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When I got my new laptop, I installed Ubuntu 10.04 64bit and formatted the partition with the new filesystem ext4, enabling all its new features. I also installed Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit on a small partition, to be able to use Windows software when I need it, for example Office.
As I work in Linux most of the time, I store all my files in my Linux home. However, sometimes I need to access them from Windows, so I had a look in Internet to find a tool that allows one to read a Linux partition from Windows. I found some tools which permit to read ext2 and ext3 partitions, and also ext4 but not with the extents feature enabled.
A good solution for ext2 and ext3 filesystems seems to be Ext2 IFS, which basically extends the capabilities of Windows for reading and writing also ext2 and ext3 filesystem in a transparent way, that is the Linux drive appears in the File Manager as a NTFS or FAT drive does. This is cool!  Anyway, I have Ext4... so no way to use Ext2 IFS.
The solution I found for Ext4 (and I repeat, also WITH extents enabled) is Ext2read, which now supports also ext4! Ext2read is not a driver like Ext2 IFS. It is a standalone application, which even does not need to be installed, which allows one to read a Linux partition and save the files into the Windows partition. So it is a much simpler program, but did what I need. In fact, I need only to read files from the Linux partition, and be able to work with them. I can save my results into the Windows partition, and then read them directly from Linux, if necessary, as Linux can read Windows partitions... Remember to execute Ext2read with administrator rights! (right click, Run as Administrator)
Ext2read is a simple solution, suited for who needs to read Linux files not so often, and which avoids to make exchange partitions, or to work all the time outside the Linux partition (loosing performances), or to use USB keys... and above all to remember to save files in the correct position to be accessible also from Windows...
 The Ext2read interface.
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