exfat support

[v1rt]

Hi folks,

I attached my external usb harddisk and one of the partition which has an exfat fs didn't get mounted. I found this link, https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-me...router/tuxera/broadcom_arm/exfat/README.EXFAT and I tried inserting the module but I got this message which means, I don't have it compiled in the kernel.

insmod: 'texfat.ko': module not found

Is there an easier way to have this module?

 

[RMerlin]

exfat is not supported. Even if you were to load the module, the rest of the firmware wouldn't properly recognize the disk.

Asus started adding support for it last year, then a few weeks later they removed it. I suspect they ran into unforeseen issues while working on it.

 

[v1rt]

Thanks for the update.

 

[stambeccuccio]

A truly pity! Support to exFAT would be perfect.
There is some hope that it will be supported?

 

[RMerlin]

A truly pity! Support to exFAT would be perfect.
There is some hope that it will be supported?

No idea. Frankly, I doubt it. exFat is yet another proprietary format from MS - the world does not need yet another one of these, which requires paying MS for a licence. I have yet to see any hardware beside a Windows PC that actually supports it.

ext3/ext4 is licence-free and fully open-source. The world should start using that as an alternative to the aging FAT32 format, IMHO.

 

[sfx2000]

exfat is not supported. Even if you were to load the module, the rest of the firmware wouldn't properly recognize the disk.

Asus started adding support for it last year, then a few weeks later they removed it. I suspect they ran into unforeseen issues while working on it.

I wonder if that unforeseen issue was a strongly worded letter from MSFT

 

[RMerlin]

I wonder if that unforeseen issue was a strongly worded letter from MSFT

Not sure how their licensing terms work exactly. Asus were probably going with Tuxera's exfat module, so I would assume that any licensing issues would be between Tuxera and MS. Unless the licensing terms are so complicated that the final OEM also has to pay MS something to be able to sell a product that features support for exfat, regardless of who provided the code to support it. From what I've read, there are various patents involved in the whole exfat situation.

Someone needs to start making a push for the industry to adopt a fully open filesystem as the standard to use on embedded devices. Getting ext3 to work on those devices should be easy, considering many of them are Linux-based.

 

[greg50]

I have yet to see any hardware beside a Windows PC that actually supports it.

OSX supports it.

 

[ColinTaylor]

OSX supports it.

I share RMerlin's loathing for Microsoft's proprietary standards but anything using SDXC cards (camera's and the like) will be exFAT.

 

[Chrysalis]

No idea. Frankly, I doubt it. exFat is yet another proprietary format from MS - the world does not need yet another one of these, which requires paying MS for a licence. I have yet to see any hardware beside a Windows PC that actually supports it.

ext3/ext4 is licence-free and fully open-source. The world should start using that as an alternative to the aging FAT32 format, IMHO.

exfat works fine in linux out of the box.

FreeBSD also can use it but needs a module loaded.

My multiboot usb stick uses exfat.

Do you know why asus uses ext3/4 instead of ext2? as ext2 is better for usb sticks.

 

[RMerlin]

exfat works fine in linux out of the box.

Yes, a fuse-based driver was added last year, however it's on shaky legal grounds, and also since it had to be reverse engineered, I'm not sure how much performance and reliability you'd get out of it. See ntfs-3g for a good example where performance of these reverse-engineered drivers can be quite bad, unless you have a full-powered desktop CPU to handle it.

Do you know why asus uses ext3/4 instead of ext2? as ext2 is better for usb sticks.

Asus supports both ext2 and ext3 on MIPS models, and they added ext4 with ARM models. They dont "use" any of them, they support all three - it's up to the user to decide which of these filesystems he wants to use when formatting his disk. In general, I'd recommend ext2 for a USB thumbdrive, and ext3 or 4 for a hard drive.

 

[RMerlin]

I share RMerlin's loathing for Microsoft's proprietary standards but anything using SDXC cards (camera's and the like) will be exFAT.

I'm not sure how someone thought it would be a good idea to recognize a patent-ladden filesystem to be used as a STANDARD on these SDXC cards. MS must have done some good lobbying work there. In exchange, they get to collect licensing fees from manufacturers that want to support SDXC cards.

 

[Samir]

Anything sdxc can be formatted back to fat32 for compatibility. Same for anything formatted exfat. Format and then carry on.

 

[v1rt]

OSX supports it.

Yes, OSX supports it. This is the reason why I formatted my usb drive with exfat fs since I have Windows and OSX oses here at home.

 

[v1rt]

Anything sdxc can be formatted back to fat32 for compatibility. Same for anything formatted exfat. Format and then carry on.

Can Merlin see FAT32 fs?

 

[RMerlin]

Can Merlin see FAT32 fs?

Yes.

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

...Asus supports both ext2 and ext3 on MIPS models, and they added ext4 with ARM models. They dont "use" any of them, they support all three - it's up to the user to decide which of these filesystems he wants to use when formatting his disk. In general, I'd recommend ext2 for a USB thumbdrive, and ext3 or 4 for a hard drive.

RMerlin, can you give us a few words on why we might want to use ext2 on an inexpensive flashdrive, rather then ext4?

 

[RMerlin]

RMerlin, can you give us a few words on why we might want to use ext2 on an inexpensive flashdrive, rather then ext4?

ext2 doesn't have a journal. Due to the slower write speed of a USB thumbdrive (unless you have a high quality USB 3.0 one), this will improve write performance.

 

[Chrysalis]

ok fair enough, I cannot remember which guide I used that made me put ext3 on my stick, but I disabled journaling on it now anyway.

the problem with ntfs is that its not a good choice for usb sticks and has less compatibility in non windows OS's than exfat.