external hard drive across different mac os

So I bought this Iomega external hard drive to transfer files between my old power pc G3, mac mini (running Panther), and a MacBook pro. The advice I got from someone on an Iomega forum was, as I feared, to partition the drive for each of the computers.

1. Is partitioning necessary (on any external hard drive)?

2. Am I correct in understanding that,when partitioned, I would nott be able to access, for example, OS9 files on the drive from the MacBook pro?

Hi Jerry, welcome to the forum. My feeling is u need to provide more info and that will help for folks offering suggestions. What OS on the MBP? What connectors on the Iomega HD. Older macs can dual boot - Classic and OS X - but fairly sure the MBP cannot but then again u do not give spec. You could use Migration Assistant on MBP and start G3 in target mode [hold T key after powering on and connecting with firewire cable ] see Applications/Utilities on MBP to suck your data off the G3 but i would not import any Apps - that can be set in the process.

sorry

Yeah. I gave you incorrect info somehow.

I said G3 but it's actually a first generation G4 running Panther and Classic.

The mini is a power PC G4 also running Panther.

The MBP is intel powered running 10.5.

The Iomega HD is a portable drive with only USB connection

Is target mode like dos? I'm not familiar with that.