External Hard drive question

[Ninjab3ar]

I know that this subject has been beaten to death, but im planning on getting an external hard drive (at least 250GB) to back up important school/work files form my MacBook Pro.

I heard that you need to format it in FAT32 to be able to use it in both Windows and OS X.

My question is: If I format my 250 gig hard drive into FAT 32, will my Windows machine (or my MacBook Pro with Bootcamp) only read 32GB from the disk?

If so, is there a way to split the 250GB hard drive into any number of 32GB or less partitions?

Answers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[shoelessone]

Windows will be able to see all of it.

You will not however, be able to save files that are larger than 4 GB on the drive.

(for instance if you want to rip a bluray DVD into an image, you won't be able to because the image would be over 4 megs.)

 

[lisajulia]

I wish I had known that using my EHD between machines wasn't going to be a matter of simply plugging it in and out. I am sooo frustrated...I know nothing about formatting and FAT32 or whatever. I am actually looking for an EHD that will allow me to use it on either machine, back and forth...not having any luck. I am one of the unlucky MBP switchers who is having NOTHING but trouble...can't get my iPod to work and can't connect to the internet via my motorola Q..NOTHING is working for me because it seems as 'cool' as Mac is, it's a windows world...and I am stuck in the middle...all that whining aside, it does seem once I get my problems solved, I can see being all Mac all the time..but not for a long time.