PDA

View Full Version : Which external HD to be used with Mac and windows?



dedalus
Aug 16, 2007, 03:10 AM
I would like to buy one external HD that I can FULLY (ie owner permissions) use in both systems without limitations. Can you suggest a brand and model please?

Thanks,

Manuel:apple:


Scarlet Fever
Aug 16, 2007, 03:14 AM
It won't matter what drive you get, if its formatted in FAT32, it'll be read on both PCs and Macs.

I have a LaCiE D2, and I haven't had any problems with it.
maestrokev
Aug 16, 2007, 03:35 AM
Which will be your primary system, Win or Mac? What's the size of hard drive? If you use FAT32 you gain compatibility but lose out on the benefits of NTFS or HFS+.

Better to choose any hard drive with a long warranty (3-5yrs not the 1yr joke) and format as HFS+ then use MacDrive v7 (http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/) to access from Windows side. Works flawlessly on my 2 WinXP and 2 MacOS network with 3 external drives.
dedalus
Aug 16, 2007, 03:57 AM
It won't matter what drive you get, if its formatted in FAT32, it'll be read on both PCs and Macs.

I have a LaCiE D2, and I haven't had any problems with it.

What I'm worried about is that i will have trouble with owners permission and I'll have a read only privileges when I use MAC. This is happening to me with a NTFS formatted HD and I can't seem to solve the issue.

M.
dedalus
Aug 16, 2007, 03:58 AM
Which will be your primary system, Win or Mac? What's the size of hard drive? If you use FAT32 you gain compatibility but lose out on the benefits of NTFS or HFS+.

Better to choose any hard drive with a long warranty (3-5yrs not the 1yr joke) and format as HFS+ then use MacDrive v7 (http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/) to access from Windows side. Works flawlessly on my 2 WinXP and 2 MacOS network with 3 external drives.


Ok that's a solution I suppose. My primary system will be MAC. I want to get a large HD as I have thousands of photos. Any particular brand you advise?

Thanks for your help,
Manuel
maestrokev
Aug 16, 2007, 04:47 AM
I'm reasonably happy with the WD MyBook Pro 1TB (has RAID 0/1) just because it has 3yrs warranty. Prefer the Maxtor OneTouch III 1TB but won't buy again as it has only 1yr warranty. Sadly, all drives from all manufacturers fail so get backups. My 1TB mirrors the other 1TB, both are formatted HFS+ and I use MacDrive on my WinXP machines. Also depends on your budget, what about NAS?