I have windows 7, the NV+ uses ext3 but W7 does not, it uses NTFS or exFat for large volumes. My concern is simply that if my NAS goes belly-up, I want to be able to access the data on the backup drive (USB connected) from W7 directly. So basically, if ext3 is optimum for the NAS how do I make windows 7 compatible? Or will Netgear/Readynas adopt the more efficient exFat? Windows 7 currently formats in exFat and NTFS, I don't think it will read ext3.
Backup performance to NTFS drives is terribly slow with Sparc ReadyNAS (e.g. NV+). Your best move would be to use EXT3 on the USB drive, and install drivers on your PC so that it'll work with EXT3.
Or will Netgear/Readynas adopt the more efficient exFat?
Given exfat is Microsoft-proprietary and requires licensing (for a fee), I would very much doubt we will be seeing it on a Linux based ReadyNAS in the near future
ext3 is your best bet - the following (despite the name) has been commented to allow ext3 & ext4 disks to be read under Windows 7 (including 64 bit version): http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/
A bit off of the question, but not a total hijack. If you have converted your readynas disks to ext4, is an ext4 formatted usb drive supported? Also would there be much performance difference?
While I don't know for sure (as I've not done it) I see no reason why an ext4 formatted USB disk would not be accessible from a NAS that supports ext4 on the internal drives (ie all the x86 based NAS running recent firmware) - format & connectivity are usually independant, so please give it a go and report back
As a format, ext4 does have some performance advantages over ext3, but the limit of performance in this scenario will be the USB connection rather than anything else
@sphardy: I see people are getting exFAT support on Debian http://retrop.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/installing-exfat-on-debian-5-x-lenny/
I haven't tried it on my Duo with an external USB drive but I'm tempted because exFAT will be writeable from both Macs (back to OS10.4 I think) and Windows XP/7. However, I wonder if it'll be feasible to map the USB drive through Frontview if it's formatted exFAT?
Bear in mind that ReadyNAS devices run a custom, and relatively old, version of Debian Linux. So while there may be development of exFAT support in Debian it may prove difficult to port to current devices due to dependencies and the like. I know it is not supported in the latest x86 or ARM firmware as I inadvertently tried it (disk I thought was FAT formatted proved to be exFAT and was not accessible).
Also note that, just because there is development of exFAT in the Debian community, does not mean Netgear will be able/allowed to port that to ReadyNAS due to licensing restrictions. There is ZFS support for Linux now, which many claim is far superior to EXT, but licensing restrictions obstruct any commercial deployments.
FYI: since my previous post I have upgraded all my USB drives to EXT4 - works perfectly with my Ultra4, good performance, and have easily survived multiple unintended disconnections without length file system checks being required.
