exFAT seems to be a decent compromise.

_fzslm · on Nov 28, 2021

exFAT is great other than its lack of journaling, which has bit me in the ass more than a few times. file system durability is really important, especially for one for a drive being frequently moved between environments

rescbr · on Nov 28, 2021

exFAT works pretty well. In the past I have used UDF (yes, usually for DVDs) in external hard disks until exFAT support became common.

Spooky23 · on Nov 28, 2021

There are some licensing considerations with exFAT.

LeoPanthera · on Nov 28, 2021

Not since 2019. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Microsof...

This is also when exFAT support was added to the Linux kernel.

mananaysiempre · on Nov 28, 2021

I’m not sure this resolves anything. The disk format is no longer secret, true, but the patents are still in place and I don’t see a license anywhere in the link. (Even the one that’s present in the FAT spec released with UEFI is only valid as long as you are using it to implement UEFI.) Linux specifically gets a free pass because Microsoft joined the corresponding patent cartel (the “Open Invention Network”) in ’18, but FOSS at large is still at risk.

(I also don’t see why anyone would implement the allocation-bitmap-based exFAT instead of the extent-based UDF. They haven’t even added a third FAT! ... But that’s an unrelated matter.)