Limitations of the FAT32 Filesystem

I got bitten today by a fundamental flaw of the FAT32 filesystem: FAT32 doesn't like files larger than 4GB, meaning it's not really suited for doing much of anything anymore. No multimedia, no major DVD ISOs.

I've spent this weekend thus far doing multimedia and DVD ISOs.

What I'd like is for Microsoft to build an NTFS-style filesystem that other OSes can read and write, since NTFS is a fine enough FS for use, but only if you run Windows.

My ideal FS is OS agnostic. Until recently, FAT32 fit the bill since it's usable in Windows, Linux, and OS X. But if FAT32 can't grok any filesize bigger than 2³² - 2, then I can't use it anymore.

This arises from a need today to convert my LaCie external drive ("CONVERT E: /FS:NTFS" is a nice thing indeed) to NTFS, and now I'm pissed. Microsoft doesn't have an UNCONVERT program, so in order to switch to a new FS, I'm going to have to copy all my LaCie data to another location and repartition the drive.

That's NTFS's Achilles' Heel: it's one way only. At the risk of sounding like a Microsoft basher, I doubt any of the NTFS developers lose sleep at night wondering how people will be able to integrate their systems to use ext3 and beyond.

For the time being, the LaCie is using NTFS and I won't have problems copying around files bigger than 4GB. For the future, I'm wondering if I need to find a different platform to archive my data.

And for the curious, yes, I'm so intrigued by ZFS that Solaris is an early front-runner.