External HD: PC & Mac

Hey everyone,

I just got my first MPB and i am new to the mac OS.

I picked up a 1TB external drive today and i want to use it both on my PC and Mac.

My PC has about 300gb of pictures (I'm a photography), and i want to put them on the External HD...

a) to make room on my internal drives.
b) so i can view/edit on my MBP

Right now i am formatting it using Windows Disk Management. But my question is, after i dump all the images onto the drive. Am i going to be able to view them on my MBP?

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Tom.

If the drive is formatted in NTFS, then OS X can only read the drive, not write to it. To get OS X to write to NTFS-formatted drives, you can either buy Paragon NTFS for the Mac or use a free open-source alternative called NTFS-3G.

Alternatively, you could format the external drive using FAT32, which OS X can read/write to, but I don't recommend it. It's an antiquated file system that is very inefficient with space, especially at that size of a drive (if it's even supported on a drive that big... not sure actually) and with OS X, there's a risk of permanent data loss if such drives aren't "ejected" properly before disconnecting.

I highly recommend against using FAT32. If you need OS X to be able to write to the drive, then use NTFS and get one of the software items that enable OS X to write to that.

I use Paragon NTFS and give it the thumbs up. Using Leopard, I read and write on to a HDD formatted NTFS on XP. Paragon can be turned on/off in Pref's and you would not even know that it's there.

Ok, Ill buy Paragon here shortly...

I don't have to do anything to my drive do i?
Just install Paragon NTFS, and once i plug in the drive.. It will be mounted... ?

The drive is currently being formated to NTFS right now... Ill give it a test run before i start really dumping the files on to it.

Gosh i need to get some sort of back up or something, i might buy a drobo system soon.

Just install Paragon on your mac and you're ready to go. A restart may be needed too. No software to install on your external drive. Paragon just complements the OS. There are a couple of competitors around - I just can't recall their names. I use chronosync to keep my important files/pics updated.

Gosh i think i made a boo boo....

I got a copy of Paragon NTFS... thought id try it out... Well everything was smooth.. after the reboot.. non of the drives will mount. (i have 2 external drives)... Before the installation, they mounted just fine...

There is not file in "applications" for me to uninstall. I went to Paragon site and downloaded the trial (which i didnt know they had) and that didnt help, but i could uninstall that (deleting the file in "applications".

Anyone know how i can remove this.... so i can download a purchased version of Paragon NTFS....

HELP..

or will i need to re-format?

Screw it, ive learned my lesson.. Formatting and doing it right..

Everything is back up and running great. I purchased Paragon NTFS and it works Fantastic.

I wish MSN messenger allowed for video, I have family in Canada and we video chat often. I got them to install Skype for now.