Need advice on File system ?!?

So I have a 500Gb external HDD , all my stuff is on there... but now osx keeps telling me that it cannot be repaired and i can only access it in Read-only mode... I guess the filesystem is broken because of macdrive( i am switching this hdd around from osx to a xp machine all the time) so I guess it somehow got screwed... well now i am backing all my stuff up

my question: as what filesystem should i format it? its HFS+ right now... i am thinking NTFS (is 3g-Nfts reliable?) because fat32 wont work b/c i have files bigger than 20 Gb... (HD content)

so NFTS or shuold I stick with HFS + ( I liked the fact that although the drive is f'd i can still acess my files!)