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Meanwhile, also in 2026, we still don't have a filesystem that works on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. NTFS is the closest you can get, and it's read-only on Mac

by ghusto 9mo ago

Meanwhile, also in 2026, we still don't have a filesystem that works on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. NTFS is the closest you can get, and it's read-only on Mac OS.

codepoet80 9mo ago
exFAT?
Already__Taken 9mo ago
btrfs has a real driver at least https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs It's what my steamdeck is formatted to so I could plop the drive into windows and rip steamapps across to shortcut a lot of downloading.
miffe 9mo ago
exFAT or UDF?
- erwincoumans 9mo ago
  If only exfat had symbolic links.
Fnoord 9mo ago
ZFS. NTFS is r/w with Paragon. Same with Ext4FS. In the end, it is a matter of FUSE. Either way, I don't think Amiga(OS) was known for its FS. I do remember there being a r/o driver for Amiga FS back in Linux 2.2 (end of 90s?)
- smilespray 9mo ago
  I've lost data multiple times with Paragon.
  - Fnoord 9mo ago
    And I lost data with XFS. Doesn't tell us anything. Which product, version. Paragon's NTFS driver is now (after open sourced) part of the Linux kernel, and this one is rw. (My data loss with XFS was some 20 years ago with Linux 2.4.x after a power loss. I've also had RAID5 write hole ZFS data loss a couple of years later, on FreeBSD, and that was with a BBU for the hardware raid. Ever since, I learned to disable write cache, until I've seen NVMe with PLP for cache.)
    - smilespray 9mo ago
      Several Mac versions of the commercial Paragon NTFS driver. It's always been flaky on Mac.
      - Fnoord 9mo ago
        Fair. Well, I can't get my license to work, so I swapped to Fuse (which I also use on Windows). Works with sshfs, too. Though since I already use Wireguard, NFS should suffice.
yjftsjthsd-h 9mo ago
We don't have a good filesystem that works without caveats and annoyances on NT+Darwin+Linux. Depending on your pain tolerance, FAT32, exFAT, and ZFS are all reasonable choices.
tombert 9mo ago
Doesn't FAT32 work on everything? I'm not saying it's a "good" filesystem but I'm pretty sure that works out of the box on Linux and macOS, and I would assume Windows as well?
- rhplus 9mo ago
  FAT32 was developed by Microsoft for Windows 95, so yes! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32
ranger_danger 9mo ago
> NTFS is the closest you can get Disagree, exFAT has been r/w on all 3 OSes for many years now, and it also supports files >4GB. We shipped an appliance about 15 years ago and it had a requirement that it must be able to write large video files to USB thumb drives in a format that was read/writable from all 3 OSes, we chose exFAT and never had any complaints.
trelane 9mo ago
> we still don't have a filesystem that works on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. One of these things is not like the others. In fact, that option supports the others as well as it can, despite stiff opposition from the other two. Choose the "works as well as it can with everyone" option instead of the two options that try to keep their users trapped, at least, if you want to see increased interoperability.

by ghusto 9mo ago

Meanwhile, also in 2026, we still don't have a filesystem that works on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. NTFS is the closest you can get, and it's read-only on Mac OS.

codepoet80 9mo ago

exFAT?

Already__Taken 9mo ago

btrfs has a real driver at least https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs It's what my steamdeck is formatted to so I could plop the drive into windows and rip steamapps across to shortcut a lot of downloading.

miffe 9mo ago

exFAT or UDF?

erwincoumans 9mo ago
If only exfat had symbolic links.

Fnoord 9mo ago

ZFS. NTFS is r/w with Paragon. Same with Ext4FS. In the end, it is a matter of FUSE. Either way, I don't think Amiga(OS) was known for its FS. I do remember there being a r/o driver for Amiga FS back in Linux 2.2 (end of 90s?)

smilespray 9mo ago
I've lost data multiple times with Paragon.
- Fnoord 9mo ago
  And I lost data with XFS. Doesn't tell us anything. Which product, version. Paragon's NTFS driver is now (after open sourced) part of the Linux kernel, and this one is rw. (My data loss with XFS was some 20 years ago with Linux 2.4.x after a power loss. I've also had RAID5 write hole ZFS data loss a couple of years later, on FreeBSD, and that was with a BBU for the hardware raid. Ever since, I learned to disable write cache, until I've seen NVMe with PLP for cache.)
  - smilespray 9mo ago
    Several Mac versions of the commercial Paragon NTFS driver. It's always been flaky on Mac.
    - Fnoord 9mo ago
      Fair. Well, I can't get my license to work, so I swapped to Fuse (which I also use on Windows). Works with sshfs, too. Though since I already use Wireguard, NFS should suffice.

yjftsjthsd-h 9mo ago

We don't have a good filesystem that works without caveats and annoyances on NT+Darwin+Linux. Depending on your pain tolerance, FAT32, exFAT, and ZFS are all reasonable choices.

tombert 9mo ago

Doesn't FAT32 work on everything? I'm not saying it's a "good" filesystem but I'm pretty sure that works out of the box on Linux and macOS, and I would assume Windows as well?

rhplus 9mo ago
FAT32 was developed by Microsoft for Windows 95, so yes! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32

ranger_danger 9mo ago

> NTFS is the closest you can get Disagree, exFAT has been r/w on all 3 OSes for many years now, and it also supports files >4GB. We shipped an appliance about 15 years ago and it had a requirement that it must be able to write large video files to USB thumb drives in a format that was read/writable from all 3 OSes, we chose exFAT and never had any complaints.

trelane 9mo ago

> we still don't have a filesystem that works on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. One of these things is not like the others. In fact, that option supports the others as well as it can, despite stiff opposition from the other two. Choose the "works as well as it can with everyone" option instead of the two options that try to keep their users trapped, at least, if you want to see increased interoperability.