In Which I Do Not Bash NTFS

I have an idea for ya: Windows + USB external hard drive + ext2 file system.

No, I'm not kidding.

I've stated before that I ran into a problem with my external hard drive a few weeks ago. I was using FAT32 for the longest time because it's portable among Windows, Linux, and OS X, and that's pretty nice. God was in His heaven. All was right with the world.

Unfortunately, I found a limitation. On that fateful day so long ago, I tried to put a file onto the drive that was bigger than 2³² bytes. And everything died.

Now, I'm looking for a new file system. There's nothing wrong with NTFS per se, save for the fact that it's a proprietary FS and Microsoft is not keen on sharing the secrets of its arcane powers. So, in order to preserve my data, I need to start switching to a more open-source FS. Apple's HFS? Same problem as NTFS: not open enough. Ditto BFS. UFS/FFS? No read/write support under Windows. File systems, I'm discovering, are a bit like children. Every parent thinks theirs is best and they get worried when their kids starting playing with strange kids from around the neighborhood. In terms of completely open file systems that have even a modicum of multi-platform support, there's only one major contender.

So after a bit of tinkering, I've got an ext2 file system on my external drive and can access it under Windows and, of course, Linux. Next up? Some sort of ext2 compatibility driver for OS X.

My journey of independence from Windows goes on. I haven't decided if I'm going to jump ship from closed source OSes entirely and, like Cory Doctorow, ditch Apple in favor of curling up with an Ubuntu CD until the end of time, but the thought has crossed my mind.