:
  • 1Extents management improvement
  • 2EA and ACL security checking

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.68 (Jul 11, 2016)

  • Features implemented and bugfix:
  • FIXME: System hang caused by a deadlock in cache manipulation
  • Optimization: Reaper mechanism improved (global locks removed)
  • Feature: supporting multiple instances & users for Ext2Mgr
  • Supported Ext3/4 features:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • symlink and hardlink
  • Mount-as-user: specified uid/gid supported
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations external journal
  • EA (extended attributes) ACL support

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.66 (Apr 13, 2016)

  • Features implemented and bugfix:
  • FIXME: BSOD when mounting as readonly
  • FIXME: Ext2Srv service blocked by Antivirus
  • Supported Ext3/4 features:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • symlink and hardlink
  • Mount-as-user: specified uid/gid supported
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.65 (Apr 11, 2016)

  • Features:
  • major performance improvements (small files meta-operatios)
  • memory pressure handling for buffer-head structures reclaim
  • back support for Windows 2000 (i386, 32bit)
  • no bothering user with notification message for Ext2Mgr
  • project improvement: Ext2Mgr to be built with WDK or VS2008
  • Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.65:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • symlink and hardlink
  • Mount-as-user: specified uid/gid supported
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.64 (Apr 4, 2016)

  • Features implemented and bugfix since V0.63:
  • Drive letter assignment mechanism refined
  • Mount as specified user (uid/gid) supported
  • Bugs fixed:
  • Symlink creation breaks metedata statistics for inodes
  • Unexpected drive letter removal for virtual devices
  • Resource lock rules refined to consolidate consistency
  • Kernel codes improved to make Ext3Fsd more secure
  • Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.64:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • symlink and hardlink
  • Mount-as-user: specified uid/gid supported
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.63 (Mar 14, 2016)

  • Features:
  • Symlink (ReparsePoint) support implemented
  • Hard links support implemented
  • Win10 TH2 drive letter assignment supported
  • Case-insensitive-search supported
  • Peformance improvements for metadata operations
  • Bugs fixed:
  • BSOD when trying to format or dismount EXT4 volumes
  • invalid extent content for newly created inodes
  • Possible data corruption (zero data) under high pressure (WDK building)
  • Splash screen of Ext2Mgr removed

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.62 (Jun 10, 2015)

  • Features implemented or bugfix since V0.61:
  • FIXME: STEAM game cache (data) validation failures
  • FIXME: WDK sources compiling random (rare) failures
  • Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.62:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support
  • symlink creation

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.61 (Jun 9, 2015)

  • Features implemented or bugfix since V0.53:
  • Ext4 extent writing support
  • Size manipulation and i/o path revised for support of indirect and extent-based mappings
  • 16T volume supported (tested and confirmed with 4T volume). Version 0.53 and previous versions only support up to 2T volume
  • Deletion acceleration: truncation optimized for indirect-based files
  • Size-expanding disabled in IRP_MJ_CREATE for better performance. Windows sometimes would truncate file size back to 0
  • Support Volume exclusive-open for e2fsprogs utils. Any attempts will be denied while EXT4 volume is being checked (e2fsck).
  • FIXME: Possible zero-content returned (requesting data from file tail)
  • FIXME: File ByteOffset updated for FO_SYNCHRONOUS_IO open (async i/o)
  • FIXME: don't do byte or range round up for paging i/o requests
  • FIXME: occasional block bitmap difference issue, cased by checksum calculation in uninit_bg group initializing
  • e2fsprogs utils for Windows (e2fsck, mke2fs, tune2fs, debugfs) included the followings are change-logs made upon V0.60]
  • FIXME: Ext4 unwritten-extent supported to avoid possible data corruption MSB of ee_len field of unwritten extent is used as only a flag. It was mistakenly treated as extent length (block numbers) in V0.60
  • FIXME: Manually clear file to zero for indirect-block file that is newly created but not yet written
  • Renaming supported: with names only diffs in lower or upper cases
  • I/o path revised to correctly handle ValidDataLength & unwritten holes
  • Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.61:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support
  • symlink creation

