What is the best way to mount NTFS NAS drive to OSX Lion? Should I consider reformatting the drive to HFS+?
Long time Windows user here looking to switch to Mac.
My current setup is an Windows 7 desktop. I use iTunes to manage my media, which I store on a Drobo as my NAS. I formatted the Drobo to use NTFS and have ~1.75 TB of files on the Drobo. I also use Backblaze to backup the Drobo to the cloud.
I have a new Mac Mini which I am testing out. I am having issues using MacFUSE with Tuxera NTFS for Mac (www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/) to mount the Drobo. No matter what I have read / tried, the Drobo is read only with no ability to write to the disk.
Here are my questions:
Is there something I am missing being new to Mac?
Are there performance issues using NTFS on a Mac?
Should I abandon the idea of using NTFS and format the Drobo to HFS+?
Will I be able to copy files between NTFS and HFS+? Are there any issues or "gotchas" I need to be aware of if I choose this route?
I currently use NTFS -3G (an older version....before the whole tuxera thing). It works fine. I have been using it for about two years now. I have had NTFS external hard drives, NTFS based home servers, Windows Home Server and thumb drives connected to this Macbook all worked with no problems - so you should see no performance issues. I copy files between OSX (snow leopard) and a Win7 system everyday. The only issue I have run into (and it's not really an issue) is that OSX will write files to the drive to index - it does that for every file it sees and it's just really annoying to me. So if you can try to get a older version of NTFS-3G (NTFS-3G 2010.1.16) that should work...it's what i'm using.
Which NTFS-3G did you use? I noticed you are on Snow Leopard - do you know if it would work with Lion?
I'm not sure I understand the OSX issue of writing files to the drive to index (I'm not that experienced with file systems, etc.). Can you please explain a bit more (I tried searching for an explanation and they seem to be above my knowledge level...)?
To be honest with you I don't know what version it is but, I know it was before it was brought under tuxera. I will try to find out for you.
The OSX file thing is, I believe, only for cashing...it helps the OS read the drive more quickly. So, for instance, you will have a file called "GDGT.jpg" and OSX after reading that file will make a "GDGT.xxx" These "cashe" files don't take up any space or anything but they annoy me because when i'm in windows, which is a lot of the time, i see them.
How would this affect streaming movies to an Apple TV? Currently I have the Mac Mini and Apple TV as wired connections in my network. Would there be any impact at all?
There should be relatively no impact on you network connection to or from you Mac Mini for streaming content.
I found a blog link to the version that i am using. Give it a try. Just scroll down a little bit and you should see a link for it under the download section of blog. "NTFS-3G for Mac OS X 2010.1.16"
An update from my side - one issue that I am currently testing is that the Drobo did not dismount correctly prior to connecting it to the Mac Mini. Recommended solution was to run Chkdsk in Windows, dismount correctly and then reconnect to the Mac. Due to the size f the drive, Chkdsk has been running for almost 2 days (needed to fix disk errors). Once it completes, I will try the NTFS-3G version above and report back.
So I am happy to report that I was able to fix the issue (more on that below). I tested out the NTFS-3G you recommended and there is a possible issue with Lion. There is an error pop-up that shows the drive was not able to connect within 15 seconds, yet it still seems to work. I tested out using the Paragon NTFS-3G and it will cost $20 at the end of the trial period. So far it seems to work very well for me. Not sure if I will end up sticking with the Paragon or using the free one and just living with the annoying pop-up.
As for my original issue, the Drobo did not dismount correctly from Windows. After some trial and error, I was able to pinpoint the issue to Backblaze, my cloud backup service. As it was backing up the Drobo to the cloud, the drive was always in use. Once I stopped the service, I used the Drobo Dashboard to put the Drobo in standby. Unplugged the drive and plugged into my Mac. Viola! I was able to wrtie files to the Drobo in the mac.
If you have spare space on he Drobo, shrink the NTFS drive and, using a non-Apple Unix-based OS, format the free space to a HFS+ drive. (In case you don't know, I barely know anything about Mac OS. Though I do know a fair bit about Linux-based OSs.)
Well, it certainly would work, but if you have a spare 2GB minimum flash disk, you could make a Ubuntu live USB out of it to edit the partitions. Also, Windows only reads NTFS, WFS, FAT16 and FAT32.
Second - my biggest issue is that I (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that I would be able to shrink the NTFS partition, but I do not have enough available space (~500 GB currently free) within the Drobo to duplicate my files to a HFS+ partition.
Is this a correct assumption?
If I decide to make the switch, I will have to face the music of converting back to NTFS if I want to go back to a Windows system.
That's what I thought. I could make separate partitions, but I would have to spend more money than I have available in order to make it work...
Totally separate -- Drobo is awesome (and they don't pay me to say that). Had a drive in it fail. No data loss. Only had to replace the drive and the storage was available again.
Just to confirm, you are connecting over a network, righr?
Because if it is NAS, the Mac shouldn't care about the drive format. It only matters when the drive is connected to the computer via USB or FireWire.
If the drive is showing up as read-only, maybe there is a permissions issue, where you have read only privileges to the shared drive.
I was able to fix my issue (please see above reply to blackwood). The Drobo was formatted in NTFS and was directly corrected to the Mac. It was read-only on the Mac, while on the Windows 7 machine it was read/write capable. Luckily, with the help of the above and some trial and error, I was able to get my Mac to write to the NTFS Drobo.
OS X can read (but not write to) NTFS volumes out of the box, no need for extra software.
If you plan on using the Drobo exclusively on the Mac mini going forward, format it in HFS+. But it won't be readable, or writable, when attached directly to your Windows 7 machine; you would need to install MacDrive (mediafour.com, runs about $50) or something similar.
The only file system natively supported by both Windows (XP and above with appropriate service packs) and OS X (10.6.5 and above) is exFAT. You should find it as an option when formatting the drive on either operating system and is what I've been using for my cross-platform drives for the last few months.
Microbreak is right -- if you're accessing the Drobo over the network the filesystem doesn't matter. An inexpensive home router that lets you plug in a USB drive will let you do this in a "headless" manner, but the important thing is that the fileserver itself be able to read the Drobo's filesystem format. In my experience, using NTFS on anything but a Windows server will get you into trouble sooner or later, but the same can be said for HFS+!
Bottom line is you need to make a choice of fileserver first, then (possibly) go through the painful process of wiping and reformatting the Drobo to match the preferred format of your chosen platform.
Personally I have my Drobo formatted HFS+ and connected to an Airport Extreme. With the most recent firmwares on both (1.3.8 for the Drobo, 7.6.1 for the Airport), I've had only minor issues. Occasionally you need to plug the Drobo directly into a Mac in order to make sure HFS+ is still healthy.
