Access external HDD with both Mac and PC

[knarzie]

As the title says. Can I format an external HDD so I can access with my Mac but also with a PC?

If yes, how would I do that?

edit: a bit more info that might be relevant. This isn't about network sharing. So I would need to be able to connect it via USB to my mac and read/write, and have someone else connect it to their PC at other times to read/write.

Thanks everyone!

 

[MacDawg]

Check out the various file systems here: MR Guide: File Systems

The easiest way is to format it as FAT32 which is MS DOS (FAT) in Disk Utility
This format is read/write for both Windows and OSX but has a 4 GB file restriction

You can format it at NTFS (Windows) and install something like NTFS-3G or Pargon NTFS on your Mac to make it read/write

Or you can format it HFS+ (OSX) and install something like MacDrive on Windows to make it read/write

Hope that helps

 

[knarzie]

thanks.

Disk Utility > erase tab > change from Mac OS Extended Journaled to "Unix file system".


would this work?

 

[reebzor]

thanks.

Disk Utility > erase tab > change from Mac OS Extended Journaled to "Unix file system".


would this work?

Um it would work, but not for what you want.

Open disk util > partition > make 1 new partition and change it to MS DOS (FAT)

 

[LiteSpeed2Endor]

Don't go the FAT32 route. I would highly suggest investing in Paragon or NTFS-3G like MacDawg suggested.

FAT32 is outdated, and has the 4GB limitation to it. You may do it now thinking it is suitable for your needs, but if you ever need to go beyond that limitation, you will be stuck, and then will need to switch to the NTFS software anyways.

Its only like $30 bucks or so, or, if you use bit torrent, I am sure you can find a "discounted" version. Either way, I would suggest that route.

Or, use Macdrive 8 for Windows side and format it as HFS. Again, can be found using torrents.

Currently using both methods on my macbook to have read/write access for bootcamp drive in OSX, and access to OSX drive in Windows.

 

[balamw]

This isn't about network sharing.

FWIW network sharing gets around the issues others have raised by abstracting the file system to standard network calls. Keeping data available to all of my devices (3 Macs each capable of running Windows as well and 1 PC) is what drove me to get an HP MediaSmart NAS box.

Think carefully if your application really require high bandwidth or portability?

B