Any problems using a NTFS external HD?

I just purchased a 3TB external drive that came formatted with NTFS. I had previously installed NTFS-3G, so it worked right out of the box.

It will also allow me to use it with my Linux machine, which would be a big help to back it up over USB instead of over a LAN. I think there is a little more support for 3TB NTFS drives in Linux than 3TB HFS+ ones.

However, before I move a few TB of HDTV shows, and my photos onto this drive, I want to make sure it will be the right choice.

I have found that the NTFS format is not journaled, and I think searching it with just a few files on the drive takes a long time. Will this be any better with HFS+?

I will be using this drive with my mac 99% of the time. I guess it would be nice to have the flexibility of mounting it in Windows and Linux, but I'm wondering if there are any other downsides to using NTFS on a Mac?

Is file transfer over USB2 impacted? What if any speed gains would I get by using HFS+ in Mac OS X instead of NTFS-3G? Will anything impact the file transfer speed if I purchase a USB3 expresscard? (I would have to find a USB3 SSD to try the SSD to SSD transfer test...)

Thanks.

One small thing is that it doesn't appear that deleting files off of it goes to the trash, they are immediately deleted.