How To Read-write Ntfs Partitions On Osx86?

[domino]

Have any of you guys ever used an actual Mac? They can read/write ntfs perfectly fine. I use a usb drive (key type) to transfer files with a coworker.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks for the info. But unfortunately, that isnt giving any solutions. Do you have Tiger installed on a PC? Can you confirm for sure that the system we are running can write on NTFS? Do you really know how HFS+ works and how it is able to write on other file system either on a network or a thumb drive?

 

I would rather read about a guess or a solution. Not this garbage you are posting.

[cyrana]

Have any of you guys ever used an actual Mac? They can read/write ntfs perfectly fine. I use a usb drive (key type) to transfer files with a coworker.

No, it is 100% incorrect. You cannot write to NTFS on a Mac (thumb drives typically use fat32 btw). And, yes, I've owned one since the original in 1984.

 

In the future, please do some research before posting your caustic messages.

[link]

Haha.

 

Cyrana... I think I know how to format my thumb drive as ntfs. Before you even respond to this post... do you want proof? If no then don't even bother responding because your comment is mute.

 

And I would love to bs with you about this but the facts are that I have copied TONS of stuff to ntfs folders from a real mac.

 

Oh and thanks for the warning. I laughed.

 

Domino, sorry I was actually referring to a "real" mac. I just got my pc laptop dual booted with osx so I'll post if I figure anything out about this. Haven't had time to test anything. Sorry if I was vague.

[cyrana]

No, it is impossible, sorry. No way you can prove the impossible.

 

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75320

Mac OS X 10.3 Panther works with local NTFS-formatted volumes. The volume will be read-only.

 

Warning: NTFS formatted drives cannot be used in a Macintosh (except as read-only with Mac OS X 10.,3 as noted above). If you attempt to use a NTFS formatted disk, upon starting up the Mac OS will prompt you to format the drive. Do not format the drive, doing so will erase the contents of the drive. If you have an NTFS formatted disk, you must use another method to transfer the data from the PC to the Macintosh.

And this has not changed in 10.4 (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?sto...050521110452194). I'm not going to do any more replies to this thread, it is now closed. The answer was already provided anyway.

[cyrana]

I'd like to pre-emptively apologize and say I may be wrong.

 

Excerpt from man mount_ntfs:

MOUNT_NTFS(8)            BSD System Manager's Manual            MOUNT_NTFS(8)

 

NAME

    mount_ntfs -- mount an NTFS file system

 

SYNOPSIS

    mount_ntfs [-a] [-s] [-u uid] [-g gid] [-m mask] special node

 

DESCRIPTION

    The mount_ntfs utility attaches the NTFS file system residing on the

    device special to the global file system namespace at the location indi-

    cated by node.  This command is normally executed by mount(8) at boot

    time, but can be used by any user to mount an NTFS file system on any

    directory that they own (provided, of course, that they have appropriate

    access to the device that contains the file system).

 

    The options are as follows:

 

    -a      Force behaviour to return MS-DOS 8.3 names also on readdir().

 

    -s      Make name lookup case sensitive.

 

    -u uid  Set the owner of the files in the file system to uid.  The

            default owner is the owner of the directory on which the file

            system is being mounted.

 

    -g gid  Set the group of the files in the file system to gid.  The

            default group is the group of the directory on which the file

            system is being mounted.

 

    -m mask

            Specify the maximum file permissions for files in the file sys-

            tem.

 

FEATURES

    NTFS file attributes are accessed in following way:

 

          foo[[:ATTRTYPE]:ATTRNAME]

 

    `ATTRTYPE' is one of the identifiers listed in $AttrDef file of volume.

    Default is $DATA.  `ATTRNAME' is an attribute name.  Default is none.

 

EXAMPLES

    To mount an ntfs volume located in /dev/ad1s1:

 

          # mount_ntfs /dev/ad1s1 /mnt

 

    To get the volume name (in Unicode):

 

          # cat /mnt/\$Volume:\$VOLUME_NAME

 

    To read directory raw data:

 

          # cat /mnt/foodir:\$INDEX_ROOT:\$I30

 

WRITING

    There is limited writing ability.  Limitations: file must be nonresident

    and must not contain any sparces (uninitialized areas); compressed files

    are also not supported.

 

SEE ALSO

    mount(2), unmount(2), fstab(5), mount(8), mount_msdosfs(8)

 

Some caveats, though:

http://www.macosxhints.com/comment.php?mod...upport%3F&pid=0

[domino]

Thanks for taking the time to research cyrana. The write limitations does put a damper on things though. One thought I had is that I remember back in FAT32 days when we were able to load a memory resident application that as I remember allowed us to read and write on NTFS. I beleive it was wininternal pack. Being not too familiar with Mac, is there such an application?

[cyrana]

Personally I think it sounds a bit risky. If it worked fine, it'd be on by default, eh?

 

I definitely recommend fat32... Hmm, I am not sure about the last question, though.

[domino]

LOL. It was risky for people like myself who hasn't worked on a Mac in his life to be able to get this far . But hey, that's what we are here for. Challenges become part of a geeks life. .

 

The problem with converting NTFS to FAT32 is that if you have a file over 4gig, it simply will not convert. I have many 4.2gig ISO (ready to burn archives) thatI keep on my drive for simplicity's sake. I dont have to dig up those old CD that I still need to access on a regular basis. Hehe, this sounds like a personal problem don't you think . Man if I only had the money to buy another drive.

[medafor]

Why not go the other way around - I think Apple should port its HFS+ driver for Windows.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

YOU CAN WITH MACDRIVE!!

you must have the latest update. mounts the partition in windows. you can read and write. i do all my mac file editing in windows with notepad. .

[domino]

I actually still have deadmoo mounted on vmware. then mount my HFS+ partition and run vmware to edit my native Mac install. But I think MacDrive would be a better and faster sulution.

 

I was thinking along the lines of storing my downloads on an NTFS partion while i'm using Mac. It leads me to beleave that it's just not gonna happen unless you are ok with the limitations cyrana posted.

[Cr4z33]

YOU CAN WITH MACDRIVE!!

you must have the latest update. mounts the partition in windows. you can read and write. i do all my mac file editing in windows with notepad. .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I tried it and it was freezing my XP.

So far, no way for me to mount an HFS+ partition in XP...

[cauldron]

Well, the cluster size can be an issue if you have a lot if -tiny- files.  If you have thousands of files that are like 1KB in size, they'll take up 32KB each on a partition that is over 32GB due to the clusters.

 

Unfortunately, with bundles where each resource is an individual file, Mail storing data with one message per file, lots of small files containing indexing data for Spotlight, etc., Tiger will always create lots and lots and lots of tiny files. Large clusters would be madness in OS X.

[mogley]

I have tried macdrive and transmac, but neither can find my OSx86 partition. I used acronis disk director suite and I can see the partition but it says it has no file system type and is of the type ShagOS swap. Can any body direct me on how to get macdrive to see this partition?