03-25-2008, 12:33 PM

I have a Mac and a PC and I was wondering if it's better to have 1 external HD or 2? Is it really hard to format a HD for mac so, that it could also work on a PC? Am I right to say that it's better to have your HD formatted for both Mac and PC, that way I can use the HD on both computers?

Thanks

03-25-2008, 01:35 PM

you can format a hard drive through Disk Utility. If you chose the FAT 32 setting you can use the hard drive on both your mac and a pc.

03-25-2008, 06:17 PM

^^^
Thanks - So once I format it to FAT 32 on my Mac, I can use it on the PC without having to format again? Also, once it's formated can I just move my mac and pc files onto the HD and back onto either the PC or Mac? Thanks

03-25-2008, 06:33 PM

Yes, that would be correct. The only limitation to FAT32 is that you can't have files larger than 4GB on it.

If you format it as any other format, you'll need third party software to enable either OS to read/write to it.

Oh, and I have two external hard drives hooked up to my Macbook

03-25-2008, 06:50 PM

^^^

Thanks - so I can also move my mac files on to my pc and vice versa? I think I'm confusing myself!

03-25-2008, 06:54 PM

If the drive is formatted as FAT32, then you can access the files on it from both OS X and Windows. As for the files themselves, if there are programs available on each OS that can read the file formats, then yes, you can open them in both OSes.

One example would be Word documents. Since there are programs that can open Word documents on both OS X and Windows, then you can access them from both operating systems.

03-25-2008, 07:13 PM

^^^

Thanks for clearing everything up...I'm planning to order a OWC Mercury, just wanted to make sure I'm getting the right thing.

03-26-2008, 12:28 PM

Oh, 1 more question. If I get a HD with firewire 400, later when I get a mac that has firewire 800, will it still work?

Thanks

03-26-2008, 01:45 PM

Firewire 800 and 400 have different connectors, so you can't simply plug a 400 device into an 800 port. However, as it currently stands, Macs with Firewire 800 ports also have Firewire 400 ports and I don't see that changing anytime soon as there still many devices out there that use the 400 port.

Worst case scenario, you buy an enclosure that has a Firewire 800 port and then take out the drive from your old enclosure and stick it in the new one.

03-31-2008, 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by looking

Oh, 1 more question. If I get a HD with firewire 400, later when I get a mac that has firewire 800, will it still work?

Thanks

You need to check the maximum speed of your Firewire. Go to Apple icon > About this Mac > More > Hardware > Firewire. Mine says ...

FireWire Bus:

Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec

I suggest you match your external HD with the maximum firewire speed of your computer. I suppose I didn't answer your question directly. Cheers...