# Portable hard-drive between Mac, WinXP, Linux: what filesystem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779 "2005-02-07T07:01:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/1 "2005-02-07T07:01:02Z")
I want to get one of those umpteen-hundred-gig portable hard drives with an enclosure and a Firewire connection, so I can carry video files 'twixt studio and home. There are enclosure kits to which you can add your own hard drive. The drives aren’t that expensive, a couple of hundred bucks Canadian. This may be material for my tax refund and/or yearly profit-sharing cheque, should those come to be. I am dealing with a Mac-based Media 100 editing setup at one end and a Frankensteinian home-built PC with Windows XP SP1 and Linux at the other. My question: what filesystem should the drive be formatted with? Will the Mac recognise PC filesystems, and, if so, which? Windows would probably want to format the drive as NTFS, but I’m not sure how recognisable that is by other systems–I understand that writing to it is still somewhat experimental in Linux. Should I format the drive as [UDF](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format)? ISO9660? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/2 "2005-02-07T07:07:30Z")
MacOS X will handle FAT32 file systems out of the box just fine, so you can go with that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/3 "2005-02-07T07:32:58Z")
Hmm, okay, I hadn’t thought of that. One of the Mac systems is 10.2 (I think) and the other one is 9.something. But… FAT32 on a 200-gig volume? According to Wikipedia, the max size of a FAT-32 volume is approximately [124 gigs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAT-32). ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/4 "2005-02-07T10:13:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Windows would probably want to format the drive as NTFS, but I’m not sure how recognisable that is by other systems–I understand that writing to it is still somewhat experimental in Linux. I just want to comment that the experimental status of NTFS writing in Linux should be taken seriously, while it will read it just fine, I have wrecked a few filesystems testing writing. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/5 "2005-02-07T10:52:45Z")
NTFS in Linux isn’t there yet. It will be sooner rather than later, I hope, but right now you can’t use it in read-write mode. [Microsoft says FAT32 supports drives of up to 2 terabytes in size.](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q154997/) It mentions, however, that Microsoft Windows 2000 only supports FAT32 partitions of up to 32 GB. Anyway, it seems that FAT32 is the only realistic option right now for all three OSes. ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/6 "2005-02-07T13:13:10Z")
Actually, Linux systems can write to NTFS with [Captive NTFS](http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/). It uses actual Windows NTFS drivers to perform disk operations. OS X can’t write to NTFS, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/7 "2005-02-07T13:55:52Z")
FAT32 doesn’t support files bigger than 4GB, either. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/8 "2005-02-07T14:01:36Z")
One solution could be thirdparty software for OS X and WinXP to read/write ext2/ext3 filesystems. I googled a little and found: [http://www.ext2fs-anywhere.com/](http://www.ext2fs-anywhere.com/) > **[ext2 filesystem for OS X](https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ext2-filesystem-for-os-x.88563/)** > > ExtFS driver for OS X version 1.3 by Brian Bergstrand > available free of charge at SourceForge > > Reviews > Not much turned up, that's why I'm writing this one! > > Features/Needs > This is everything you need to mount, read, write and check ext2 and ext3... There are proberly others. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/9 "2005-02-07T14:16:54Z")
I’ll check out **blinx** ’ links. I’ve been looking for a solution for this, too. I’ve Googled around and hadn’t turned up anything, yet. I hate to partitition a big, external drive just for interoperability. I found a clunky, free UFS driver for WinXP, but it seemed to only work via ATA connection rather than over the FireWire port. I don’t want to pay for MacDrive and similar. Now, I just use my HFS+, and if I need anything on the Windows machine, I just get it over the network. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/10 "2005-02-07T17:34:33Z")
> [@blinx](#): > > One solution could be thirdparty software for OS X and WinXP to read/write ext2/ext3 filesystems. Good idea, except that there’s no way I would be allowed to make changes to the Macs in the production Media100 systems… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/11 "2005-02-07T22:37:33Z")
