How to find the mac drive when your in XP??

[Koeg]

Hi i cant seem to find the mac partion of my hard drive when logged on to windows is there anyway i can?

PLEASE HELP

Koeg

[Tallest Skil]

Not by default. XP can't see HFS+ partitions, much less read or write to them.

[richthomas]

you can purchase MacDrive to see, read and write to HFS+ formatted disks.

[lizinthesky]

http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html

This is free, it will alow you to read the files, but not write.

[vistafanboi]

you can purchase MacDrive to see, read and write to HFS+ formatted disks.


MacDrive is a great application for Windows, but useless for anything but transferring a few common file-types between the two OSes.

Why?
Very simple: it is only useful for seeing and transferring files BOTH OSes can use: i.e., "graphics, text, and some audio/video files types."

NEITHER OS can use the other's executable files. This is a VERY IMPORTANT distinction.

It seems to me that the BEST way to share such files between OSes would be by using a FAT32 partition on an external drive, since both OSes can format, see, and write to FAT32 partitions without third-party utilities such as MacDrive.

It is also the CHEAPEST way to do it reliably, considering that MacDrive is somewhere around $49US at present.

(You Mac folks might not be concerned by prices, but we Windows users ARE, since sometimes, our OS is more expensive than our machines.)
(yeah, yeah, I know: this is kinda stupid, in your opinions. Just so you will know, we tend to agree, and we do it in writing quite often.)

Adding an additional program which [basically] only adds the ability to see HFS+ partitions from within Windows is a waste of money, considering that just formatting a common data partition as FAT32 removes any such limitations, and at no further cost to the user, other than free disk space.


Donald L McDaniel

[aki]

FAT32 is too old and only small filesize so i like NTFS.......

lots of ppl use macdrive but i read that it has bugs and damages some data.....do u think it is safe 2 use??my windows hd isnt important much but i dont want to damage my osx side

[vistafanboi]

FAT32 is too old and only small filesize so i like NTFS.......

lots of ppl use macdrive but i read that it has bugs and damages some data.....do u think it is safe 2 use??my windows hd isnt important much but i dont want to damage my osx side

I personally never experienced any data loss (on either side) after using it. But I kept both OS partitions clean as a whistle, and kept my data and downloaded program installers on external drives.

I suspect that those who have experienced such data loss weren't very good "house-keepers", or the wiring in the rooms where they kept their computers was old and unreliable.

Always remember, however, that the use of ANY low-level hard drive utility is subject to possible data loss, no matter how good a "house-keeper" one is. All it takes is a momentary loss of power, a bump, or a failing write-head during a write operation to wipe a drive out. Chaos happens. This is why experts always suggest that regular backups be made before using such apps.

Donald L McDaniel:)