ExtFS driver for OS X version 1.3 by Brian Bergstrand
available free of charge at SourceForge
Reviews
Not much turned up, that's why I'm writing this one!
Features/Needs
This is everything you need to mount, read, write and check ext2 and ext3 (that is, Linux-formatted) disks or partitions on OS X. It doesn't try, and doesn't claim, to deal with ReiserFS. It also offers a convenient way to re-mount other OS X volumes.
The utility is distributed as an OS X disk image. You simply double-click on the package file and the standard OS X installer puts everything in place. An uninstaller is also included. Because this is a kernel driver, rebooting is required.
Included are a kernel extension to make ext2/3 volumes usable under OS X, an fsck_ext2 command-line tool, and a System Preferences pane.
Integration with OS X is very nice indeed. The author went to the trouble of making sure that these tools will work within the standard Disk Utility that ships with OS X. It just works.
The preferences pane lets you mount or unmount any eligible partition, even in other formats. This offers a convenient way to put unmounted volumes back on the desktop without cycling power to the drive or unplugging, or digging around for Disk Utility. For ext2/3 volumes only, there is an options button that allows you to choose whether or not the volume is automatically mounted by OS X, read/write or read-only operation, and whether or not non-root permissions should be honored. (You would want to disable non-root permissions if your files are on the disk, but the Linux system is not using the same UIDs as OS X.)
Note that while this driver is happy to use journalled ext3 volumes, it won't actually enable journalling while mounted under OS X. That's okay, Linux will still be able to use it just fine afterward.
Other Products
None that I know of.
Summary
The driver simply does its job, no surprises. If you need to move a portable drive between OS X and Linux systems, or are using a dual-boot system, this makes life much simpler, and helps to soothe the nerves after extended exposure to KDE
available free of charge at SourceForge
Reviews
Not much turned up, that's why I'm writing this one!
Features/Needs
This is everything you need to mount, read, write and check ext2 and ext3 (that is, Linux-formatted) disks or partitions on OS X. It doesn't try, and doesn't claim, to deal with ReiserFS. It also offers a convenient way to re-mount other OS X volumes.
The utility is distributed as an OS X disk image. You simply double-click on the package file and the standard OS X installer puts everything in place. An uninstaller is also included. Because this is a kernel driver, rebooting is required.
Included are a kernel extension to make ext2/3 volumes usable under OS X, an fsck_ext2 command-line tool, and a System Preferences pane.
Integration with OS X is very nice indeed. The author went to the trouble of making sure that these tools will work within the standard Disk Utility that ships with OS X. It just works.
The preferences pane lets you mount or unmount any eligible partition, even in other formats. This offers a convenient way to put unmounted volumes back on the desktop without cycling power to the drive or unplugging, or digging around for Disk Utility. For ext2/3 volumes only, there is an options button that allows you to choose whether or not the volume is automatically mounted by OS X, read/write or read-only operation, and whether or not non-root permissions should be honored. (You would want to disable non-root permissions if your files are on the disk, but the Linux system is not using the same UIDs as OS X.)
Note that while this driver is happy to use journalled ext3 volumes, it won't actually enable journalling while mounted under OS X. That's okay, Linux will still be able to use it just fine afterward.
Other Products
None that I know of.
Summary
The driver simply does its job, no surprises. If you need to move a portable drive between OS X and Linux systems, or are using a dual-boot system, this makes life much simpler, and helps to soothe the nerves after extended exposure to KDE