Can you save into an external hard drive with both Mac and Windows/

[galaksy]

From what I remember you can only save into a hard drive with Mac or Windows but not both, though you can still access files from both?

For those of you who use both Mac and Windows, how do you handle this (external HDD)?

I was thinking maybe I should buy two 4TB external hard drive, one for Mac and one for Windows.

 

[MatsSkoe]

From what I remember you can only save into a hard drive with Mac or Windows but not both, though you can still access files from both?

For those of you who use both Mac and Windows, how do you handle this (external HDD)?

I was thinking maybe I should buy two 4TB external hard drive, one for Mac and one for Windows.

Search the forum, there is a lot of information! In short, yes. If you don't need large files (> 4 GB) use normal FAT, best compatible. If you don't want restrictions use exFAT (compatible with Windows7 and newer). However be sure to format to exFAT on a windows computer!

 

[GGJstudios]

From what I remember you can only save into a hard drive with Mac or Windows but not both, though you can still access files from both?

For those of you who use both Mac and Windows, how do you handle this (external HDD)?

I was thinking maybe I should buy two 4TB external hard drive, one for Mac and one for Windows.

You can partition one drive into two or more partitions, if you prefer. There are several formatting options for each partition. Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

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Choose the appropriate format:

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HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

• Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
• Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac OS X system files. [*]To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive [*]To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
• Maximum file size: 8EiB
• Maximum volume size: 8EiB
• Mac OS X: Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volume and file limits
• You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)

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 and later)
  • 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.

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.

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.

 

[galaksy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exfat#Disadvantages

File size limit of 128 PiB–1 (theoretical 16 EiB–1) bytes.[nb 1] (limited by volume size), raised from 4 GiB−1 bytes in a standard FAT32 file system.[1] Therefore, for the typical user, seamless interoperability between Windows and OS X platforms for files in excess of 4 GiB. (The open FAT32+[4] specification proposes an extension how to store files up to 256 GB on otherwise backward-compatible FAT32 volumes as well. This extension is available in some versions of DR-DOS so far, but is trivial to implement in other FAT32 implementations as well.)

Does this mean that you can or cannot transfer files that are bigger than 4GB for exFAT?

 

[GGJstudios]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exfat#Disadvantages



Does this mean that you can or cannot transfer files that are bigger than 4GB for exFAT?

Of the formats I described, only FAT32 has the 4GB per file limitation. None of the other formats has such a low limit.

 

[galaksy]

Ok, so as long as you format your Windows as exFat, you can seamlessly use Mac and Windows together when it comes to external storage?

 

[GGJstudios]

Ok, so as long as you format your Windows as exFat, you can seamlessly use Mac and Windows together when it comes to external storage?

Yes, with the restrictions and exceptions listed in my earlier post.

 

[galaksy]

I'm not sure what the restrictions are

 

[GGJstudios]

I'm not sure what the restrictions are

Read post #3 and the links. Not all Windows versions support exFAT, you can't use exFAT-formatted drives for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backups, etc.