Windows formatted drive on a mac.

bahamut727 · bahamut727 #1 (**permalink**)

07-16-2006, 04:51 PM

Is there a way to use a windows formatted external hard drive on my mac (for the purpose of dumping some files on it for a friend) i plug it in but i only get read priveliges on it.

thanks

baggss · baggss #2 (**permalink**)

07-16-2006, 04:52 PM

If the drive is NTFS formated, which is what this sounds like, the Mac can read it but not write to it. Macs can read and write to FAT 32 formatted drives.

bahamut727 · bahamut727 #3 (**permalink**)

07-16-2006, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baggss

If the drive is NTFS formated, which is what this sounds like, the Mac can read it but not write to it. Macs can read and write to FAT 32 formatted drives.

is there any way to use my mac to reformat the drive to fat32? The drive is empty (just the files i want to put on) so i dont care if i wipe it. and he can just reformat it to NTFS later if he wants.

surfwax95 · surfwax95 #4 (**permalink**)

07-16-2006, 05:38 PM

Yes, just open Disk Utility, select the drive, select "Erase", then choose "MS-DOS" as the file system.

surfwax95 #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 27, 2005 Location: Fayetteville, AR Posts: 2,410 Mac Specs: 15" Powerbook G4 • 24" iMac • iPhone 3Gs	07-16-2006, 05:38 PM Yes, just open Disk Utility, select the drive, select "Erase", then choose "MS-DOS" as the file system. I try to Command+Shift+/ when I can. They're - Their - There \| Two - Too - To \| You're - Your \| MAC - Mac I was on the M-F honor roll for October, 2006.
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Windows formatted drive on a mac.

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bahamut727 #1 (permalink)
Guest Posts: n/a	07-16-2006, 04:51 PM Is there a way to use a windows formatted external hard drive on my mac (for the purpose of dumping some files on it for a friend) i plug it in but i only get read priveliges on it. thanks
	QUOTE Thanks

baggss #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Oct 10, 2004 Location: Margaritaville Posts: 10,306 Mac Specs: 27" 3.4 Ghz i7 iMac-13" C2D Macbook-OSX 18.8.2-64Gb iPad 2-32 Gb iPhone 5-ATV 2-14Tb of Storage	07-16-2006, 04:52 PM If the drive is NTFS formated, which is what this sounds like, the Mac can read it but not write to it. Macs can read and write to FAT 32 formatted drives.
	QUOTE Thanks

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