Linux and DriveStation TurboUSB HD-HS1.5TU2/F - Why XFS?

[ljfnord]

   I've ordered a DriveStation TurboUSB HD-HS1.5TU2/F and have been reading through the manual PDF and this forum while waiting for it to arrive. I'll be using it to back up a system running Arch Linux x86_64 (with WinXP on dual boot) that runs a combination of NTFS, ext3, and ext4 drives.

The manual recommends reformatting the DriveStation's drive to XFS for use with >4GB files on Linux. Why is XFS the recommended file system? Would the drive accept ext3, ext4, or (preferably) JFS instead?

Thanks!

[disputator]

   

A hard drive is a hard drive and you can format it with any file system you want including the ones you mentioned. The only problem is compatibility if you ever connect the externall HDD to another machine. ext3 and XFS is in Kernel support for almost all distributions I know.

 

If you want to use it on XP as well... I guess you know the answer. Look for software what reads the linux fs or use Fat32, NTFS. My Ubuntu reads, writes and deletes from NTFS without problems. So apartt from compatibility there is no reason to recommend a particular file system.