FAT32 versus HFS for external HD?

chardane · chardane #1 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 01:17 AM

i got a new 160GB external hard drive in NTFS format, and i was planning to reformat it to FAT32, so that i will be able to use it with both windows machines and Macs. but i was wondering, is there any disadvantage to doing that? or can you recommend anything else i can do? thanks

rman · rman #2 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 01:43 AM

From what I have read. Mac OS X can read NTFS, but can not write to it. There is a third party application that can be used with in OS X to write to the drive. I believe, if you search the board you will find the name of it.

dtravis7 · dtravis7 #3 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chardane

i got a new 160GB external hard drive in NTFS format, and i was planning to reformat it to FAT32, so that i will be able to use it with both windows machines and Macs. but i was wondering, is there any disadvantage to doing that? or can you recommend anything else i can do? thanks

Only disadvantage I can think of is with FAT32 a single file can be 4GB or less. If you do a lot of video editing or working with large Video files 4GB or larger than it will be an issue. Otherwise FAT32 works great for using with both a PC and an Mac.

There are other ways like using MacDrive on the PC which will both read and write to a HFS partition. Works great but MacDrive is not free.

And there is also Paragon which is a driver for OSX that allow both Read and Write to an NTFS formatted drive.

chardane · chardane #4 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 01:52 AM

oooh, well, i wont be doing video editing anytime soon, so i guess it would be fine..

and can i use Disk Utility to format my external HD to FAT32?

dtravis7 · dtravis7 #5 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chardane

oooh, well, i wont be doing video editing anytime soon, so i guess it would be fine..

and can i use Disk Utility to format my external HD to FAT32?

Yes you can. You choose MSDOS format. That is FAT32. I format all my HD's that I want FAT32 on my Mac as the XP formatter has a 32GB limit forcing you to use NTFS, so I put the drive in an external case and use OSX to do the formatting.

chardane · chardane #6 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 02:05 AM

thanks!

oh no, i just remembered, i want to back-up applications in there as well, and some of them (like WoW) is around 7GB.. o_O

so is Paragon my only option? any disadvantages to using it as well?

dtravis7 · dtravis7 #7 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chardane

thanks!

oh no, i just remembered, i want to back-up applications in there as well, and some of them (like WoW) is around 7GB.. o_O

so is Paragon my only option? any disadvantages to using it as well?

Is the WOW Executable 7GB? Remember, the 4GB limit is for one single file, not a bunch of files in a folder. Paragon works with NTFS but like I said there is Mac Drive for the PC. Not sure about running an EXE on an external drive from it though.

chardane · chardane #8 (**permalink**)

12-30-2007, 02:50 AM

oooh..haha, i get it. XD no, WoW isnt an exe, its a bunch of files in a folder with an .app to launch it.. so its no problem after all, i could just remove it from the dmg :p

i guess i cant put a dmg that's more than 4GB in it, but maybe it wont be much of a problem..hope not, haha XD

thanks for the help, really really appreciate it

rman #2 (permalink)
Inactive Staff Member Since: Dec 24, 2002 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 12,591 Mac Specs: 2 x 3.0GHz Quad-Core, 6GB OS X 10.6.8 \| 15in MacBook Pro 2.2GHz OS X 10.6.8 \| 64GB iPad 2 WiFi	12-30-2007, 01:43 AM From what I have read. Mac OS X can read NTFS, but can not write to it. There is a third party application that can be used with in OS X to write to the drive. I believe, if you search the board you will find the name of it. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about learning to dance in the rain!
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chardane #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 07, 2007 Posts: 18	12-30-2007, 01:17 AM i got a new 160GB external hard drive in NTFS format, and i was planning to reformat it to FAT32, so that i will be able to use it with both windows machines and Macs. but i was wondering, is there any disadvantage to doing that? or can you recommend anything else i can do? thanks
	QUOTE Thanks

chardane #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 07, 2007 Posts: 18	12-30-2007, 01:52 AM oooh, well, i wont be doing video editing anytime soon, so i guess it would be fine.. and can i use Disk Utility to format my external HD to FAT32?
	QUOTE Thanks

chardane #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 07, 2007 Posts: 18	12-30-2007, 02:05 AM thanks! oh no, i just remembered, i want to back-up applications in there as well, and some of them (like WoW) is around 7GB.. o_O so is Paragon my only option? any disadvantages to using it as well?
	QUOTE Thanks

chardane #8 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 07, 2007 Posts: 18	12-30-2007, 02:50 AM oooh..haha, i get it. XD no, WoW isnt an exe, its a bunch of files in a folder with an .app to launch it.. so its no problem after all, i could just remove it from the dmg :p i guess i cant put a dmg that's more than 4GB in it, but maybe it wont be much of a problem..hope not, haha XD thanks for the help, really really appreciate it
	QUOTE Thanks

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