08-06-2007, 12:21 AM

i have an external Hdd that ive been trying to format so i can use and back up my work and music on my PB.

ive only been using MAC for about 2 weeks and im still getting used to things although i have switched very easily..

i just want some tips if i can.. how to format to fat32 from NTFS..?

when i try and right click format on my pc it only gives me the option to format to NTFS again..

help?

08-06-2007, 12:36 AM

I believe you can only format a drive that is <32GB to FAT32.

08-06-2007, 12:39 AM

its 80 gig drive....

08-06-2007, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by Eric559

I believe you can only format a drive that is <32GB to FAT32.

Windows XP's formatter has a 32GB limit. Plug the drive into your Mac. Open Applications, Utilities, Disk Utility. Find the drive there and hit the Partition or Erase Tab. Select MSDOS format. That is FAT32. It will format as large as you need with no limits.

08-06-2007, 12:53 AM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Windows XP's formatter has a 32GB limit.

Ah okay. Thanks.

08-06-2007, 01:10 AM

ohhh ok i pluged it into my mac and it didnt find it, like it didnt put it on the desktop so i assumed that it just didnt work.. im only using 10.3.9 will that make any diff.??? to the way i can format ect..? also my partner has all my music on her laptop (pc) which is my old laptop.. can i just use my hdd formatted as fat32 to switch music in between mac and pc?

08-06-2007, 01:17 AM

Yes, You can plug the FAT32 External into her PC and get the music then plug it back into the Mac. Be sure to unmount the drive before pulling the plug! So many I know do not know that.

10.3.9 should do the same thing just fine. I did it back in my Panther days.

08-06-2007, 01:50 AM

unmounting, lol sounds so erotic lol

thanks for the help!

08-06-2007, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by bennjiboi

unmounting, lol sounds so erotic lol

thanks for the help!

I just tried my 80GB USB 2 external on an iMac with 10.3.9 and even an older iMac with 10.2. Both allowed me to format it the way I told you above.

08-06-2007, 02:01 AM

oh moist, lol ill go straight home and do it lol

its been annoying me for soo dam long!

08-06-2007, 02:06 AM

i mean im dying to use my firewire connection too, i brought a PB instead of a new macbook so i could use the firewire800 port lol

but i adore my PB lol

08-06-2007, 02:26 AM

Kinda random here but I just had to back up my 500GB external to some internal drives on my PC so I could format it to work with my Mac (it WAS NTFS) I can't live with the 4GB file size limit so I knew I needed to go with HFS, and I don't use my PC anymore anyways, so I backed it all up using Firewire 800, it took maybe a little over an hour. I then formatted it on my Mac. Now I knew I would need the data back off the PC onto the 500GB but I didn't think and realized that wait a sec Windows can't write to HFS. So I had to take almost 300GB of stuff and transfer it from the PC to the external drive through the wireless network connected to my MBP. Wow let me tell you, it took over 22 hours to transfer it all back haha.

But anyways it all went well, just thought I would share that funny story with yall.

08-06-2007, 03:03 AM

omg not so funny tho lol..

but i still had a lil giggle to myself, as ive done things like that b4, obviouslly not sooo much data but yeah i get the general drift lol

what a pain!!

08-06-2007, 05:01 AM

ok help?

ive tried to format my external hdd using the disc utilitys.. but it wont let me

all i can seem to do is varify disc permissions..

08-06-2007, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by bennjiboi

ok help?

ive tried to format my external hdd using the disc utilitys.. but it wont let me

all i can seem to do is varify disc permissions..

Are you clicking on the drive and going to the erase tab? Did you try the Partition tab?

I just formatted 2 externals here that way. Is the drive NTFS?