Comparison of File and Directory Name and File Systems on Macintosh, PC and Unix Computers and Operating Systems

OS Win 95/98
Win 2000+
Mac OS 9
Mac OS X
Unix/Linux
File System FAT 32 NTFS HFS + HFS+/UFS UFS
Max Char. 255 256 31 255 255
Max Path. 260 260      
Restricted "/\*?<>|: "/\*?<>|: : :/ Space/
Directory Separator \ \ : : /
Case Sensitivity NO NO NO NO YES
           

Mac OS file names compatibility:

  • Mac OS9 supports HFS and HFS+ File system and may be up to 31 characters long.
    Max OSX supports HFS+ and UFS (Unix File System) and may be up to 255 characters long.
  • Colon ":" is used as a directory separator.
  • File and folder names may use any characters except colon ":" and forward slash "/" which is used for directory separators on OS9 and OSX.
  • Filenames preserves case but are not case sensitive.

Windows file names compatibility:

  • Windows uses two different file systems: File Allocation Table (FAT) file system and New Technology File System (NTFS).
  • File and folder names may be up to 255 characters long on FAT file systems and 256 characters long on NTFS. Full pathnames may be up to 260 characters long.
  • There is a limit to the full pathnames of 260 characters long.
  • Backslash "\" is used as the directory separator.
  • File and directory names may not contain the special characters: "/\*?<>|:
  • Periods are allowed in file and directory names, but not as the last character. for example "letter.doc" is legal but "letterdoc." is illegal file name.
  • Filenames preserves case but are not case sensitive.

UNIX file names compatibility:

  • Unix base operating systems mostly use the UFS (Unix File System).
  • File and folder names may be up to 255 characters long.
  • Forward slash"/" is used as the directory separator.
  • File and directory names may not contain the special characters: space and /
  • Filenames preserves case and are case sensitive.
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