what format to use for linux and mac

[schmidty11]

Hi, I am going to get an external hard drive to use with my mac and also a linux computer running the latest version of Ubuntu (as of 11/12/08). I want a way to be able to read and write on it on BOTH operating systems. As of right now, it will not write from linux.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MacUser2525]

Hi, I am going to get an external hard drive to use with my mac and also a linux computer running the latest version of Ubuntu (as of 11/12/08). I want a way to be able to read and write on it on BOTH operating systems. As of right now, it will not write from linux.

Thanks in advance.

You don't tell us which file system you have on it now. To be sure you can read/write then the FAT file system will work with both.

 

[mkrishnan]

FAT is a pretty limited file system, but it's completely supported on both sides without any special software.

Other options...

- You could use ext2 or ext3 (POSIX compliant, and ext3 has journaling, etc) but you would need a driver on the Mac side. The big advantage is that files will have ownerships and permissions.

- You could use NTFS and get it read/write on both systems pretty easily, but that seems kind of pointless if there are no Windows devices involved.

 

[schmidty11]

alright thank you!

 

[old-wiz]

OSx will not write to NTFS volumes without additional software.