filesystem

UNIX Filesystems: Evolution, Design, and Implementation
$45.00
This isn't the first book I have read that covers Unix file systems. All the standard Unix implementation (e.g., Bach (SVR2), McKusick et al (BSD)) and OS design books (e.g, Tanenbaum (Minux)) have something to say about file system design. But this book is different, in that it provides a broad yet focused coverage of a large number of Unix based file systems, starting back with the AT&T research edition as a foundation, and building upon the discussion with looks at Sun VFS, UFS, FFS, Minux, and Linux. The writing is detailed, and clear, and there is a good number of figures and code listings that help explain the concepts.

The best thing about the book, however, is the source code for a Linux filesystem named uxfs. Reading the text and studying the source code (in the book, or via download) really helps make the topics discussed in the book clear. The author does a decent job of describing the uxfs source code, and shares some tips on how to approach compiling a kernel, and the filesystem source, and using gdb to set breakpoints so that one can investigate how the Linux kernel is calling into the filesystem through all the major entry points. Even if you don't give a hoot about filesystem design, its a great example of how to understand a complex system that you might not otherwise have a clue how to approach -- set breakpoints on the major entry points, look at the stack, and then read the code up the stack to see what is going on. Understanding uxfs is a great start to understanding more complicated filesystems in Linux for sure, and less directly, other Unix-based file systems as well.

Along with uxfs the author provides a set of easy, and advanced exercises. The one that looks like the most fun to me is modifying uxfs to support an inode structure that uses direct, single indirect, double indirect, and triple indirect blocks (described in Maurice Bach's book and elsewhere).

In summary, if your basic operating system book's coverage of Unix filesystems is not enough, or you want a gentle and complete introduction to designing a Linux filesystem, consider reading this book.

Paragon NTFS for Mac 7
$39.95
NOTICE: PARAGON NTFS for MAC 7 does work!

Despite W.Hogben's experience, I have to say that Paragon NTFS for Mac 7 does work on Mac OS X 10.6._ Snow Leopard. What you need is version 7.0.3 or higher for Paragon NTFS for Mac to be compatible with Snow Leopard. The specifications say that this also will work with the older Mac OS X 10.5._ Leopard (no Snow) and Mac OS X 10.4.6 (or higher) Tiger if that's what you have. You want the most up-to-date version of Paragon NTFS for Mac whether you have Snow Leopard or Leopard or Tiger. I've only tried this out with Snow Leopard which is what I currently have on my Macbook. If you want to try this out, go to Paragon and get the trial version and test it out yourself. What I suggest you do if you don't want to encounter the problem that W.Hogben had, you should back up your Mac's harddrive before trying out Paragon NTFS for Mac. I don't understand what happened to W.Hogben except maybe he had bad luck with a previous version of the software that he was trying out on Leopard (not Snow) - bad luck can happen. Anyways, if you are really frightened by what W.Hogben says, then back up your system and that's what you should do anyways to be able to recover from the disaster that W.Hogben encountered. What I do is on my Macbook is I have a 320 gigabyte harddrive that is partitioned into two drives where one drive is the "Macintosh HD" and the other drive is my "Data HD". And I have the "Macintosh HD" with the Mac OS X along with all my other software installed on it - that is backed up as a mirror image onto an external harddrive using Carbon Copy Cloner. My "Data HD" with all my documents, music, and videos are backed up onto another external harddrive. Whatever you do, I strongly suggest that you back up your mac's internal harddrive to an external harddrive for just in case something goes wrong. You simply want to be prepared. You don't want to be caught unprepared and so that you can restore your harddrive to the way it was before you installed any new really different software.

