exFAT: The savior of cross-platform file sharing?įirst, a brief history of exFAT for those unfamiliar with it. But exFAT has its own issues and limitations that few people are probably aware of-and considering how few people even know about exFAT, we thought this was a good opportunity to cover it, along with the various alternatives.
With Apple’s licensing of Microsoft’s exFAT file system, it seemed like the main problem with FAT32-the 4GB file size limit-was put to rest, and many people are probably now using it to swap video libraries between their MacBooks and HTPCs or share downloads between OS X and Boot Camped Windows.
There are options for cross-platform file sharing-plenty actually-it’s just that each one presents its own limitations and appeals. While networking between Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux has gotten a lot easier thanks to SAMBA, disk sharing still feels like it’s in its infancy thanks to proprietary file systems and the unique legacy needs of the respective operating systems they run on. One of the more painful areas of cross-platform computing is data sharing. Dave Girard spent some time investigating the appeal, the limitations, and the alternatives to exFAT. With Apple's licensing of Microsoft's exFAT file system, it seems like we finally have a good option for OS X and Windows disk swapping.
