Which hard drive Format will work for Mac & Windows

I have an external 750gb hdd that was formated by windows 7 to NTSF.I can edit, copy, paste & rename any file on the external hdd with windows. I can access the hard drive on my macbook but it won't allow me to copy, paste, delete or rename any file what so ever. Most of the files I try to edit are under 2gb. Is there a format that will allow me to copy, paste, delete or rename on both windows & osx?

MacBookPro2011 said:

I have a 750gb hdd that is FAT32. I can access the hard drive on my macbook but it won't allow me to copy, paste, delete or rename any file what so ever. Is there a format that will allow me to copy, paste, delete or rename on both windows & osx?

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This is strange as I have a 250Gb HD that I bought in early 2006 specifically for my switch from PC to Mac. I have never had any problem reading or writing from 3 different Macs, 2 Windows PCs and a Linux laptop. It is formatted FAT32 BTW.

Are the files you are working with larger than 4 GB? If not FAT 32 should work.

I have an external 750gb hdd that was formated by windows 7 to FAT32.I can edit, copy, paste & rename any file on the external hdd with windows. I can access the hard drive on my macbook but it won't allow me to copy, paste, delete or rename any file what so ever. Most of the files I try to edit are under 2gb. Is there a format that will allow me to copy, paste, delete or rename on both windows & osx?

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Something is not right... Windows 7 will not format any drive that is larger than 32 GB to any other format other than NTFS. Are you sure that drive has been formatted to FAT-32? It sure sounds like it's formatted to NTFS.

Access the drive from Windows 7 and type this from a command prompt:

chkdsk d:

Now read what the format is.

The external 750GB is formated to NTFS. I also have another external 320GB hdd that I formated on my macbook the won't show in windows.

MacBookPro2011 said:

The external 750GB is formated to NTFS. I also have another external 320GB hdd that I formated on my macbook the won't show in windows.

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So, back to your original question . . . ..

FAT32 - Both Windows and Mac can read and write to the drive, but 4 Gb file size limit

NTFS - Windows new standard format. Mac can read, but as you have already seen, not write. Paragon, among others, makes a 3rd party software package that will let your Mac write to NTFS

HFS - Mac standard format. Windows can't deal with it, though I believe there are software packages to give your PC that capability

EDIT: You can reformat your 320GB using Disk Utility to FAT32 as one way of sharing drives with your Windows PC.

There's also exFAT, which Lion supports (I'd have to go boot my snow leopard box to look, although I BELIEVE it to be supported).

The difference? No 4GB filesize limit.

I have download OSXFUSE which is working excellent on Lion 10.7.2

OK, so... I bought an external HDD (Toshiba 1TB 5400) that I want to use as a mobile movie library. I've been reading up on the different options for formatting the drive considering my system use.

At home, my primary system is my 2008 MB. I also have a 2010 Windows-based DT (all-in-one) but I hardly use it. My current near future plans are to hopefully get a 27" iMac as well. I am currently using my MB to back-up my DVDs.

The primary use for the HD would be for when I go over to my g/f's house or perhaps to other family's homes for movie nights. In these cases, the systems available at their places will most likely be Windows. So, I would like for the movies to be accessible by their systems (unless of course I take my MB with me).

What would be the best option?

Option 1:
Since my primary system is Mac, format HFS via my MB, and install "MacDrive" ($49.99) on my DT as well as g/f's and family's systems?

Option 2:
Format NTFS via Windows system, then install Paragon ($19.95) on my MB and future iMac.

Option 3:
Format exFat32. This would be ideal since both Mac and Windows can read and write. Problem is, must be at minimum OS 10.6.5 (Lion). I am still running Leopard.

Opinions please??

Vipor,

When you take your hard drive for movie nights you only need to be able to read the contents of the drive, not write to it.

I think you can pretty safely format it as HFS, since files will still be accessible to computers running windows.