Accesing/modifying my XP partition from OS X

Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac' started by loztheguru, Sep 17, 2006.

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  1. loztheguru, Sep 17, 2006

    loztheguru macrumors member

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    #1
    I want to be able to swap files (music etc) between my OS X and my windows partition, so that when i boot up into XP i can access them. However, I cannot write to the drive as I have read-only permissions. Anyone know of a way of changing this?

    Im sure its a quick and easy fix ive just not managed to discover it.
     
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  2. rtdgoldfish, Sep 17, 2006

    rtdgoldfish macrumors 6502a

    rtdgoldfish

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    #2
    In order for OSX to access the XP partition, the XP partition has to be formated in FAT32 I belive. To fix it, I think you will have to reinstall Windows and format the partition through the Windows installer.
     
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  3. Osarkon, Sep 17, 2006

    Osarkon macrumors 68020

    Osarkon

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    #3
    Just to add as well, you can't access the OS X partition from Windows. Not that I know of anyway, perhaps there's a tool out somewhere that will let you.
     
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  4. dreamsINdigital, Sep 17, 2006

    dreamsINdigital macrumors 6502

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    #4
    Alternatively, you could install MacDrive on XP which will allow you to read and write to your OSX partition through Windows.
     
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  5. plinden, Sep 17, 2006

    plinden macrumors 68040

    plinden

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    #5
    Is there any enterprising C++ programmer out there who wants to try to port ntfs-3g to OS X?

    I've been using it on my dual boot XP/Linux laptop recently, and it gives me full NTFS read/write support.
     
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  6. loztheguru, Sep 17, 2006

    loztheguru thread starter macrumors member

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    #6
    I did consider that, but theres stuff on the windows drive that I need in OS X, so its not really an option. For example, my desktop background folder is located on the windows drive, and so being able to add to it from both XP and OS X would be useful. Anyone know of a way round this?
     
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  7. dreamsINdigital, Sep 17, 2006

    dreamsINdigital macrumors 6502

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    #7
    I believe the only way would be to reformat with FAT32.
     
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  8. topicolo, Sep 17, 2006

    topicolo macrumors 68000

    topicolo

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    #8
    If you do decide to reformat to FAT32, you should know that it doesn't support files over 4GB in size and that the directory structure is much easier to corrupt after a crash. The best way to ensure easy transferring of files between your mac and windows partitions is to be running XP through Parallels, which lets you access the mac partition as a folder inside of windows.
     
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  9. balamw, Sep 17, 2006

    balamw Moderator

    balamw

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    #9
    I should go try this, but I'm not near my iMac now.

    You should be able to read/write an NTFS file system from within Parallels, giving you RW access while booted to OS X.

    ntfs-3g as suggested by plinden sounds like a real huge step forward in NTFS support under non-MS OSes. I wonder if there is a userland version of it, kind of like the ext3 browsers that have existed for Windows? I can't wait to see what happens to it.

    B
     
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  10. thebeephaha, Sep 17, 2006

    thebeephaha macrumors 6502

    thebeephaha

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    #10
    HFS support in Windows = MediaFour MacDrive :D
     
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