Can a USB storage key used in a Mac & Windows?

Hi,
I have few documents created in a Windows computer using MS Office and stored it in a USB memory key.

I have a MBA with Mac version of the MS Office. I will be at a discussion tomorrow and plan to take my Mac book Air[MBA]. I have not put in this USB key in the MBA to see if I could open becaue of the fear of loosing my work.

I know the Windows uses NTFS format and Mac uses different.

Will I corrupt the USB key data if I put in my MBA?

Regards

If the USB key is formatted as Fat, which they usually are, then it should be readable by both.
I don't think there's any chance of losing anything by plugging it in and looking, just make sure you eject the image before you take it out, otherwise you can corrupt the data.

Kevriano said:

If the USB key is formatted as Fat, which they usually are, then it should be readable by both.
I don't think there's any chance of losing anything by plugging it in and looking, just make sure you eject the image before you take it out, otherwise you can corrupt the data.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I will give a try now.
Regards

As kevriano said the drive is most possibly formatted as FAT which mean that both OSs can read it. NTFS can also be read by OSX, it just cannot write to it, where as with FAT it can do both.
You cannot do any harm by simply plugging it in but if you want to be extra safe or something then just make a backup of the data on your windows machine.

- Simon

Windows will have formatted it as either FAT32 or NTFS. Regardless of which format it's in, your Mac will definitely be able to read from the drive.

Thank you all.
It opens alright. Phew...
Like Buzzard, I took a back up. Very good suggestion I did not think of...
Regards

No problem at all!!

- Simon

You can read and write to NTFS partitions in OS X with a handy tool called: Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X.

Works like a dream.

Tander said:

You can read and write to NTFS partitions in OS X with a handy tool called: Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X.

Works like a dream.

Click to expand...

This is true, but... there have been some reports of data corruption for some people. If it works for you though, GREAT!!

- Simon

I have had no issues thus far with it and I write a lot to an NTFS partition.

But if I do get a data corruption, I will also report it.

This is true, but... there have been some reports of data corruption for some people. If it works for you though, GREAT!!

Click to expand...

I haven't heard of any reports of data corruption when using Paragon NTFS, however, I've seen data corruption reported quite often by users of NTFS-3G (free version).

I always had problems with NTFS-3G. Since I switched to Paragon 8, no more issues with corrupted files on my bootcamp Win7 partition, ext HD's or thumb drives.