LaCie Biggest S2S
User Manual
page
8.2. File System Formats
You have the option of formatting the drive in one
of four formats: Mac OS Standard (HFS), Mac OS Ex-
tended (HFS+), MS-DOS File System and UNIX File
System (UFS).
n
HFS - Mac OS Standard
Mac OS Standard refers to the file system used by
Mac OS 8.0 and earlier. This is no longer a modern file
sytem specification, and Mac OS Extended is more ef-
ficient. Only use this file system if you are creating a
volume smaller than 32MB, using a Mac with a 680X0
processor, or you are creating a file structure that will be
need to be used by Macs using Mac OS 8.0 or earlier.
n
HFS+ - Mac OS Extended
Mac OS Extended refers to the file system used by
Mac OS 8.1 and later. HFS+ represents an optimization
of the older HFS file system by using hard disk space
more efficiently. Building off of HFS, they increased
the number of blocks from 65,536 to 4.29 billion. With
HFS+, you are no longer limited by block size.
n
MS-DOS File System
This is the Microsoft file system, more typically
known as FAT 32. This is the file system to use if you
are going to be using your LaCie d2 TV Hard Drive
between Macs and Windows operating systems.
Single
file size is limited to 4 GB*
. File name length is also
limited.
n
UNIX File System
This is the file system based on UNIX, and is pref-
erable for users developing UNIX-based applications
within Mac OS 10.x. Unless you have a specific reason
to use the UNIX File System, you should instead format
your drive using Mac OS Extended (HFS+), because it
provides Mac users with a more familiar operating ex-
perience.
Tech Tips
TeChNICAl NOTe:
Mac OS 10.3.x Users
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Under Panther,
Apple introduced journaling to the Mac OS Ex-
tended file system, which helps protect the file
systems on Mac OS volumes. When journaling
is enabled, file system transactions are maintained
and recorded continuously in a separate file, called
a journal. In the event of an unplanned shutdown,
the OS uses the journal to restore the file system.
Journaling is also backward compatible, and all
volumes with journaling enabled can be fully used
by computers not running Mac OS 10.3.x. For
more information, please visit Apple’s Web site.
ImpOrTANT INfO:
If you will be sharing the
hard drive between Mac and Windows operating
environments, you will want to follow these guide-
lines:
Mac OS X prefers that all partitions be the same
format, therefore only the first FAT 32 partition is
guaranteed to mount.
Mac OS 10.1.x -
• Works reliably with FAT 32 partitions less than
32GB
Mac OS 10.2.x -
• Works reliably with FAT 32 partitions less than
128GB
• Does not mount FAT 32 partitions greater than
128GB
Mac OS 10.3.x -
• Mounts any FAT 32 drive of any size
• Mounts NTFS volumes as READ-only
8.2.1. Mac Users
