errandwolfe Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Looking for some ideas here. Is there any type of FS that meets the following criteria: 1. Read and Write capable on both Mac and Windows. 2. Supports file size over 4 Gb. 3. Native support in Mac and Windows (i.e. no additional software such as MacDrive to install). Maybe I am only dreaming but does such a file system exist? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatoncat Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 No. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132434 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrsdead Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 How will you be connecting the drive? If you can connect it to the network you can use NFS and any filesystem that supports files 4GB and above, if connecting via USB or FW then you will need Macdrive or something similar. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132462 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 This may or may not work. I'm not sure because I haven't tried it. 1. In Mac, format the drive as one of the linux partitions available in Disk Utilities. 2. Try one of these solutions to get Windows to read/write on the new partitions. Google search Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132468 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampTK Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Use HFS+ on the drive and install macdrive on windows Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132472 Share on other sites More sharing options...
errandwolfe Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 Everyone I appreciate the help, but do we really need to clutter the forums with people saying "Use MacDrive" or some other third party solution, when I specifically say in my post that MacDrive is not an option? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132520 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampTK Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I missed that (and I guess domino too) There is limited comand-line support for NTFS in OS X Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132528 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 From the beginning, it wasn't possible and what makes anyone think it's possible now? If you search the board or anywhere else on the net, no has has been able to do it. NTFS is a security feature for a windows platform so not even dev on linux has been able to port a driver reliably. That said, it's more feasible to port a driver to read/write on a Linux ext2/3 partition since windows already has a reliable driver for it, Mac OS can read/write ext2/3 if Apple allows it. There is a developer that had ported a driver to read/right ext2. Unfortunately it is for the PPC platform. If it's worth it, pay that developer to support Intel version of his driver. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132534 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrana Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Nope, no luck. Stuck with Macdrive or UFS Explorer unfortunately. And, don't try mount_ntfs (man mount_ntfs mentions some write support, but I've had no luck). Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132585 Share on other sites More sharing options...
errandwolfe Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 Unfortunately that was what I was afraid of. I can't use ext2/3 file system as one of the purposes of this drive is to back up my Windows laptop using Ghost. Looks like I am stuck with FAT32 and will just have to deal with the 4 Gb file size limit. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132589 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampTK Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 There is a developer that had ported a driver to read/right ext2. Unfortunately it is for the PPC platform. If it's worth it, pay that developer to support Intel version of his driver. I don't know if you mean this, but there is a project called "Mac OS X Ext2 Filesystem". It has a version that works well in x86 OS X butl that version isn't released on the sourceforge page. Let me see if I can find the link to the file Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132611 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I don't know if you mean this, but there is a project called "Mac OS X Ext2 Filesystem". It has a version that works well in x86 OS X but that version isn't released on the sourceforge page. What I meant to say that that older version only worked for 10.3.x. I have not researched that app since last November and if it did surface, I'm sure we would have seen it by now. I had no idea that the older version work because I miserably failed back in October. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132675 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 It's ok if it doesn't support journaled file systems because I find no use for it on non-system drives and partitions used for backups. As far as I can tell, there is no massive difference in ext2 and ext3 other than ext3 has journaling, reliability and performance. Which of the 3 do you really need for a drive to store files in? On that note, I would rather buy a 300gig 5400rpm drive as oppose to a 7200 or 10k drive because I have had 5400rpm drives last more than 7yrs without a hiccup. Do you have access to the new version of "Mac OS X Ext2 Filesystem"? If so can you please post it? