# Moving files to/from macOS to FreeBSD using USB flash disk



## ikevin8me (May 14, 2021)

I need to use a USB flash disk to move files to/from macOS to FreeBSD.

What is the best or recommended *common filesystem* between the two operating systems?
Should I first format the USD disk using macOS Disk Utility? What filesystem (APFS, FAT, exFAT, etc. should I choose)?
Or, should I format it using from within FreeBSD first? What filesystem/format?

The preferred way is *not* to use MacFUSE and use FreeBSD in its default installation (ie. not to install any additional packages). 

Thanks!


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## SirDice (May 14, 2021)

ikevin8me said:


> and use FreeBSD in its default installation (ie. not to install any additional packages).


Then FAT32 is probably the one you want to use as it's the only "external" filesystem that's readable by a "stock" FreeBSD install (msdosfs(5)) and MacOS. I'm actually not sure if MacOS can read/write to FreeBSD's UFS, if it can that would be the best option. Should be easy enough to test, just create the stick with a UFS filesystem on it on FreeBSD and see if the Mac can read or write to it.


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## tux2bsd (May 14, 2021)

You'd think by 2021 the world would be past this shit eh.


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## SirDice (May 14, 2021)

tux2bsd said:


> You'd think by 2021 the world would be past this shit eh.


Aye. It was much worse back in the olden days though, when we we're still using floppy disks. Ever tried to read a variable speed formatted disk in a constant speed drive or vice versa?


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## tux2bsd (May 14, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Aye. It was much worse back in the olden days though, when we we're still using floppy disks. Ever tried to read a variable speed formatted disk in a constant speed drive or vice versa?


Ever put a punch card in a vacuum tube while flying a kite with a key on it?


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## ralphbsz (May 14, 2021)

Matter-of-fact, up to the 1980s, punching data out on decks of cards was the most portable way of transferring it between OSes. Even better than tapes, because that has massive incompatibilities (standard label versus no label, 7 versus 9 track, block sizes, and so on).

The reality is that using file systems as a transit format is not well supported by the people who write disk file systems. And that's why I second SirDice's advice of using FAT: It is old enough, most OSes these days have mature and bug-free support for it. The same can't be said for other imported file systems; for example UFS on Linux or ext2/3/4 on *BSD is likely to be buggy, and let's not even get started on NTFS support.

From an architectural elegance point of view, there is actually a pair of file systems that are intentionally designed for transporting data across OS boundaries, are fully specified in public specifications (not word-of-mouth or by inspecting greybox code), and are well designed: iso9660 and UDF (the DVD file system). But the problem with them is that generating them on portable media is quite painful.


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## sean137 (May 15, 2021)

SirDice said:


> I'm actually not sure if MacOS can read/write to FreeBSD's UFS


macOS dropped UFS support years ago.


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## obsigna (May 15, 2021)

sean137 said:


> macOS dropped UFS support years ago.


And anyway, it was UFS1 only, not UFS2 which we use nowadays.


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## bsduck (May 15, 2021)

If you really want to stick to the default capabilities, your only choice is indeed FAT, but this antique filesystem comes with limitations, most notably a file cannot be bigger than 4GiB. I usually rather use sysutils/fusefs-exfat for data exchange with MacOS or Windows computers.


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## tux2bsd (May 15, 2021)

bsduck said:


> If you really want to stick to the default capabilities, your only choice is indeed FAT, but this antique filesystem comes with limitations, most notably a file cannot be bigger than 4GiB. I usually rather use sysutils/fusefs-exfat for data exchange with MacOS or Windows computers.


iirc file name length is another limitation


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