[OpenIndiana-discuss] HFS+ (Apple file system) read/write support on Illumos -- interest levels?

[Jan Owoc]

Hi Dave,

On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 10:19 PM, Dave Pooser <dave-oi at pooserville.com> wrote:
> At $DAYJOB we have a need to get files from Mac-formatted (HFS+) volumes
> from video record appliances onto ZFS-based storage towers (because when
> you're talking about the only video recordings of a major corporate
> meeting, "probably OK" filesystems aren't enough). Right now we do it via
> a Mac -- hook drive to Mac, mount ZFS filesystem via CIFS, and copy-- but
> that's a bit of a pain in the rear; it would be a lot easier to be able to
> hook drives directly to an OI tower and copy the files that way. In an
> ideal world we'd also be able to write to HFS+ drives, but I understand
> that's trickier.

I have an interesting work-around idea. I've no clue if it would give
the performance you'd need, but may be worth a try.

Would you be able to run GNU/Linux (or Mac OS X) inside VirtualBox on
OI (i.e. do you have a reasonable CPU and lots of RAM on the OI box)?
You would hook up the HFS+ hard drive, create a corresponding virtual
disk file pointing at the drive, and using either shared folders or a
host-only virtual network (benchmark both!) you would be able to read
(and write if you have OS X) to the drive.

Jan