Anyways, Paragon NTFS for Mac 7 worked for me on my Macbook (white 13" model bought in 2007) running Mac OS X 10.6.1 Snow Leopard. I have a lot of software running on my Macbook including Parallels 4. You can get Parallels 4 over here on Amazon. If you are unsure about getting Paragon NTFS for Mac, there's always Parallels that you can use to run Windows on your mac to access NTFS drives. But for me, although I do have Parallels and Windows on my Macbook, I also wanted the capability to have the mac to have direct read and write access on NTFS drives without having to fire up Windows in Parallels. So from my experience, Paragon NTFS for Mac works for me under Snow Leopard. I've been able to both read and write to a USB Stick Drive that was formatted in NTFS and also a NTFS-formatted TrueCrypt volume on that USB stick. I was also able to both read and write to a USB external drive (a Toshiba harddrive) that is formatted in NTFS and also a NTFS-formatted TrueCrypt volume on that USB external drive. So Paragon NTFS for Mac 7 does actually work for me under Mac OS X 10.6_ Snow Leopard.

Now, your alternatives instead of using Paragon NTFS for Mac are to use: (1) Parallels with windows as previously mentioned - there is also Fusion which is like Parallels but I have no experience with Fusion; (2) being satisfied with the read-only access to NTFS drives that is built into Snow Leopard, Leopard, and Tiger but no default ability to write to NTFS drives; (3) trying to turn on the NTFS ability to both read/write in Snow Leopard (you'll have to search for this on your favorite search engine; you have to go in Terminal and create a /etc/fstab file where you specify specific labels or ID's for particular NTFS drives that you know you will be using); or (4) try using the free NTFS-3G driver. As for (1), I've already mentioned Parallels and that's good if you want to settle for that where you are also doing everything you want in Windows. I can't speak for Boot Camp because I don't want to be dual booting back and forth between mac and windows. Some people like that, but I'd rather have Parallels where I can have both mac and windows on at the same time. With regard to (2), well, being satisfied with only read-only access to NTFS drives is not good enough for me. As for (3), I've tried setting up that /etc/fstab file to specify NTFS read-write access for certain drives, but that didn't work for me. And, from what I could understand (maybe I'm wrong) that was only good for specific NTFS drives that I had to specify. I would have re-edit that file if I were to use any other NTFS-formatted drives that were not specified. And with (4), that NTFS-3G driver seemed to be a little above my head to figure out. There is a commercial version of NTFS-3G, but you'll have to research that yourself.

Regardless of all those other options, I think the Paragon NTFS for Mac 7 driver software is further along ahead of everyone else and is just ready to install and use. If you are a mac user, then the chances are that you don't want to fuss too much with having to install something like this. If you are more of a windows user, then you may possibly be more inclined to fussing around with the other options before settling on using Paragon NTFS for Mac. In the end, my guess is that I think you may end up installing Paragon NTFS for Mac and be satisfied with it. But to be on the safe side, you may want to backup your harddrive if you are unsure about trying out Paragon NTFS for Mac 7. Thanks for reading this review.


P.S. Additonal comment: For those who have both Mac and PC, I would suggest getting: (1) Paragon NTFS for Mac 7 for your mac (as discussed in this review); and also consider (2) Macdrive 8 for your PC. With Paragon NTFS for Mac, as discussed above, I can directly read windows NTFS-formatted drives on my macbook. And with Macdrive, I can read mac-formatted drives on a windows-only PC. You don't have to get both, but I did because I wanted maximum flexibility to be able to access both types of drives (NTFS-formatted drives and mac-formatted drives) on either type of computer whether a Mac or a windows-only PC. Thanks for reading.

File System Forensic Analysis
$59.99
I purchased the kindle version of this book. The content of this book is great. The kindle version content page does not work. You can not select a chapter from the index and go directly to it. I also found at least one 2 page chart that is not useable on the kindle. The 2 page chart should be reduced to a 1 page image that can be viewed in landscape mode (with the kindle on its side). If the kindle version is fixed, it would then deserve 5 stars!

Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition
$49.95
I just would like to say that it is an indispensable book for anyone who wants to get a detailed journey to the Linux Kernel. Very well written, it embraces the major kernel subsystems with very rich explanations and detailed examples.