External Casing for Old Mac Hard Drive?

InIn14 · InIn14 #1 (**permalink**)

05-07-2008, 10:58 PM

Okay...so my iBook G4 just recently died on me. I took out the hard drive (60 GB) and bought an external casing to plug it into (2.5). Unfortunately, my other computer is a Windows computer, and when I plugged the hard drive into it to retrieve my files, nothing showed up. I know it is working, however, because I can hear the hard drive spinning and the light on the casing lights up when I plug it into the computer.

The instruction booklet for the casing said that if this sort of a problem happens, I will need to format/partition the hard drive, which I don't want to do for obvious reasons. Is it not working because of something wrong with the hard drive or because it is formatted for Mac computers and not Windows one? Would it work if I tried plugging it into a friend's mac?

ogacon · ogacon #2 (**permalink**)

05-07-2008, 11:26 PM

I'm sure it is not working because of the format. If you plugged it into your friend's Mac, it should work just like an external drive. Once you get all your stuff off it, you can reformat as FAT 32 and it will be compatible cross platform.

ogacon #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Mar 16, 2008 Location: Twin Cities (Suburbs) Minnesota Posts: 645 Mac Specs:  15" 2.4 MBP  iPod Classic 80 GB, Silver	05-07-2008, 11:26 PM I'm sure it is not working because of the format. If you plugged it into your friend's Mac, it should work just like an external drive. Once you get all your stuff off it, you can reformat as FAT 32 and it will be compatible cross platform. Relay For Life Support me in Relay For Life! Run by American Cancer Society. Cancer research. What sound does your Rooster make?
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External Casing for Old Mac Hard Drive?

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InIn14 #1 (permalink)
Member Since: May 07, 2008 Posts: 1	05-07-2008, 10:58 PM Okay...so my iBook G4 just recently died on me. I took out the hard drive (60 GB) and bought an external casing to plug it into (2.5). Unfortunately, my other computer is a Windows computer, and when I plugged the hard drive into it to retrieve my files, nothing showed up. I know it is working, however, because I can hear the hard drive spinning and the light on the casing lights up when I plug it into the computer. The instruction booklet for the casing said that if this sort of a problem happens, I will need to format/partition the hard drive, which I don't want to do for obvious reasons. Is it not working because of something wrong with the hard drive or because it is formatted for Mac computers and not Windows one? Would it work if I tried plugging it into a friend's mac?
	QUOTE Thanks

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