Newbie file format question +

[myc6toy]

Hi,
I have been reading these forums for the past few months and really enjoyed it. I am one of the newbies to Mac, making the big switch after many many years with DOS and Windows.

In reading many posts i have received a lot of good info and some conflicting opinions as well

I should receive my BTO system in a couple of days after 39 days of anticipation.

27” i5, 2.9GHz, 16Gig (+32?), 3TB Fusion, 2TB TC, and 3TB LaCie Porsche USB 3.0

I do have a couple of questions, and hopefully I picked the right spot for them.

I require complete / seamless integration of OS X and Windows platforms for file sharing, office files etc

I figure the best file format configuration would be:
a) iMac 3TB – HFS+ (with Paragon for NTFS compatibility)
b) 2TB TC – HFS+ {for time machine only}
c) 3TB LaCie – NTFS {for cross platform use}
d) NAS – NTFS {current windows back up drive}

Does this sound reasonable?

Also I would also like to run Win7 and 8 on my iMac either in virtual machine or try the two canoes work around and put boot camp on the 3TB Fusion.
I am leaning towards virtual machine to run windows, but not sure if I should use Parallels or VM Ware Fusion?

Any thoughts ? ( I’m not a gamer but do dabble in ACAD etc)

Thanks in advance

My current network consists of:

1. Net Gear 6300 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi & Giga-Bit Router
2. D-Link 8 port GB Switch
3. D-Link NAS (500GB RAID 1)
4. 3 iPads (2x3, 1x mini)
5. 3 iPhones (1x4, 2x4S)
6. 5 various Win XP & 7 (2 XP laptops for dedicated automation tasks)
7. Power ware UPS’s

[joe-h2o]

I'm not sure I'd go with NTFS for your cross platform drive. What about using something like ExFAT? It's supported natively by OS X and doesn't have the limitations of the older FAT32.

Maybe it's just me, but I always worry slightly when using third party drivers to add file system write capability. It seems like a major potential source of file system hosing.

[myc6toy]

Thanks joe-h2o

I will have to conform that all my legacy win machines can use ExFAT

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by myc6toy

Thanks joe-h2o

I will have to conform that all my legacy win machines can use ExFAT

ExFAT is supported in XP, so you should be fine.