Write to NTFS? or maybe another format?

[FN-GM]

Hi,

 

Is there any way at all to get Mac write to an NTFS external hard drive? I use it between Mac at home and Windows at work.

 

I was using FAT but it can't handle single files about 4gb.

 

Or maybe a different format that will work between the two platforms?

 

Thanks

 

Z

[tom_newton]

There are NTFS drivers for linux, so you may be able to find something.

There's also an ext2 driver for windows, if the Mac can read that

Or what about UDF (DVD filesystem) - will that work on a fixed disk? dunno.

 

Failing that - fat32 and split the files into 2Gb portions?

[k-strider]

Does MAC support exFAT this is supported in XP and Vista.

it supports files up to 2^64 bytes

 

File Allocation Table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[FN-GM]

There are NTFS drivers for linux, so you may be able to find something.

There's also an ext2 driver for windows, if the Mac can read that

Or what about UDF (DVD filesystem) - will that work on a fixed disk? dunno.

 

Failing that - fat32 and split the files into 2Gb portions?

 

I wont want to put the drivers onto windows as there are allot more windows machines i visit. It would be good to find the Drivers for Mac though.

 

I can fully format my 250GB drive fat format into one partition but it cannot store a single file say a .bak or movie file, that is 4GB and over.

 

Thanks

 

Z

[k-strider]

might be worth a look... Ext2 IFS For Windows

[k-strider]

or maybe NTFS-3G: Stable Read/Write NTFS Driver

[FN-GM]

first link - The only problem is i can be using my drive on my computers a day and not want to install drivers on them. If you could find one for Mac that would be ideal.

 

Your second link is what i am after.

[SYNACK]

Just use this to read/write to your existing NTFS formated drive from your Mac:

macfuse - Google Code

 

You would probably need the update on all XP machines to use exFAT anyway which is avalible from here: Description of the exFAT file system driver update package but Macs can't read it anyway.

[FN-GM]

Macfuse looks ideal thanks

[Michael]

Could it be the case that Macs can write to NTFS across a network? Just like Windows 95/98 - the local file system was FAT/FAT32, but could only write to NTFS over a network.

[FN-GM]

Could it be the case that Macs can write to NTFS across a network? Just like Windows 95/98 - the local file system was FAT/FAT32, but could only write to NTFS over a network.

 

Over a network its fine, just wont on a local drive.

 

Thanks

[Michael]

Aha, so it is the same then. I suppose longterm an easier solution would be to purchase an external enclosure you can install your hard drive in (a NAS basically) and connect it to the nearest switch/network point.

[FN-GM]

not bad idea but i use it on machines without network as well

[Michael]

Well some support both Ethernet and USB 2.0, so you'd have the best of both! Normally you can use only one or the other at any one time, which usually isn't a problem.

[Arthur]

MacFUSE with NTFS-3G is all you need to write to NTFS. It works really well on my Mac at home.