Volker A. Brandt wrote: >> Using the three of these systems (two of them regularly, Windows once in >> a while), file sharing between them using a large external USB drive is >> outstandingly painful when it comes to large files (VirtualBox images, >> in example, or raw video clips). However, given the target user group of >> OpenSolaris I see so far (developers, Linux migrators), this requirement >> might come to more importance. I don't really plead for implementing >> NTFS here... I am searching for a solution to the outlined problem, >> whichever filesystem involved. > > Why do you need a file system? Do you want to use the files in place > on the USB drive? Otherwise you could just tar onto the block device > for the USB drive. You could experiment with the tar block size to > speed up transfer. > > If you do need tu have a file system, have you tried UDF? > > > Regards -- Volker
I'd have to expect that this comes down to simplicity and barriers to entry. I'm quite sure most of the old timers on these lists could cobble up a way that would allow us to move files between different hosts but this is about simplicity, repeatability and ubiquity. Myself, when I need to move large files around, I have the luxury of knowing in advance who needs what, and will use a device and OS to write the data in a format *they* can handle. If it's a windows guy, I slurp the data off the network through a windows box and push it down to NTFS. If it's Solaris, I'll use ZFS or UFS (SPARC or X86). It's not ideal, but as I already have all the stuff I need to be able to do it, it's not such a hassle. But, it's a hassle. And if I don't have all my boxes up and running, it's an even bigger hassle. And, if I'm wanting to cut one disk/device and give it to multiple people (pass the parcle), it's an even bigger hassle. I think we as a community should perhaps consider what the best approach to this is, decide on it, and push for the resolution, be it NTFS, ext or ZFS. Of course, I'd expect ZFS would be the choice most filled with awesome as it would work for SPARC and X86 without needing to care about endianness. Cheers! Nathan.
