Can't see external USB drive in Windows

[guru_ck]

I've got VMWare Fusion installed but when I hook up an external USB drive it only appears in OS X and not in Windows. I need it to show up in Windows so that I can use Partition Magic on it. BootCamp is out of the question since it won't allow me to use it since I have two partitions (how stupid).

Any ideas?

 

[Rustman]

I've got VMWare Fusion installed but when I hook up an external USB drive it only appears in OS X and not in Windows. I need it to show up in Windows so that I can use Partition Magic on it. BootCamp is out of the question since it won't allow me to use it since I have two partitions (how stupid).

Any ideas?

When it's mounted in OSX, hit Command>i and check to see what the disk format is. If it isn't FAT32 Windows won't be able to read and write to it. OSX will read NTFS partitions, but won't write to them. If it's using Apple's HFS I can't imagine (having never considered trying) Windows would even pretend it could understand the format.

There is also something else to consider. I have had EXTREMELY broken hard drives that I have mounted in an external USB enclosure that would not mount in Windows at all. In fact, plugging it in would crash Windows dead. (Gotta love that POS, haven't you?) However, plugging it into the Mac, I was able to retrieve every piece of data which would have been lost for good, otherwise. This is just another reason I'm getting a Mac Pro (when Apple get off their backsides) and not another PC.

You may want to consider checking the health of the hard drive you're plugging in. It could be on the way out. I've had three Seagate drives die on me in the last 6 months.