Which File System should I use?

Question

Which File System should I use?

Which is the best file system to use on a drive, baring in mind the following requirements:

* Read AND write compatibility on both Mac & Windows systems.
* Individual file sizes will often exceed 4GB (ruling out the FAT file systems).
* The drive is connected via USB (160GB).

Any help appreciated 🙂

MacBook Pro 15-inch (Santa-Rosa), Mac OS X (10.5.5), 4GB RAM, Intel C2D 2.4GHz, 320GB 5400RPM HDD

Posted on Dec 10, 2008 10:43 AM

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Answer 1

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Fortuny

Level 7

21,455 points

Dec 11, 2008 4:36 AM in response to Shaun OFlaherty

Shaun OFlaherty wrote:
Which is the best file system to use on a drive, baring in mind the following requirements:

* Read AND write compatibility on both Mac & Windows systems.
* Individual file sizes will often exceed 4GB (ruling out the FAT file systems).
* The drive is connected via USB (160GB).

Any help appreciated 🙂

Read and write compatibility out of the box is only possible with FAT32.
But your second request rules that one out.

What I would do in this case is to use NTFS as file system (read+write in Windows) and use/buy Paragons NTFS for OSX http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ for full access to NTFS from OSX.

In my opinion it is a far more stable solution than using MacDrive in Windows for full access to OSX (HFS+) partitions.

Hope it helps

Stefan

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