Hard-Drive Problems

Hi, I could really use some help with this issue.

I have an external hard-drive which I've been using for Time Machine recently. A few months ago (when starting with Time Machine), I partitioned it into two blocks -- a 100 GB for Time Machine, and a second 100 GB block for other use. Now I've finally come to want to use this second partition, but I can't seem to be able to.

In addition to Time Machine, I'd like to use the hard-drive to back up some files on my Windows computer. However, when connecting the HDD to Windows, it doesn't show up in 'My Computer.' It does register, though, because I can find it in 'Safely Remove Hardware.' But I can't actually access the drive. I'm not sure how to access this second partition on my Mac, either.

Essentially, can anyone tell me how I can get into this 100 GB on my windows machine while (hopefully) retaining Time Machine? If not, is it possible to delete everything off the drive and re-partition it in a format which would let me do that?

I appreciate any help. Thanks.

(Also, I've been looking for 'Disk Utility' on my Mac and can't find it in Spotlight or System Preferences. I'm running 10.5.6 -- is that program accessible?)

Windows needs to be able to see a HFS+ (Mac) formatted drive.

Usually you would need to reformat a partition to FAT32, but I found this link that should let windows use your drive

HFS for Windows - file system driver | PARAGON Software Group - partition freeware, FAT partitions

Thanks for the reply! I'll have a look into that link.

But, just for future reference, how would I go about re-formatting it properly, so that I can have one partition for Time Machine, and a second partition for Windows files and back-up?

First, you should update your copy of Leopard to 10.5.8 as that is the latest with all upgrades. You can download the combo update from Apple.

Next, how about telling us which version of Windows you're running? It makes a difference because you can not backup Vista or Windows 7 to a FAT-32 formatted drive using MS Backup. It has to be NTFS. XP can be backed up to either one.

If your external is already partitioned with two partitions, the first being HFS Extended Journaled for Time Machine, you can format the second partition from Windows. Disk Manager from Windows is able to format using either FAT-32 or NTFS. However, it's limited (by MS) to formatting FAT-32 partitions or drives no larger than 32 GB. Disk Utility from OS X has no limit for FAT-32 but can not format NTFS.

Regards.

chscag said:

First, you should update your copy of Leopard to 10.5.8 as that is the latest with all upgrades. You can download the combo update from Apple.

Next, how about telling us which version of Windows you're running? It makes a difference because you can not backup Vista or Windows 7 to a FAT-32 formatted drive using MS Backup. It has to be NTFS. XP can be backed up to either one.

If your external is already partitioned with two partitions, the first being HFS Extended Journaled for Time Machine, you can format the second partition from Windows. Disk Manager from Windows is able to format using either FAT-32 or NTFS. However, it's limited (by MS) to formatting FAT-32 partitions or drives no larger than 32 GB. Disk Utility from OS X has no limit for FAT-32 but can not format NTFS.

Regards.

Click to expand...

I'm running XP. However, like I said in my first post, Windows doesn't recognize the external, so there's no way of me using Disk Manager to format the disk from the Windows side of things.

Disk Utility looks like the best option to use -- but how do I find it? I've done a spotlight search and nothing's come up. I can access it by typing 'diskutil' into Terminal, but I'm not 100% comfortable using that interface.

arthurmitchell said:

Disk Utility looks like the best option to use -- but how do I find it? I've done a spotlight search and nothing's come up. I can access it by typing 'diskutil' into Terminal, but I'm not 100% comfortable using that interface.

Click to expand...

Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility

Once you are in disk utility - you need to set the partition scheme to MBR so your Windows PC can see the partition. Otherwise the default for Mac is GUID - which doesn't work on most PCs. You have to select the top level disk - then got to Partition -> select the fat partition -> click options and change the Partition table to MBR.
How-To: Managing partitions with Disk Utility | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews