changing mac fat32 external hd to nfts?? not as simple as the title seems

[redelmo]

Hi guys,

Im not real experianced with this kinda stuff so I thought i'd ask and see if anyone can help with my problem.

I have a macbook pro with an external harddrive formatted to MS-DOS FAT32 and want it to accept files bigger then 4gb (ie. HD Movies). Is there a way to change the individual movie files to be accepted by the Harddrive or do I have to reformat the harddrive completely?

If I do have to reformat my harddrive what format should i do so?
I want my external harddrive to be able to work on Windows and MacOS as well as accept files of any size (ie. over 4gb at least)

Your help is appreciated. Thanks

red_elmo

 

[BlueRevolution]

You have to reformat the entire hard drive.

If you want to use it with Mac and Windows computers, format to NTFS.

 

[redelmo]

Bumma..

Bumma..

what format is nfts out of the disk utility options?

as shown below?

Thanks

 

[ziggyonice]

Bumma..

what format is nfts out of the disk utility options?

as shown below?

Thanks

Well, hate to say it, but it's not there. See, NTFS isn't turned on by default. So you have to tell your Mac to use NTFS as an option.

Basically if you want this to work, you need to either do a little hacking or download a program called NTFS-3G (much easier).

That will give you the option to format as NTFS, and read/write to the drive on both Macs and PCs, all while being able to copy files more that 4GB.

 

[redelmo]

damm..

damn ziggy...your good

thanks mate, really appreciate it. dont know how you know this kind of information but im grateful. cheers

 

[redelmo]

if..

if Im only wanting the external harddrive for mac use but also want to be able to put files larger then 4gb on it do I still have to format it to NFTS or is there another option?

Thanks

 

[old-wiz]

if Im only wanting the external harddrive for mac use but also want to be able to put files larger then 4gb on it do I still have to format it to NFTS or is there another option?

Thanks

For Mac use only, just use Apple's HFS. No flaky drivers to install.
It's called OSX extended in disk utility.

 

[redelmo]

thanks mate.

so its just the format that the harddrives in macs are. 'mac osx extended (journaled)'

thanks

 

[talmy]

If you don't need to access the large files under Windows, I'd suggest configuring the drive with two partitions -- one HFS for the large files and the second FAT32 for compatibility.

 

[redelmo]

Thats a good idea Talmy.

I think I'll do that so that way my smaller files can still be accessed by Windows.

Cheers mate