Now I am using ext2fsd because it is uncomplicated and lets me read my linux partition with a large inode number. On the maintainer’s page there are lots of resources which show other projects related to ext2|3.
The first method I used to read linux partitions was explore2fs. I did not like the interface at the time and switched away when I found ext2ifs. Now I have a new linux installation with the number of inodes = 254, but ext2ifs only works with 128.
DiskInternals Linux Reader is an explorer like interface to look at ext2|3 file systems. I have not used this and another one I have not tried is ext2fsnt.
I don’t know anything about explore2fs or ext2fsd, but ever since I found out about VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) I no more have any use for a separate Windows installation. VirtualBox is simply great! It allows me to run Windows programs within my Ubuntu Linux installation (without rebooting), whenever I need to. “Seamless mode” simply rocks!