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.60 (Jun 3, 2015)

  • Features implemented or bugfix since V0.53:
  • Ext4 extent writing support
  • Size manipulation and i/o path revised for support of indirect and extent-based mappings
  • 16T volume supported (tested and confirmed with 4T volume).Version 0.53 and previous versions only support up to 2T volume
  • Deletion acceleration: truncation optimized for indirect-based files
  • Size-expanding disabled in IRP_MJ_CREATE for better performance. Windows sometimes would truncate file size back to 0
  • Support Volume exclusive-open for e2fsprogs utils. Any attempts will be denied while EXT4 volume is being checked (e2fsck).
  • FIXME: Possible zero-content returned (requesting data from file tail)
  • FIXME: File ByteOffset updated for FO_SYNCHRONOUS_IO open (async i/o)
  • FIXME: don't do byte or range round up for paging i/o requests
  • FIXME: occasional block bitmap difference issue, cased by checksum calculation in uninit_bg group initializing
  • Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.60:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: full support with extending and shrinking.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support
  • symlink creation

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.53 (Sep 1, 2014)

  • FIXME: BSOD with VHD/VHDX mounting on Win8
  • FIXME: Mke2fs failed to format mounted EXT2 volumes
  • Enable writing with global or volume ext3-force-writing
  • Support ext4 dir hash (UNSIGNED cases for legacy/half_md4/tea)
  • Fixed several warnings

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.52 (Jun 18, 2014)

  • Features implemented and bugfix since V0.51:
  • Feature: Windows 8 supported
  • Feature: Force-writing supported
  • FIXME: data loss with TeraCopy when moving directories
  • FIXME: ATTO Disk Benchnmark fails with direct i/o tests
  • FIXME: files become invisible with empty hidden pattens
  • FIXME: possible hang with concurrent access attempts upon the same file
  • FIXME: BSOD due to pagable code section
  • Supported Ext3/4 features by 0.52:
  • flexible inode size: > 128 bytes, up to block size
  • dir_index: htree directory index
  • filetype: extra file mode in dentry
  • large_file: > 4G files supported
  • sparse_super: super block backup in group descriptor
  • uninit_bg: fast fsck and group checksum
  • extent: reading, writing with no extending.
  • journal: only support replay for internal journal
  • flex_bg: first flexible metadata group
  • Unsupported Ext3/4 features:
  • journal: log-based operations, external journal
  • extent: size truncating & expanding, file deletion
  • EA (extended attributes), ACL support
  • symlink creation

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.51 (Aug 27, 2013)

  • FIXME: Data corruption issue, especially for multiple-thread writing on XP system
  • FIXME: Set ValidDataLength only for FileEndOfFileInformation w/ AdvanceOnly
  • Support writing to ext4 volumes w/ flex_bg
  • Code cleanup and enhancement for global/volume property settings

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.50 (Mar 21, 2011)

  • Ext4 extent readonly support by Bo Branten. Writing is possible but with no size-extending
  • Ext3 directory index (hash-tree) support
  • Fast fsck (uninit_bg) and group block checksum support
  • Ext4 64k block size support
  • Symlink/special inodes open/read/deletion support
  • Buffer head implemented over cache pages
  • Memory allocation optimization for flexible-size inodes
  • Improve file deletion: don't grab global lock when deleting
  • FIXME: return zero-content for sparse file gaps
  • FIXME: check available spaces before blocks allocation
  • FIXME: refresh stale root dir content after journal replay
  • FIXME: incompatible dentry management for 64k block size
  • FIXME: don't do journal replay for devices set as readonly
  • FIXME: Win7 cmd.exe always reports file sizes as zero
  • FIXME: Win7 memory throttling issue calling CcPinRead
  • FIXME: Ext3Fsd Build issues (SLIST/div64 for Win2k, browser files)
  • FIXME: Compiling test failure (fastio doesn't update i_size)
  • FIXME: Possible Mcb memory leak for symbolic links

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.48 (Jun 5, 2010)

