---------- Original message ---------- Subject: Re: NTFS formatted carry to Sawtooth Date: Sonntag 11 Oktober 2009N From: "Wallace Adrian D'Alessio" <[email protected]> To: [email protected]
> On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 2:39 PM, Nestamicky <[email protected]> wrote: > > I thought I'd run this here quick, as I'm sure someone here would have > > wanted to do same. > > > > I have a rather large HD that's formatted in NTFS and has tons of data > > on it that I'd like installed as a secondary drive in my Sawtooth. > > Question is: if I pop it in, as secondary, would it need to be > > reinitialized with the possibility of loosing my data? Is there a tool > > out there that would mount it without problems of loosing data, or > > reformatting? Thanks a lot! > > ___________________________________________________ > > Even with an interpretive software I do not recommend using this drive > as a mac drive UNLESS you reformat it for the mac. You will always > run the risk of some situation that leads to the Mac ask to reformat > the drive. For long term use I'd recommend the same. It should be possible though to use the disk meanwhile and back it up step by step. It sould also be possible to let Time Machine do this job, then format the drive to HFS+ and restore the data. I use NTFS-3G on Linux these days with NTFS formated external USB/eSATA disks. Most of the time they are accessed to and run on Linux, sometimes on Mac OS X with the mentioned NTFS-3G driver. Anytime I use the disks in Windows XP afterwards there are no complaints, no errors and no NTFS related malfunctions. I therefor take it that NTFS-3G is a driver that is well tested and working. BUT there are some issues with NTFS-3G that are worth mentioning -- the file access rights management is not working with this driver. This is only importaint if you have files on the drive that have to be protected from access by other users. Most external USB/eSATA drives aren't used in such a manner anyway, so it was never that importaint to me. Some other rarely used features are also not supported, like encrypted files. But again, that shouldn't keep anyone from using this driver for external NTFS formated disks. For an internal drive that takes only data, for example MP3 files and maybe some movies, this should also be of no concern to anyone. > It will always naturally happen when you are caught off guard and > disoriented as to which drive the mac wants to reformat and you may > indeed inadvertently lose your data. Much easier to save off the data > and reformat the drive to Fat 32 if you need to retain inter-platform > usability Not easier. But, as I agreed, saver in the long run. The problem will arise when the NTFS file system brakes at any point in the future (by a system freeze that leaves corrupted data for example). The way to go in such a case is to take the drive and let it be inspected by a Windows system. With an external drive this isn't normally a problem. When the drive is mounted inside the Mac, well, it would be an awful PITA to get it fixed... > I ruined a drive in this way years ago taking it to a University > computer to do some work. I mistook the disk the OS asked to format as > the blank DVD I had inserted into the optical drive at the same time.. > Especially since the requester did not specify the drive in question. Some people ruined their drives without switching between different kinds of systems like PC <--> Mac. Always make backups! > Another time I had asked a media department IT to put some full QT Pro > studio files onto my disk forgetting it was in NTFS. Since he was a > paid tech in the TV control room and trained in a department where PCs > and high cost Macs were side by side I assumed that he knew how to > handle format differences and that the department had a long history > of knowledge Of dealing with platform integration solutions. After all > this is a large state university entrusted with training the minions > of industry and commerce for the realities of the workplace in the > larger non academic world. I accepted he was versed in Mac- Pc > negotiations. > > I lost a $ 150.00 HD that day. Never to be formatted in anything again. I cannot think of anything that could have happend to such a drive that would brake it in such a way. You know, sometimes things just brake accidentially. I always use this proverb: "What is this? The door opens and the clock falls of the wall..." "It just happend to be by accident." Sometimes two completely individual problems occur at the same time. Though it seems there must be a connection between them, sometimes there is none. Maybe the IT guy dropped the drive. Maybe the drive was due to brake at any time anyway, and just happend to do so in the IT guys hands. So what's there left to say? ALWAYS MAKE BACKUPS! Cheers, Andreas. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
