external HD for PC and Mac

This subject has been beat to death on this forum and elsewhere but I've made little progress in understanding how to accomplish what I need to.

Current Setup:
I have an XP computer that uses a 500 GB FreeAgent USB drive for backup and to store my iTunes library. The drive only has about 18 GB in use.

What I'd Like:
I'd like to make the drive available also to my new Mac so it can use it for Time Machine backups and also move my iTunes library so I can manage it from the Mac. Then continue using the external HD for PC backups.

I understand I'll need to temporarily store the 18 GB data somewhere, make a partition on the drive and format that for the Mac, then put the 18 GB data back on the XP partition. Then deal with iTunes according to several forum articles. I don't really have a place to put the 18GB data temporarily. Will Partition Magic or something similar help here?


Thanks.

What format is the drive in? FAT32, NTFS or HFS+?
If its FAT32 then you can already use it for PC and MAC.

pjhutch said:

What format is the drive in? FAT32, NTFS or HFS+?
If its FAT32 then you can already use it for PC and MAC.

Click to expand...

It is NTFS.

You have a few choices:

-Reformat to FAT-32, which Windows won't do for you but your Mac will. Remember, FAT-32 has some restrictions on file size and won't use the disc as efficiently as NTFS.

-Buy a or download a Mac App that will allow your Mac to read/use NTFS.

-Buy or download an App that will allow Windows to read/use Mac format discs.