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    exFAT

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by taelrak, Jul 13, 2011.

  1. taelrak

    taelrak Lost

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    Revisit of an old old problem that hasn't really changed that much over the years:

    External drive to be shared between Windows (Boot Camp) + OSX. Used solely to store media for consumption, with very little to no editing. No special permissions required. Size limitations of FAT32 unacceptable.

    Options:

    exFAT
    Pros: full read+write from both Windows and OSX.
    Cons: it's a FAT-based system; any other cons?

    NTFS (+ ntfs-3g)
    Pros: Great Windows read+write capability.
    Cons: No write capability from OSX unless I install ntfs-3g. Some write lag under ntfs-3g.

    HFS+ (+MacDrive)
    Pros: Great OSX read + write capability.
    Cons: No write capability from Windows unless I install MacDrive. MacDrive is a hideous piece of software.

    Willing to expend the effort and money that any of these options involve. Willing to consider other options, but not if the cost (time or money) is significantly higher.

    Thoughts? I'm interested in efficiency, fragmentation, wear, speed, performance, error rate, etc.
     
    taelrak, Jul 13, 2011
    #1
  2. KCETech1

    KCETech1 Notebook Prophet

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    I tend to go the NTFS and ntfs-3g route
    if your not needing huge amounts of speed my favorite is a good NAS adaptor such as
    NAS 3.0 Adapter from Addonics
    and just connect to it by network shares.

    but exFAT works just fine.
     
    KCETech1, Jul 13, 2011
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  3. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    File system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    wiki is quite good when it comes to pc things, take a look.

    I went for exfat since I use the externals for various windows machines at home and at work

    for thumb drives I usually go for the fat32, since I dont use anything more than a 4gb drive
     
    Karamazovmm, Jul 13, 2011
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