10-16-2006, 06:57 AM

Hey all,

Im setting up a new external HD on my new macbook. I formatted the external using FAT32 (MS-DOS as its known in mac) and everything is working fine when i copy files and extract files when booting in XP fom my external. However when I boot in tiger my external will show up no problems and the files are showing, but when I try to copy say a music file from external to the mac os desktop the whole transfer window will completely lock up, even force quiting will do nothing. Mp3 files will auto default to itunes but when I launch one off the exteral drive the same thing occurs, complete lockup.

Any suggestions what I did wrong? The external is a seagate 250gig USB 2.0 and my mac book is 2gig, 512 RAM.

Thanks very much

10-16-2006, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Recks

Hey all,

Im setting up a new external HD on my new macbook. I formatted the external using FAT32 (MS-DOS as its known in mac) and everything is working fine when i copy files and extract files when booting in XP fom my external. However when I boot in tiger my external will show up no problems and the files are showing, but when I try to copy say a music file from external to the mac os desktop the whole transfer window will completely lock up, even force quiting will do nothing. Mp3 files will auto default to itunes but when I launch one off the exteral drive the same thing occurs, complete lockup.

Any suggestions what I did wrong? The external is a seagate 250gig USB 2.0 and my mac book is 2gig, 512 RAM.

Thanks very much

I think your problem lies in the connection....try FireWire.

10-16-2006, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by Pulse-8

I think your problem lies in the connection....try FireWire.

The external HD case does not support firewire, I thought mac could run usb 2.0?

10-16-2006, 07:15 AM

I am using an external HD (USB connection) without a hitch. I'n not sure what went wrong in your machine. However I would recommend you to "Verify Permissions" with the Disk utility and also check the files permissions in Windows.

Useful link

10-16-2006, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by novicew

I am using an external HD (USB connection) without a hitch. I'n not sure what went wrong in your machine. However I would recommend you to "Verify Permissions" with the Disk utility and also check the files permissions in Windows.

Useful link

I just verified permissions with no change. I notice the files on the external are "read only" when i boot in XP. Would this be causing the problem? I tried to untick read only but it went back to it straight away

10-16-2006, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by Recks

I just verified permissions with no change. I notice the files on the external are "read only" when i boot in XP. Would this be causing the problem? I tried to untick read only but it went back to it straight away

Just a stab in the dark here, but maybe it's got something to do with filesharing on both the mac and pc.....is it turned on....

I found some other info that may help, along with this.

Did you format your external on your PC or Mac?

10-16-2006, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Pulse-8

Just a stab in the dark here, but maybe it's got something to do with filesharing on both the mac and pc.....is it turned on....

I found some other info that may help, along with this.

Did you format your external on your PC or Mac?

I used Mac to format it, following that second link gac me this info

"We have found that formatting the device using a PC is best when using it between platforms. Formatting it for MS-DOS on a Macintosh has been known to cause problems for some customers"

Maybe ill reformat it using the PC boot.

Thank you for your help

10-16-2006, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by Recks

I used Mac to format it, following that second link gac me this info

"We have found that formatting the device using a PC is best when using it between platforms. Formatting it for MS-DOS on a Macintosh has been known to cause problems for some customers"

Maybe ill reformat it using the PC boot.

Thank you for your help

Please return and post your results, either neg or pos it doesn't matter as someone else may come on with the same problem as you ...

10-16-2006, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by Pulse-8

Please return and post your results, either neg or pos it doesn't matter as someone else may come on with the same problem as you ...

Will do, I heard windows wont let you format a drive on FAT32 if its bigger than 32gig, but ill see how it goes.

10-17-2006, 12:08 AM

Originally Posted by Recks

Will do, I heard windows wont let you format a drive on FAT32 if its bigger than 32gig, but ill see how it goes.

I found the following:

Windows 2000 and XP can read and write to FAT32 volumes of large size but cannot natively create or format them above 32 GB. In order to create a FAT32 partition and format it above 32GB you will need a utility like Partition Magic or some other drive/partition utility. Windows 98 does support the creation and formatting of FAT32 partitions up to 127 GB in size. If you have 98 installed or a 98 boot disk with FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM you would have all you need for up to that 127GB mark pending your drive is installed via the IDE interface or you have a USB driver loaded. This is a really simple process. First assemble the drive with the USB adapter. Next plug the unit into your PC. If your running Windows XP most USB adapters will be automatically recognized and installed. If you are running an older operating system you may need to install a driver for the adapter

Next create a new FAT32 partition on the newly installed device. Again if the drive is larger than 32GB you will need to use a utility like Partition Magic to create the volume. If the drive is smaller than 32GB you can accomplish this via the "Computer Management" snap in found in the Control Panel -> Administrative tools. Last you need to format the volume. The same rule applies for formatting as well; if it is larger than 32GB you will need some other utility like partition magic to format. Windows XP and 2000 does not natively support the creation and formatting of devices larger than 32GB.

10-17-2006, 12:16 AM

Thanks very much, ill test it out tonight

10-17-2006, 06:42 AM

So i reformatted my external, this time using partition magic in XP. After the format was complete I booted up in mac, copied a music file to the external, went perfectly. I then copied that exact same file back to my mac local HD and the whole system locked up.....


No idea whats happening here..... neye:

10-17-2006, 09:36 AM

Sorry to jump in late but was this so you can share files both to your Mac and Boot Camp XP...As I wanted to do this and was going to use External HD but it looks as if your having serious trouble.

10-17-2006, 11:29 AM

Hmm, maybe the chipset the external case uses is what's causing issues...

I have never run into this sort of problem with my FAT32 USB drives before... :/

Have you got another casing you could try?

10-17-2006, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Aptmunich

Hmm, maybe the chipset the external case uses is what's causing issues...

I have never run into this sort of problem with my FAT32 USB drives before... :/

Have you got another casing you could try?

It's looking like the chipset could be the problem. It might be helpful if you post the full specs of your ext HD.