sharing an external HD between mac/win

maanico1 · maanico1 #1 (**permalink**)

03-02-2007, 12:55 PM

i just recently purchased a 250gb HD, and for some reason was completely oblivious to the fact that they read/write to different formats. Is there anyway that I can just easily swap usb to usb?

Peakoverload · Peakoverload #2 (**permalink**)

03-02-2007, 01:51 PM

Format the drive as FAT32 as both your Mac and PC and read and write to that or format it as HFS+ and buy a copy of MacDrive for your PC.

I'd go with the later as it's more secure and efficient

HTH

maanico1 · maanico1 #3 (**permalink**)

03-02-2007, 02:34 PM

doesnt fat32 only support 32gb partitions at a time or something? and files above 4gbs cant be created. or was someone pulling my leg?

mac57 · mac57 #4 (**permalink**)

03-02-2007, 03:21 PM

There is no partition size limit that I am aware of, but there is a file size limit. I *think* it is 2 Gb.

By the way, Peakoverload has good advice - use HFS+ and get MacDrive for your PC. HFS+ is a much better file system - it supports file ownership and permissions (important security considerations) AND it is journalled, making it far more resistant to corruption caused by things like sudden power failures, and faster to auto recover from any corruption that may occur due to other causes. Plus of course, it is the best supported file system on the Mac!

Audio.Trench · Audio.Trench #5 (**permalink**)

03-02-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maanico1

doesnt fat32 only support 32gb partitions at a time or something? and files above 4gbs cant be created. or was someone pulling my leg?

Formatting a drive to FAT32 under Windows will only let you go up to 32gb.. That's why you need a program like Partition Magic to format the entire thing.

mac57 · mac57 #6 (**permalink**)

03-02-2007, 06:19 PM

The drive will certainly do more. I am presently doing a backup of my work PC onto a USB external FAT32 drive which is 80 GB. Not sure where I formatted it though!

mac57 #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 29, 2006 Location: St. Somewhere Posts: 4,547 Mac Specs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, 120 GB SSD, 500 GB HDD	03-02-2007, 03:21 PM There is no partition size limit that I am aware of, but there is a file size limit. I think it is 2 Gb. By the way, Peakoverload has good advice - use HFS+ and get MacDrive for your PC. HFS+ is a much better file system - it supports file ownership and permissions (important security considerations) AND it is journalled, making it far more resistant to corruption caused by things like sudden power failures, and faster to auto recover from any corruption that may occur due to other causes. Plus of course, it is the best supported file system on the Mac! My Macs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, Mac Pro, 3.2 GHz 8 Core, Power Macintosh 7500/100 My iStuff: 32 GB iPhone 4, 30 GB iPod Video, 16 GB iPod Touch My OS': Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS 8.6, openSUSE 10.3, Win XP I was on the Mac-Forums honor roll for September 2007
	QUOTE Thanks

mac57 #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 29, 2006 Location: St. Somewhere Posts: 4,547 Mac Specs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, 120 GB SSD, 500 GB HDD	03-02-2007, 06:19 PM The drive will certainly do more. I am presently doing a backup of my work PC onto a USB external FAT32 drive which is 80 GB. Not sure where I formatted it though! My Macs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, Mac Pro, 3.2 GHz 8 Core, Power Macintosh 7500/100 My iStuff: 32 GB iPhone 4, 30 GB iPod Video, 16 GB iPod Touch My OS': Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS 8.6, openSUSE 10.3, Win XP I was on the Mac-Forums honor roll for September 2007
	QUOTE Thanks

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maanico1 #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 84	03-02-2007, 12:55 PM i just recently purchased a 250gb HD, and for some reason was completely oblivious to the fact that they read/write to different formats. Is there anyway that I can just easily swap usb to usb?
	QUOTE Thanks

Peakoverload #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Feb 13, 2007 Location: Worthing, West Sussex, UK Posts: 207 Mac Specs: 27" iMac 3.1Ghz 16GB RAM, 1TB HD. iPhone 4.	03-02-2007, 01:51 PM Format the drive as FAT32 as both your Mac and PC and read and write to that or format it as HFS+ and buy a copy of MacDrive for your PC. I'd go with the later as it's more secure and efficient HTH
	QUOTE Thanks

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