Formatting external HD
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- honest
Just bought a nice little Lacie external HD but need it to work for both Mac and PC. I first started off partitioning it in OS X and installing norton on it just as a back-up in case my DVD-drive fails but then found it wouldn't be read by a PC.
How do I format it to be read by both Mac and PC?
- industry730
Sees like it should be a simple task but it isnt.
The only disk format that Mac & windows can read and write to is FAT32. Mac OS X Can format the disk as a MS-DOS Partition using the Disk Utility.
BUT here is the drawback. FAT32 format has a file limitation of 2GB. filenmes cannot have special characters such as $&#.
The disk can only be 32Gb to (can be larger but might not work on windows)So as long as you know those limitations you should be all set.
Windows now uses NTFS which eliminates those problems, Mac OS can read NTFS but cannot write to it.
The best option would be to format it as the Mac native HFS+ format and get a copy of MacDrive for windows
http://www.mediafour.com/
- ephix0
the answer is, windows sucks. but thats no solutions, sorry.
- honest0
Sees like it should be a simple task but it isnt.
The only disk format that Mac & windows can read and write to is FAT32. Mac OS X Can format the disk as a MS-DOS Partition using the Disk Utility.
BUT here is the drawback. FAT32 format has a file limitation of 2GB. filenmes cannot have special characters such as $&#.
The disk can only be 32Gb to (can be larger but might not work on windows)So as long as you know those limitations you should be all set.
Windows now uses NTFS which eliminates those problems, Mac OS can read NTFS but cannot write to it.
The best option would be to format it as the Mac native HFS+ format and get a copy of MacDrive for windows
www.mediafour.com
industry73
(Mar 27 06, 01:50)I forgot to say thanks!
- milo0
Got two Lacies here - both HFS+, + running http://www.macdrive.com/
on the pc..no problem.
- ornj0
My girlfriend's Powerbook with Mac OS 10.4 reads my external NTFS hard drive.
I don't think it can write though.
- joyride0
...The disk can only be 32Gb to (can be larger but might not work on windows)...
industry73
(Mar 27 06, 01:50)I don't believe that is the case. Windows XP won't create anything larger then 32Gb, but a third party program will make them larger. I think the limit for windows/fat32 is around 128 or something odd like that. Heres a link I found with some info: