Pem’s Tech Blog

Here’s what I am using (as of 2009/07/18):
* most of my hard drives are primarily for Windows and use NTFS; if necessary then I can use macfuse on Mac OS X
* my Mac Mini’s internal/boot drive will stay HSF+, (Mac OS X Extended (Journaled))
* my one OS X Time Machine hard drive will be NFS+, using MacDrive on Windows

The rest of this article is the details and background info…

Notes from simple CNET video, regarding native support:

file system	OS	read	write
NTFS	Windows	yes	yes
NTFS	Mac OS X	yes	no
HFS+	Windows	no	no
HFS+	Mac OS X	yes	yes
FAT32	Windows	yes	yes
FAT32	Mac OS X	yes	yes

* NTFS is standard for Windows
* HFS+ is standard for Mac OS X
* FAT32 is cross-platform
* FAT32 can not create a file bigger than 4 GB

Mac OS X: options to also write NTFS:
* macfuse
* Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X
* NTFS-3G

Windows: options to read/write HSF+:
* MacDrive: read/write, not free
* HFSExplorer: only does read

Notes based on: http://cnettv.cnet.com/format-drive-mac-os-x-windows/9742-1_53-50074180.html

So why would anyone want a file bigger than 4 GB?  Some obvious examples:
* large video file
* system backup disk image file, such as (Acronis True Image, or Norton Ghost)
* iso disc image (standard DVD is 4.7 GB, dual-layer is 8.5 GB, blu-ray is much more)

Mac OS X, More Details:
One catch is that Mac OS X Time Machine requires HFS+

Mac OS Extended is the same as HSF+ or HFS Plus

Mac OS X (Journaled): better, plus Mac OS X Time Machine requires journaling

HSF+, not case sensitive: By default, both my Mac Mini’s internal drive, and my recent purchase pre-formatted for Mac OS X external drive, were both not case sensitive.  They both came as and still are "(Mac OS X (Journaled))”.

UFS: Unix File System:
Another twist is the UFS file system, which is supported by Mac OS X.  UFS is case sensitive.

Case sensitive?
* UFS : yes
* NTFS: no
* Mac OS X Extended: no
* Mac OS X Extended, Case Sensitive: yes

Because UFS is case sensitive, this might be a theoretical concern for (compiling something for unix on Mac OS X) or (for using a drive with both Mac OS X, and Linux such as Ubuntu)

One reference says (If this kind of case-sensitivity is important to you, you can create a UFS partition or disk image and use that for your sources) — http://developer.apple.com/unix/crossplatform.html

However, at this point I am planning to just ignore that, and leave all my drives as not case sensitive (NTFS is not case sensitive) (my Mac OS X drives are not case sensitive).  Maybe I will worry about it later if I start running Ubuntu on one of my home computers.

One reason is that the default is (not case sensitive).  The other is that I’ve read some rumors suggesting it might cause some incompatibility problems with certain software.

Mac OS X Disk Utility doesn’t call it HSF+:
* Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
* Mac OS Extended
* Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)
* Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)

As explained in my article, I am keeping the default: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

I feel like it could reduce confusion if they would just call it HSF+ instead of “Mac OS Extended”?  But then again, it is common to have more than one name for the same technology standard: consider (HyperTransport was originally LDT) and (FireWire is the common name for IEEE 1394).  And I guess Apple thinks they are making things simpler by using a more “friendly” sounding name.

When installing Mac OS X, you can choose UFS or HSF+:
I found this referenced in some Apple articles, such as: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1410?viewlocale=en_US

I’ve read there might be some theoretical scenario where you want a case sensitive file system on Mac OS X, such as for compiling certain unix code.  Maybe.

However, right now (2009/07/18), my Mac Mini OS drive and Time Machine drive are both HSF+, called Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  So that is my plan, unless at some point I hear about some good reason to use a case sensitive format, such as UFS or (Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), which means HSF+ case-sensitive journaled).

Pem (Admin) :: Jul.18.2009 :: Mac OS, Windows OS :: 1 Comment »

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