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External Hard Drive Partitions - Mac <-> PC

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instantturtle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
8
0
Redondo Beach, CA
I had some questions about external HD partitions between Macs & PCs.

I have a 200gig Firewire/USB ext HD and created 2 partitions on the HD: one 160 gig HFS - for the Mac - and a 30gig FAT32 - for the PC. After creating the partitions, the FAT32 partition mounts whenever I attach the drive, but the HFS partition never mounts. The only way OSX recognizes it is when I use 'hdid /dev/disk3s1' in Terminal, but I've read that the 'hdid' command isn't the best way to do this and I have to do it manually each time I attach the drive. Is there a better way to partition the drives so that both OSX and WinXP will recognize the drive/partitions? - currently OSX and WinXP recognize the FAT32 partition but NOT the HFS partition.

Help!! and thanks in advance!

P.S. Any recommendations on hard drive enclosures? I have one from CompUSA but I realized it didn't have an internal fan and the drive itself gets kinda warm. I was wondering if this might be a future issue and whether or not I should get one with a fan - hopefully a quiet one.
 
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instantturtle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
8
0
Redondo Beach, CA
When I originally created the partitions, I made them on WinXP without formatting them. I then formatted the drives through OSX in the terminal with the'newfs_hfs xx' and 'newfs_msdos xx FAT 32' (I got this suggestion through macosxhints.com for compatibility reasons). Of course the author alos mentioned it wouldn't mount correctly but when I tried partitioning it through Disk Utility, then WinXP wouldn't recognize the FAT32 drive. Any suggestions?


Originally posted by MacBandit
It should mount automatically. They're may be some problem with compatibility with your enclosure.

Have you opened Disk Utility prior to mounting to see if it recognizes it?
Click to expand...
 
MacBandit

MacBandit

macrumors 604
Aug 9, 2002
7,440
8
Springfield, OR (Home of the Simpsons)
Originally posted by instantturtle
When I originally created the partitions, I made them on WinXP without formatting them. I then formatted the drives through OSX in the terminal with the'newfs_hfs xx' and 'newfs_msdos xx FAT 32' (I got this suggestion through macosxhints.com for compatibility reasons). Of course the author alos mentioned it wouldn't mount correctly but when I tried partitioning it through Disk Utility, then WinXP wouldn't recognize the FAT32 drive. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Have you tried reformatting the drive altogether and setting up the disk partitions through Disk Utility at that time?

Does Disk Utility recognize that the drive is even connected without you having to mount it through the terminal command?
 
I

instantturtle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
8
0
Redondo Beach, CA
Originally posted by MacBandit
Have you tried reformatting the drive altogether and setting up the disk partitions through Disk Utility at that time?

Does Disk Utility recognize that the drive is even connected without you having to mount it through the terminal command?
Click to expand...

I did that first when I first got the drive, setup the partitions, but when I hooked up the drive to Windows XP, it wouldn't recognize the partitions. So I went back to Windows and partitioned it and OSX recognized it, however: The FAT32 partition immediately mounted, but the HFS partition isn't mounting unless I use the 'hdid'. Is there any way to get OSX to recognize/mount both the HFS and FAT partitions?

p.s. Argh. I've tried looking this up through macosxhints.com and osxfaq.com but not getting any hints on why the HFS partition won't mount.
 
MacBandit

MacBandit

macrumors 604
Aug 9, 2002
7,440
8
Springfield, OR (Home of the Simpsons)
Originally posted by instantturtle
I did that first when I first got the drive, setup the partitions, but when I hooked up the drive to Windows XP, it wouldn't recognize the partitions. So I went back to Windows and partitioned it and OSX recognized it, however: The FAT32 partition immediately mounted, but the HFS partition isn't mounting unless I use the 'hdid'. Is there any way to get OSX to recognize/mount both the HFS and FAT partitions?

p.s. Argh. I've tried looking this up through macosxhints.com and osxfaq.com but not getting any hints on why the HFS partition won't mount.
Click to expand...

I really can't be all that much help to you. Sounds like you're doing the sam search for help that I would for someone.

For some reason I'm thinking it might be worth repartitioning and being sure to leave a little space on the drive. Don't use the entire drive between the two partitions. I can't tell you why but it's something I remember from a long time ago but can't remember what it related to.
 
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