Also thinking simplistically:
OSX ergo any *nix, I suppose (and maybe <= OS9??) natively grok FAT, as I have seen with own baby blues. Handy for getting Beastware data off, obv. Unaware if M$ NTSF (undoubtedly 'customised-to-noncompliance') -- plays nearly as nicely (?) Yeah.. ignorance produces fuzzy decisions.
And in practice, in this case re the convenient use of fdisk or gdisk:
I expected later, on *nix install in those Extended Partitions, to reformat to an appropriate selection (at which point I would have to learn if Reiserfs / 'journalling' are buzzwords a non-db-using Admin needs to concern pretty little head about.)
Thanks for reminder, but I had not totally missed the archaic nature of FAT, its limited menu of attributes for precisely-graded security AND its crutch of regular defragging -- thus, wonder if the M$ + Symantec co-prosperity-sphere assured that NTSF would need defragging [Tool$] too? (Surely a corporate pact worthy of both.)
Ashton