  • Acronis TrueImage compatible issue solved: Verified with Acronis True Image Home 2009. Also verified with FreeOFTE 3.0, TrueCrypt 6.2a.
  • Driver code-signed for Vista and Server 2008
  • Bo Branten’s 5+ patches merged, lots ifstest failures resolved
  • Code improvements for FastIo routines and drive letter & mount points management
  • Mount point automatic assignment for USB key and other removable
  • disks or removable media devices

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.46 (Jun 24, 2008)

  • ext3 journal check and replay implemented. If the journal is not empty ext2fsd will replay the journal and make the file system consistent as an ext2 file system.
  • Flexible-inode-size supported. recent Linux are using 256-byte inode that fails 0.45 and before to show all the files.
  • FIXME: 2 minor issues that mislead EditPlus. EditPlus is always trying to open any file with directory_only flag set to judge whether the target is a directory or file, when the file isn't a directory, the open request should be denied. But Ext2Fsd 0.45 and before doesn't. Another issue is that ext2 file time on disk has different precision against windows (1 second vs 100 nano second), which causes EditPlus thinks the file is being changed.
  • FIXME: a severe bug (likely happen on win2k system) which cause dirty caches missed and slow down the whole system.
  • Many other minor changes: bulk block allocation/release, possible inode allocation dead-loop when all inodes are used out, Ext2Mgr win2k support, other performance improvements.

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.45 (May 15, 2008)

  • set hidden attribute for all files starting with "."
  • update cache window size when writing to file end
  • reaper resources allocated during file creation
  • Documents improvement: clear and elaborate
  • Performance improvement, code optimization
  • EXT3 features support (journal, htree)
  • LVM support
  • Automatic check & update of new versions

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.39 (Jan 10, 2008)

  • Bugs Fixed: Disk space isn't released after deleting big files larger than (BLOCK_SIZE * (12 BLOCK_SIZE/4 BLOCK_SIZE * BLOCK_SIZE / 16)) That's 4,299,210,752 in case BLOCK_SIZE is 4096.
  • Ext2fsd 0.39 is much stable even under heavy I/O loads, both for reading and writing.
  • Performance and stability are highly improved, especially stability.

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.38 (Jan 5, 2008)

  • File block extents management improved to decrease CPU usage
  • Re-queue request when cache manager can't prepare pages in time
  • Possible deletion of it's hardlink entry when removing a file
  • Prohibit to create file with same names to dead symlinks
  • Wrong inode type in directory entry for symbol links
  • Possible memory leak when failed to overwrite file
  • Memory leak in Ext2FreeMcb, it's counted but not freed.
  • Possible loss of inode/dentry update: Ext2WriteVolume might miss the dirty windows with SECTOR_SIZE aligned borders
  • SpinLock related routines shouldn't be resident in paged zone
  • Possible lost of files in directory listing

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.37 (Dec 27, 2007)

  • Fixed: files >=4G couldn't be copy&paste to ext2 volume, caused by a hardcode limit in Ext2CreateFile
  • Fixed: failure of "No enough memory" when renaming files under directories it likely happens when renaming files under subdirectory with Samba or Linux kernel CIFS.
  • Fixed: possible deadlock in renaming with simultaneous access
  • Fixed: possible wrong entry (hardlinks) deletion instead of itself: it's rare to happen but possible when renaming, moving or deleting files.
  • Fixed: entry management routines enhancement
  • Fixed: 64k-block support

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.35 (Dec 4, 2007)

  • Fix: Corrected change notification message for renaming
  • Fix: e2fsck i_size issue: Ext2SetInformation doesn't free extra blocks when shrinking FileEndOfFileInformation
  • Fix: BSOD with symlink since it's treated as a file
  • Symbolic link support on most operations but creating
  • Property settings per volume, more flexible
  • Hiding files with specified prefix and suffix
  • Different implements on driver letter assignment
  • CDROM support to mount CD/DVD burned in EXT2 format
  • "Move and Replace (overwrite)" support
  • Install Ext2Mgr as a service

New in Ext2 Volume Manager 0.31a (Mar 1, 2007)

  • Disable the partition type changing, which causes linux could not boot
  • Add test-signature to AMD64 drivers for vista system