can OSX read mp3 files in windows partition?

I am gonna split my harddrive osx 40g, windows 120g

I will be using windows majority of the time...

now the question is, will I be able to play my mp3s if are stored in windows partition (NTFS) and modify info while surfing internet under OSX?

 

OSX is able to read from NTFS but not write to it

 

so I can play, but can't modify mp3 infos.

 

Since OS X is a unix based OS, I'm guessing it's standing on NTFS read/write abilities is pretty much the same as in linux. You should be able to read content on an NTFS partition with no problems. However, write capability is in its experimental stage. Personally, I wouldn't risk it. If you just want to play mp3s, I think this arrangement will work just fine. If you also want to write to the partition while in OS X (or linux for that matter), I would create another partition and format it in FAT32. This way you have full read/write capability; the only downside is that the file size limit under FAT32 is 4GB. So as long as this limitation doesn't contradict your needs, a separate data partition formatted in FAT32 should do the trick.

 

How effective is MacDrive? Does it allow write speeds as fast as if Windows were writing on NTFS?

 

Mac OS X and Linux both have NTFS read-only drivers shipped by default. However, ntfs-3g is a stable driver which can both read and write to NTFS filesystems. It has a Mac OS X version, though I'm not sure that one is considered stable yet.

See http://www.ntfs-3g.org for details.

 

Thanks for the link, thebluesgnr. ntfs-3g looks interesting. If it works well, it'll prove to be very useful. Apparently, NTFS support has improved since I last heard.

 

can windows read/write on MAC partition?

 

Yes, although I don't believe there are any freeware options available.

I suggest looking at MacFUSE if you need to write to NTFS partitions under OS X. It can be a little tricky to set up, but it's very stable.

 

I read on the MacFUSE FAQ that it has problems with write speeds to NTFS-3g?

Is that still true?

 

I read that MacFUSE is REALLY slow though? This true?

Also, MacDrive is really good. I tried the trial and it works flawlessly...for the trial period anyway.