There are several inexpensive HFS and/or HFS+ add-ons for Windows to allow Windows PCs to access Mac CDs and removable media and hard disks. MacDrive from DataViz is one. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/12 "2005-02-08T04:52:50Z")
After googling around and checking a couple of vendors’ sites, it at first looked like the packaged drives (with enclosure, power adaptor, Firewire/USB interface) kept their filesystem invisible to the user. However, [this vendor](http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.6adb6b8313633595062e6be791346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/External%20Hard%20Drives), for instance, does not immediately mention the filesystem on the drive. Digging a little deeper, the [FAQ](http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.ff4aba9b5a1543271400585760b46068/?epi_menuItemID=ff4aba9b5a1543271400585760b46068&epi_menuID=976d37cd478c5826433f226075b46068&epi_baseMenuID=976d37cd478c5826433f226075b46068&channelpath=/en_us/Products/External%20Hard%20Drives/) links to an [answer page](http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=tAmS4R3h&p_lva=&p_faqid=908&p_created=1012839999&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD05MDgmcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT0zJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPX5hbnl_JnBfcHJvZF9sdmwyPX5hbnl_JnBfY2F0X2x2bDE9fmFueX4mcF9jYXRfbHZsMj1_YW55fiZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=) that basically outlines what was implied upthread: namely, that the hardware will work with both Mac and Windows, but that the drive must be formatted for just one filesystem. Mac OS 10.3 can read but not write NTFS, and Windows needs third-party products to read and write Mac filesystems. There is mention of Linux: the site states that the drive hardware will work with Linux but that the manufacturer does not support it. Can Linux read and write Mac filesystems? If so, it looks like the best way would be to go with Mac formatting, use MacOpener or a similar product on the PC, and use the hypothetical Mac support in Linux. Of course, this means my other XP-using friends would also have to get MacOpener. Someone, ideally Apple, should make a Mac filesystem driver available for Windows and Linux… So… more questions:[ul][_]Can I have multiple partitions on the portable drive and use different filesystems on them? [_]Can I use the UDF filesystem on the portable drive and have all theee OSes recognise, read from, and write to the drive?Are filesystem drivers available for Windows? (I think more of them are available for Linux.)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/13 "2005-02-08T06:10:34Z")
HFS support has been part of Linux since the 2.1 series of kernels, which is a good long time ago. You can support HFS+ with a [driver](http://www.ardistech.com/hfsplus/). So if you can get HFS working under Windows XP, this might be a better option than FAT32. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/14 "2005-02-08T20:50:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Mac OS 10.3 can read but not write NTFS, and Windows needs third-party products to read and write Mac filesystems. To be precise, the later subflavors of MacOS 10.3 can read and to an awkward and incomplete extent write to NTFS. I haven’t tried it yet, it was in the details of a decimal-point upgrade, possibly 10.3.7. No better than Linux support for writing to NTFS, I’d imagine. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/15 "2005-02-08T20:59:50Z")
[10.3.5, actually](http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=26759&highlight=NTFS+write). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/16 "2005-02-08T21:36:29Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Microsoft says FAT32 supports drives of up to 2 terabytes in size.](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q154997/) It mentions, however, that Microsoft Windows 2000 only supports FAT32 partitions of up to 32 GB. Anyway, it seems that FAT32 is the only realistic option right now for all three OSes. I don’t think that’s correct. [This](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184006) page says that Windows 2000 can’t format a volume larger than 32GB although it can mount one. Also, I’ve got a computer next to me running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 with a 200GB external drive attached, and I can view the contents of the drive. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portable-hard-drive-between-mac-winxp-linux-what-filesystem/288779/17 "2005-02-08T21:39:15Z")
Sorry. I failed to specify that I was referring to FAT32 volumes. I think FAT32 is the way to go for the OP. By the way, this is a Maxtor external drive and it was already formatted when I purchased it, so that may be unnecessary.