On Feb 19, 2011, at 10:30 PM, Erik Larsson wrote: > Dan Shoop skrev 2011-02-19 21.02: >> On Feb 13, 2011, at 5:16 PM, snowshed wrote: >> >>> I want to be able to read and write to external hard drives that are >>> formatted in NTFS. >>> >>> Operating systems involved... OS X 10.6.6, Windows XP Pro, Windows >>> Vista Ultimate, at this time. >>> >>> I am not a programmer in any way... I don't want to build, compile, >>> glue, staple, nail, screw, do anything to have to create the necessary >>> files here. I just want to download and install. The fun and >>> interest in doing that went away 15 years ago. I simply want to turn >>> my computers on and use them. LOL >>> >>> I have downloaded and installed the latest MacFUSE package. >>> >>> In simple steps, where to I go from here? >> MacFUSE is a framework for building user land filesystems. It doesn't do >> anything on its own. >> >> There are some FUSE filesystems for NTFS but they're not exactly robust and >> good performers and not for total novices. > > I disagree. First of all a user-space file system is inherently more robust > than a kernel-based one, since any programming errors in the file system are > isolated from the rest of the system.
Well that greatly depends on your definition of the work robust. A hardy performer it is not. And obviously we can have robust and cautious filesystems that operate beyond userspace, as OSen have been doing so for decades. Yes it takes care, which is why FUSE is a good system for developing and implementing filesystems that aren't as well vetted or produced by programmers and engineers not well accustomed in day to day kernel mode programming. > Second: if written properly, performance is not distinguishable from a kernel > based one (at least not on today's systems). You do however lack some of the > tools that the kernel provides which makes it harder in some cases > (especially disk-based file systems where caching must be dealt with outside > the kernel). Nonetheless the NTFS-3G MacFUSE implementation is a poor performer due to several well known issues. > And third: Have you even tried out NTFS-3G ( > http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/search/label/Releases )? Click, install, > finished. So it's as much for 'total novices' as any file system driver. Yes, and it's hardly a hardy performer nor would I recommend it for my mother. It's fine for casual use but for novices expecting to read and write NTFS filesystems like the do on "other platforms" its poor performance over the commercial alternatives makes me recommend against it. Expectations in experience are a deciding factor. -d ----- Dan Shoop Computer Scientist [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacFUSE" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macfuse?hl=en.
