Also want to switch but have questions

[nixgeek]

There is something called MacFUSE that will include read/write support for NTFS on Mac OS X (as well as other filesystems), but it's basically "use at your own risk".

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

The issue with NTFS write support is not only on the Mac. All non-MS operating systems have an issue writing to NTFS because Microsoft has kept the specifics on the filesystem closed from everyone else. Thankfully, with FUSE and MacFUSE, there is support for what's called ntfs-3g which gives non-MS operating systems support for writing to NTFS partitions. But again, it's still rather new so it's still "use at your own risk."

[Lt Major Burns]

although you can't write NTFS (and possibly won't ever be able to) without MS's blessing, you can always do it the other way round, as long as it's for a controlled eco-system of PC's.

MacDrive is PC software that adds the HFS+ filesystem to windows, giving you the full ability to read and write to mac formatted drives on windows.

[sylense]

I too ran into the issue with external drives, and the main problem is that Microsoft won't officially release the specs for NTFS.

However, the solution is to look at it from the Mac perspective.

Macdrive will allow you to read Mac formatted drives in Windows.

The downsides:
- Macdrive costs about $50USD
- Moving files off the NTFS drives in order to format them

The Upsides:
- You'll have drives in a solid format that you can read/write from both PC and Mac

[hawki18]

Still get your mac and run bootcamp and dual boot with xp or vista

[artov]

I have not used, but there seems to be a software made by a Google
employee that lets you mount ntfs filesystem and read/write to it.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lif...-mac-os-x.html

[fryke]

Already mentioned by nixgeek above. Called Fuse.