Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

gagejd · 2011-01-24 07:36:19

Hi there, dual booting linux and Snow Leopard.. I am re-formatting my media partition (which I keep separate from the linux and osx files so as to keep them safe if I want to reinstall/upgrade the operating systems or mess something up), and was wondering as to the best filesystem I should pick? I would do ext4, but from what I understand osx cannot read/write to it natively or in a stable fashion. Keep in mind the media partition will be used to hold/read all the files when using the computer, including when watching movies, playing music, writing documents, storing photos, etc..

Any suggestions? Thanks!

stryder · 2011-01-24 13:45:00

OSX writes fat32, reads ntfs. Linux reads hfsplus, writes fat32 and ntfs. I think you can get osx to write ntfs. There are no good options because osx is rather exclusive. For me I use hfsplus for stability. Fat32 for interchangeability although it has a file size limit.

.:B:. · 2011-01-24 14:25:03

I believe Linux can write HFS+ as well, but not sure how stable that support is.

skodabenz · 2011-01-24 14:48:44

I think MacFuse ( http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/ ) + NTFS-3G ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/catacom … %20OS%20X/ ) will be the best combination without 4 GB file size limit . Linux can write to HFS but not HFS+ due to journaling . If you disable journaling in HFS+ (using Disk Utility) you can try writing to HFS, but I am not sure to what extent it will work.

Inxsible · 2011-01-24 14:49:56

go with FAT. Although if you have file size more than 4GB, you will probably have no choice but to go with something else.

SS4 · 2011-01-24 15:16:47

FAT32.

Even with movies there can't be that many single files over 4GB?

gagejd · 2011-01-24 15:37:38

Most of my movies and even tv shows are HD and are from 4 to 10GB... thats the thing. I had ntfs left over from 3 years ago from when I originally replaced windows with linux, but didn't want to not be able to read my music in windows if I didn't like linux. What happened was the ntfs partition never had windows installed on it at all, just files, I just want something new since it doesn't seem partition friendly as I like to experiment with new distros often.

hellomynameisphil · 2011-01-24 16:56:35

For various reasons, I use HFS+ (no journalling) on my Linux file server and don't have too many problems. I check the filesystem often with OS X's Disk Utility and get the odd bit of corruption, but DU is usually able to fix it. I make frequent backups, so even if DU can't fix it, I can restore.

HFS+ is not (yet) super stable on Linux, but I find it usable enough to have been doing this for a couple of years. YMMV.

gagejd · 2011-01-25 04:47:07

Figured I might as well do something that windows 7 can read/write as well... since that will likely be installed on the side at some point..
Ntfs sounds like the best one so far, since I'll be using linux 90% of the time and I've never had a problem with files written to ntfs.

How bad is this instability with hfs+? Am I going to lose some files or corrupt a few documents when I randomly reboot the computer, or shutdown improperly?

hellomynameisphil · 2011-01-25 06:49:24

gagejd wrote:

How bad is this instability with hfs+? Am I going to lose some files or corrupt a few documents when I randomly reboot the computer, or shutdown improperly?

I rarely reboot or shutdown improperly, so I have no insights to offer into the impacts of these behaviours on HFS+ in Linux.

IIRC, I once had a catastrophic and irreparable error when I used the command line in Linux to change a directory name on an HFS+ filesystem from being all lowercase to start with an uppercase letter. I had to restore the filesystem contents from backup.

Other than that, I have lots of minor, easily fixable, but somewhat troublingly frequent errors with incorrect numbers of inodes and such like.

If you are bringing Windows into the equation, I seem to recall a Slashdot article from within the last couple of years which had a question re: sharing files in a triple-boot environment (Windows, OS X, and Linux). If you can track down the article, the comments may be useful.

Korrode · 2011-01-25 06:53:40

UDF. Ensure you use the Plain build as it's a HDD.

You'll need udftools to make the partition. IIRC by default it makes UDF to the 1.50 standard, which is highly compatible, but for a Plain build you could even make to the 1.02 standard and get read-only compatiblity all the way back to Windows 95B.

edit:
I should add that for Windows XP users this suggestion isn't an option if write access to the drive in question is needed. For Win Vista/7 and Mac OS9/X users, it's the go.

Last edited by Korrode (2011-01-25 07:42:40)

radiomist · 2011-01-25 21:08:57

using fuse osx can read and write ext3 partitions

http://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse-ext2/

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-24 07:36:19

Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#2 2011-01-24 13:45:00

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#3 2011-01-24 14:25:03

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#4 2011-01-24 14:48:44

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#5 2011-01-24 14:49:56

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#6 2011-01-24 15:16:47

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#7 2011-01-24 15:37:38

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#8 2011-01-24 16:56:35

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#9 2011-01-25 04:47:07

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#10 2011-01-25 06:49:24

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#11 2011-01-25 06:53:40

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

#12 2011-01-25 21:08:57

Re: Best stable media partition filesystem for Linux/OSX dual boot

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