# Options besides Fat32?



## newtekie1 (Sep 23, 2010)

What options are their, if any, that I can format a drive in that would be compatible with both Windows and Mac OSX?

Mainly I'm looking to avoid the file size limit with Fat32.

I know I can format the drive as NTFS, but then I can't write to it from my Mac, so I need something that I can read and write from both Platforms.


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## Kreij (Sep 24, 2010)

Have you looked into MacFUSE?


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## Easy Rhino (Sep 24, 2010)

does windows recognize ext3 or ext4 ?


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## Deleted member 3 (Sep 24, 2010)

Easy Rhino said:


> does windows recognize ext3 or ext4 ?



Not native. But it can be done yes.


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## Deleted member 3 (Sep 24, 2010)

Perhaps OSX reads exFAT btw, who knows.


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## 95Viper (Sep 24, 2010)

Maybe this can help?
Gain full read-write access to NTFS within Linux for FREE! Threw this in for shi*tz & giggles, in case you or someone needs on for linux.
However... Paragon ExtBrowser is a Windows® based utility that will enable you to work with Ext2FS or Ext3FS partitions from Windows®.
It is free, too.


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## Frick (Sep 24, 2010)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Perhaps OSX reads exFAT btw, who knows.



I thought about that too, but somehow I doubt it.

I think a third part program is needed actuallly.


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## streetfighter 2 (Sep 25, 2010)

I have some experience with this subject.

One of my friends wanted a USB storage drive but he wanted to transfer data freely between his Mac and his friend's PCs.  He also needed support for files larger than what FAT32 supports.

I started by creating two partitions on his (2TB) USB drive, one for NTFS (the storage bit) and one HFS+ (journaled) so he could use Time Machine.

In order to bring NTFS support to mac I started with the free NTFS-3G driver, but found that it couldn't sustain high enough transfer rates for streaming HD movies.  This speed issue was apparently fixed in the pay version of NTFS-3G, which is called Tuxera NTFS.

I never bothered trying Tuxera NTFS but instead went with Paragon NTFS because it was cheap ($20), had incredibly good reviews and came from a company I've had experience with.  After installing Paragon NTFS I can say that it is incredibly fast and thoroughly stable.  No complaints whatsoever.

Anyway, that's one way of tackling the problem.  You may be able to get away cheaper, but I don't think you can make it any any easier.


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## Wile E (Sep 25, 2010)

I use Paragon on my Macs, as it was reasonably priced, easier to deal with, and has proven itself quite stable.

But there is NTFS read/write support built into Snow Leopard. You just have to enable it per drive in fstab. http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090913140023382

And a GUI to do the same: http://ntfsmounter.com/

I also use MacDrive on my PCs to enable read/write support to HFS+ volumes. Comes in handy for fixing borked kext installs on the Hackintosh, without resorting to using the command line. lol.


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## Frick (Sep 25, 2010)

Cool, I had no idea you could do that.


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