Format HD for Windows & Mac

[vixux x]

Hi,

I just bought the LaCie USB 2.0 External Hard Drive 320 GB. I am currently using Windows, but I plan on moving to Mac soon in the future. Since work with video alot, I have used NTFS until now.

Is there a stable file system that I can format my hard drive with that is compatible with Mac and PC. I heard FAT32 is unstable.

This drive will be used as backup as well as my media drive for when I'm editing video, etc.

Thanks!

[Shinigami-Sama]

FAT32 is stable, just not for large files. I've no idea what filesystem Macs use or if they're proprietary not, but if you can find out there is probably a windows driver port for it. Failing that split the files to under 2Gb; or don't use mac :)

[foxyshadis]

For a disk full of huge temporary files you can't go wrong with fat32, but for long-term backup or regular use I'd pick NTFS, just because much less can go wrong in the filesystem when you're hotplugging the drive. Losing power or connection to a drive is a common cause of fat32 corruption, though it's usually recoverable and just annoying. (If you have lots of small files, fat32 is a terrible choice, because so much space is wasted.)

OS X can already read NTFS, to reliably write it you need MacFUSE (http://shadowofged.blogspot.com/2007/03/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x.html).

[vixux x]

Because I use video, I have large files. I'm trying to figure out ways to capture video from my camcorder so that a 1 hour tape doesn't take up 26-60 GB.

See my other thread here http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=125533.

So NTFS is the most stable then for large files?

Thank you both for your very detailed, helpful posts!

[HyperHacker]

FAT32 won't hold files more than 4GB (4,294,967,295 bytes to be precise). I wonder if Mac supports EXT2? You can get drivers for it for Windows.