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132700 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampTK Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 This is the latest version, It's not aviable on the sourceforge. It also has a System Preferences Pane to configure some options like automount, works well in 10.4.4 to 10.4.6 note: it doesn't support Journaled ext3 filesystems Ext2FS_1.4d2.dmg.zip Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132705 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrana Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Yeah, I'm interested as well. EXT2 is fine with me for this purpose... Nevermind, here it is: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.p...ckage_id=101149 You need 1.4d1. Also, this is read only apparently, so it's not very useful. Plus, I don't see if it is universal. Edit: Good timing, we must have been typing at the same time. (does that 1.4d2 have wite capability? The forums imply it still doesn't, which makes Macdrive, etc., still the only real option) Edit2: Doh, yes x86 support in the latest builds: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thr...forum_id=218925 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132707 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 thanks for the dl lnk. here is the capabilities on hte same board: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thr...forum_id=218925 By: Brian Bergstrand - bbergstrandProject AdminRE: Tiger ext3 No write Access 2006-05-24 09:05 The current 1.4 release (d2) is read only. 1.3 has write support, but only works on Panther and Jaguar. The distribution includes the full set of e2fsprogs utils, so you can manage disks from the command line or the GUI. alternate download and seame versionas andazp posted: http://www.bergstrand.org/brian/software/b...xt2FS_1.4d2.dmg So all we need to do is wait and/or support the developer edt: andazp, I didn't see your edit thanks!! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132737 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampTK Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 I thought it had write capabilities (the readme contradicts itself), the last time I tried this, the only ext3 partition I had at the time was journaled so it wouldn't mount, and I didn't cared enough to keep testing, I was fine with Macdrive, and didn't needed to move data form my gentoo installation. Domino I agree, interested people of the forum should try to help this guy (developing, donating or annoying him until he releases an update) to keep developing, if this version hasn't been uploaded to the site for months the project must be kinda dead. (I may be wrong, he could be working hard, it's just the impression) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132783 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 It also contradicts the author when it states that the dist is writable in the application. I doubt it is writable, but the app says ext2 is . Anyway, I still have not gotten either ext2 or ext3 to mount. This is what I have done so far. + partitioned with: - gparted ext2 & 3 - cfdisk delete create partitions - PartitionMagic create ext2 & 3 partition - Acronis create ext2 & 3 partition + read the included readme and dev forum - configured to not automount the disk - manually mount the drive in terminal using instructions in the forum All the steps I did above failed. Will keep an eye on the other forum for new developments. Here is what the app says when it saw the disk: =================== IOKit Name: Untitled 1 Device: disk1s1 Connection Bus: ATA Connection Type: Internal Ejectable: No DVD/CD: No Mount Point: Not Mounted Writable: Yes Filesystem: Linux Ext2 Volume UUID: 76F73F0B-7876-CBD6-1A2C-68A92C1D6B29 Device Size: 38.29 GB (41,109,917,184 bytes) Device Block Size: 512 bytes =================== Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132820 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Not long after posting the last post and sifting through the forum, I found the following command to work in shell. mkdir /Volumes/LinuxHome sudo mount -t ext2 -w /dev/disk0s7 /Volumes/LinuxHome The top command creates a LinuxHome folder in the /Volumes directory and the second command mounts my Linux ext3 /home partition to /Volumes/LinuxHome So, for those who want read only access to ext2 and ext3, you can do the following. If you have windows installed, use Acronis or partitionMagic to create your partitons. If you are familiar with gparted, you might be able to use it also. I had problems using gparted because neither Acronis or PartitonMagic would recognize any partitions I create with it. When the partition or drive is successfully mounted, don't forget to look on your desktop for the new drive . Edit: I reposted here: http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?showtopic=20165&hl= Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132822 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrana Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 So, we are stuck with just read only, then? At least I suppose we have a better chance of writing to EXT2 at some point than we do NTFS. I have more faith in ZFS eventually being a solution, though: http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/zfs/ http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.ars/2006/4/27/3777 I know I saw a recent news blurb on this somewhere. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132865 Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeSuKuN Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 If ZFS become the main FS of Mac OS I'll make an apple religion xD, although, for this topic isnt valid, M$ will do with winfs the same that did with ntfs, even worse, they'll promote the use of encrypted disks. and so, there will be no native support for zfs in windows. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132880 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrana Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Yeah, I rather doubt we'll see ZFS support. But, due to the source being out for it, we could see an IFS driver for it just like we have for EXT2/3 some day. Still annoying that as of now you need to use macdrive or something to get real 4GB+ r/w support between Windows and OS X, though. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132889 Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 I'm still looking for a common ground between all OS so they do get along. I have read that OS X cause havoc if given write permission to an NT file systems. ZFS, to quote a person: ZFS is not available for Linux, as it was written for Solaris. It will likely never be available for Linux in a fully usable form, because the current code implementing it has license incompatibilities with the Linux kernel, and so they can never be linked. In the mean time, this leaves us with Mac OS X Ext2 Filesystem since the developer has already gotten it to work with Tiger 10.3.x and is hopefully working on 10.4.x. The good thing is it does support EXT3 and reads any ext2/3 I mount on it. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/20119-best-format-for-external-drive/#findComment-132997 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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