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Disk Utility Replacement
- Thread starter caen1
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I'm not sure what you're trying to replace, but Tech Tool Pro has some of the same functions.
Rob
Rob
Keep in mind that Disk Utility is really just a pretty front end for its more powerful command like version - diskutil - and for a whole slew of less of other less user friendly commands like mount, umount, fsck, hdiutil, gpt, pdisk, repair_packages, etc.
When I find that Disk Utility doesn't easily do what I need I usually just drop to the command line utilities.
What exactly is it that you wish to do that Disk Utility doesn't support?
Spidey!!!
Here are your formatting options:
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
- Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
[*]Maximum file size: 4GB. - Maximum volume size: 2TB
- Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
- Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
[*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:- For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
- For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
- For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
- Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
- Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
- Maximum file size: 16 TB
- Maximum volume size: 256TB
- Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
- Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
[*]To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
[*]To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer - Maximum file size: 8EiB
- Maximum volume size: 8EiB
- Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
- Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
- exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
- Maximum file size: 16 EiB
- Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
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From what I've read, Ext4 support for Mac OS X exists only in the form of a very limited, barely Alpha-test, read-only driver for MacFUSE. I may be wrong, but I don't think it's really ready for normal use.
You may be better off with MacFUSE and the fuse-ext2 driver which supports ext2 and ext3.
May I ask why you're set on ext4? FAT is just about the most widely support filesystem nowadays and can be read and written natively on just about anything. Granted it lacks a lot of frills and has no security, but it's completely cross-platform
You may be better off with MacFUSE and the fuse-ext2 driver which supports ext2 and ext3.
May I ask why you're set on ext4? FAT is just about the most widely support filesystem nowadays and can be read and written natively on just about anything. Granted it lacks a lot of frills and has no security, but it's completely cross-platform
Yes, that would rule out FAT.
I'm not sure. if you can it'd be via mke2fs or mkfs.ext3 from the command line, not from Diskutil.
Would some kind of network storage be an answer? That way you don't have to care what the FS is, you can access it from anywhere.
I do have a free Dropbox account for small stuff I need to sync between my Mac, my phone, and other PCs. But I prefer using my external HDD for everything except apps and OS. I also don't really use it across multiple computers, but I wanted to hook it up to a friend's PC once, and I found Windows doesn't even read HFS+.
If you primarily use your external with your Mac, you could use HFS+. On the rare occasion that you need to access it via a PC, you could install HFSExplorer or MacDrive on that PC for that purpose.
