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Which filesystem is compatible with GNU/Linux and Mac OS? I want to be able to read/write from both GNU/Linux and Mac OS. For example I want to copy a file to my external hard-drive from GNU/Linux and then copy it from the external hard-drive to Mac OS.
I know FAT works but I want it to support files bigger than 4GB. Can anyone help?
Thank you
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You probably want the ExFAT filesystem. Works on OSX, Linux and Windows. Supports large volume and file sizes. Here is some information on exFAT support in Linux.
marcus erronius
Posted 2012-12-23T23:34:36.403
Reputation: 229
if you have lots of small files on your ExFAT... they are taking lots of space.. to much! – Dariusz Filipiak – 2016-05-03T10:42:05.143
@DariuszFilipiak not really true. FAT16 and FAT32 had certain limits that made files on very large volumes take up too much space. exFAT changed those limits enough that it'll be decades before we even get close to that. – marcus erronius – 2016-06-20T21:36:01.857
I actually solved problem with big size of files on exFAT by setting small allocation unit size. – Dariusz Filipiak – 2016-06-21T10:23:45.850
This is great if all you want to do is share files and you still want to be able to share with Windows too but if you want to maintain linux permissions then exFAT doesn't work. – Hayden – 2019-07-03T17:56:50.833
@Hayden: Interesting... It preserves Unix permissions on my Mac, so I just assumed it would on Linux as well. However, if you're only doing this for a sneakernet file copy, you might not be worried about permissions. – marcus erronius – 2019-07-19T23:22:52.137
I have read on wiki about ExFAT that "As of 2009, an experimental, open-source Linux kernel module that supports the reading of exFAT files is currently under development. A FUSE-based implementation with read/write support is available for Linux as well. None of the solutions can become an official part of Linux due to the patent encumbered status of the exFAT filesystem."
Is it ok to use exfat? – None – 2012-12-24T00:15:18.140
Yes, it is... They reverse-engineered the exFAT driver. I just edited the answer to provide a useful link – marcus erronius – 2012-12-24T00:39:01.420
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The default OS X filesystem, HFS+, works in Linux. But first, see:
Nikos C.
Posted 2012-12-23T23:34:36.403
Reputation: 339
3Are you sure you don't just want to use
scpto copy via the network? Would be much easier, I would have thought. – None – 2012-12-24T00:18:32.470never considered that. didn't even hear about scp :-/ i'll do some research – None – 2012-12-24T00:20:41.623
It's a relative to ssh (secure shell - secure remote login), and is very useful to copy files from one linux/unix type machine to another. scp uses the same infrastructure as ssh, to log in to the other machine and then copy the file content over. It's fairly efficient as long as machines are connected with a goog (gigabit) network, and with a long piece of wet string... :) – None – 2012-12-24T00:24:34.553