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Cross-OS File System That Sucks Less?

Posted by kdawson on from the just-mount-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I recently got an external hard disk with USB 2.0/Firewire/Firewire 800/eSATA to be used for backup and file exchange — my desktop runs Linux (with a Windows partition for games but no data worth saving), and the laptop is a MacBook Pro. So the question popped up: what kind of filesystem is best for this kind of situation? Is there a filesystem that works well under Linux, MacOS X, and Windows? Linux has HFS+ support but apparently doesn't support journaling and there's also an issue with the case-insensitivity of HFS+. Are we stuck with crummy VFAT forever or are there efforts underway to bring a modern filesystem (I'm thinking something like ZFS, BeFS, or XFS) to all platforms? Or are there other clever solutions like storing ISO images and loop-mounting those?"

2 of 449 comments (clear)

  1. File systems that suck less? by iknownuttin · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I don't know. Right now I'm a Windows user so all I know is a file system that blows - nothing about systems that suck.

    --
    I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
  2. Re:You're not very smart, are you? by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    If windows would support Reiserfs, it'd be a much better option for cross platform than AWFUL ntfs/fat32.

    I have to stop you right here, why on earth would MS abandon an FS that STILL outperforms and provides features even Reiser can't.

    Instead of whining about NTFS or calling it 'bad' when it truly isn't, the OSS world needs to BUCK UP and STANDARDIZE on a COMPLETE and EXTENSIBLE FS instead of the constant infighting that we have had in the *nix world for 20 years.

    NTFS is solid and MS designed it to be highly extensible, considering it should support users until the 17000 terabyte limits hit. Remember that feature wise it was doing most of what it does back in 1991 when other FS drastically PALED in comparison. And even today the only FS that comes close to being as features as NTFS is ZFS and it even is missing several features NTFS has had for 10 years.