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New PC to Mac Guy with Partition/Hard Drive/Backup Questions
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<blockquote data-quote="Lifeisabeach" data-source="post: 635605" data-attributes="member: 38864"><p>Ok... first things first. Out of the box, OS X can read NTFS volumes, but it cannot write to them (thus, it cannot format a drive using NTFS). OS X can read and write to FAT32 volumes, but I strongly recommend against using FAT32 due to its limitations, some of which are quite severe. FAT32 partitions get increasingly slower and inefficient with drive sizes larger than 32Gb for starters. It doesn't have some security features that NTFS offers. And it's far more susceptible to file corruptions, especially if you don't "eject" a FAT32 volume properly. I've experienced it myself, as did <a href="http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96232" target="_blank">this guy</a>. Check out <a href="http://faq.arstechnica.com/link.php?i=1227&PHPSESSID=e4d8cf0fe701ed08817285b0792122fb" target="_blank">this article</a> that goes into great detail the differences between FAT32 and NTFS. Particularly interesting is how NTFS is actually more compatible with the way OS X writes data than FAT32 is.</p><p> </p><p>Ok, so that all said, what to do? I would use Windows' partitioning utility to split the external drive into two partitions: one for use with Time Machine, the other for sharing files between OS X and Windows. Format both in NTFS (yes... both).</p><p> </p><p>Once that's done, use OS X's Disk Utility to reformat the Time Machine partition in HFS+. As for the shared partition, you'll need to get some 3rd party software to enable OS X to write to NTFS partitions.</p><p> </p><p>There are two solutions I know of to get OS X to write to NTFS partitions. Firstly there's <a href="http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/" target="_blank">Paragon NTFS</a>. It's not free, but it has been around for some time and is probably the fastest and most reliable solution. The other solution is free but requires installing two packages: <a href="http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/" target="_blank">MacFUSE</a> and <a href="http://www.ntfs-3g.org/" target="_blank">NTFS-3G</a>. I use the freebie solution myself and have no complaints, but I don't use it heavily, and I've read that it writing to NTFS is slower than under Paragon's solution.</p><p> </p><p>It is also possible to install software in Windows to enable it to have read/write access to HFS+ volumes. Under no circumstances would I do that... you would be leaving OS X vulnerable to Windows and all the malware it may bring.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lifeisabeach, post: 635605, member: 38864"] Ok... first things first. Out of the box, OS X can read NTFS volumes, but it cannot write to them (thus, it cannot format a drive using NTFS). OS X can read and write to FAT32 volumes, but I strongly recommend against using FAT32 due to its limitations, some of which are quite severe. FAT32 partitions get increasingly slower and inefficient with drive sizes larger than 32Gb for starters. It doesn't have some security features that NTFS offers. And it's far more susceptible to file corruptions, especially if you don't "eject" a FAT32 volume properly. I've experienced it myself, as did [URL="http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96232"]this guy[/URL]. Check out [URL="http://faq.arstechnica.com/link.php?i=1227&PHPSESSID=e4d8cf0fe701ed08817285b0792122fb"]this article[/URL] that goes into great detail the differences between FAT32 and NTFS. Particularly interesting is how NTFS is actually more compatible with the way OS X writes data than FAT32 is. Ok, so that all said, what to do? I would use Windows' partitioning utility to split the external drive into two partitions: one for use with Time Machine, the other for sharing files between OS X and Windows. Format both in NTFS (yes... both). Once that's done, use OS X's Disk Utility to reformat the Time Machine partition in HFS+. As for the shared partition, you'll need to get some 3rd party software to enable OS X to write to NTFS partitions. There are two solutions I know of to get OS X to write to NTFS partitions. Firstly there's [URL="http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/"]Paragon NTFS[/URL]. It's not free, but it has been around for some time and is probably the fastest and most reliable solution. The other solution is free but requires installing two packages: [URL="http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/"]MacFUSE[/URL] and [URL="http://www.ntfs-3g.org/"]NTFS-3G[/URL]. I use the freebie solution myself and have no complaints, but I don't use it heavily, and I've read that it writing to NTFS is slower than under Paragon's solution. It is also possible to install software in Windows to enable it to have read/write access to HFS+ volumes. Under no circumstances would I do that... you would be leaving OS X vulnerable to Windows and all the malware it may bring. [/QUOTE]
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