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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Installing Mac OS X v10.4 (intel) onto a UFS system volume

csirac2 - Jun 27, 2006 - 5:30 am

Hello,

My (recently deceased) iBook ran Mac OS X v10.3, and I used to be able to install it onto a UFS formatted system volume. This was very useful to me in my work.

My new MacBook with v10.4 doesn't seem to allow this option during the install process. If I manually partition/erase the disk as UFS, the installer tells me it cannot continue until I've selected a target volume formatted with HFS+.

There doesn't seem to be anything about this sort of limitation on the Apple Knowledgebase - all documents referring to UFS that I've found seem to mention Mac OS X v10.4 in the context that it also supports running from a UFS system volume, just as in v10.3.

Am I missing something?

philippe99 - Jun 27, 2006 - 7:58 am

Hi and welcome to macosx.com

I would not install OSX on a UFS partition -and Apple does not recommend it either-:

* many applications, sometimes usefull like Drive10 or repair tools, do not work on UFS filesystem
* in Jaguar, Airport tools do not work if booting from UFS (does not know if an update has changed this in Panther or Tiger)
* classic app will not run from UFS
* some users have reported that UFS is quite slower than HFS+

Even if I am a Unix guy, working on a UFS SunSparcStation, I still admint that HFS+ is the best form Mac machine

Regards
Philippe

csirac2 - Jun 27, 2006 - 8:14 pm

Thanks for your response Phillippe,

I understand UFS is not recommended - I didn't run a separate UFS partition on my old iBook so as to reduce wasted disk space. I have a larger hard disk now, so I have already worked around this.

But I wanted to know: am I blind? Pressing the wrong buttons? Does Apple need to update their knowledgebase? I'm not going to cry over the loss of this feature because I know my situation must be rather unique as far as Mac users go; I just wanted to clarify whether or not this has definately been removed for v10.4 on the MacBook or not.

philippe99 - Jun 28, 2006 - 2:30 am

The only thing I know is that, whatever Apple said, it was not possible to install PANTHER on such a partition.
Reading files on UFS partition was a pity in Panther, but was possible. Writing to UFS was impossible
Reading files on UFS parttion with Tiger is far,far better (speed, ...): I made the experience

But I never try to write, nor install an OS onto Tiger

In all my database articles dealing witht partitionning, it is written that Mac Osx allows to create an UFS partition for "interoperability with other OS", but I never find anywhere that install of a Mac Osx system was possible on a UFS partition
I mean for standard customers; Mac Osx Server, I think, can be installed on UFS

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25316


Finaly, from
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/...0764579177.pdf

I note
"
Apple also states that the UFS format should not be used if your Mac OS X installation destination is a
G3 Blue & White. Finally, bootable UFS volumes can be made via the Mac OS X installer only, not via Disk Utility."

So, as I answer points about possbile problems with UFS volume, may I suggest to repost a question "Why can I not install Tiger on a UFS partiton", which is more directly dedicated to the specific problem you face ?

Regards
Philippe