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Maximum external hard drive size?

danpass

danpass

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jun 27, 2009
2,691
479
Glory
Merry Christmas everyone.

I did a title search for 'external size' and didn't find the answer.

I'm looking at the box of a WD Elements external and it says, verbatim:

"Mac OS X Tiger does not support drives with capacities greater than 2 TB"

That is on both the 2.5 and 3.0 versions.

Is that an issue in Lion?

Just want to make sure, thanks.
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
 
danpass

danpass

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jun 27, 2009
2,691
479
Glory
ok, well on a sidenote (when I go back I'll pick up the 3TB) concerning the NTFS drives I have now:

They were originally formatted in Windows for NTFS. The Mini reads the files just fine but doesn't write to either one.

One is a copy of the other (redundancy)

Can I format one in HFS+, copy the other files onto it, then format the first one in HFS+, copy the files back with no issues in the files?

Just looking for confirmation.


How does this factor in when it comes to bootcamp? Is there ONE good thread about that?

thanks
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
danpass said:
ok, well on a sidenote (when I go back I'll pick up the 3TB) concerning the NTFS drives I have now:

They were originally formatted in Windows for NTFS. The Mini reads the files just fine but doesn't write to either one.
Click to expand...
As indicated in my earlier post, you can enable Mac OS X to read and write to NTFS, which helps if you intend to share the drive with Windows.
 
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