Do regular external harddrive work with iMac??

[LittleGwen]

Hi,

First of all, this is my first iMac so if my question seems ridiculous or stupid, please bear with me.

I'm planning on purchasing an iMac and using it bootcamp to have access to both Windows and OSX system, Windows mostly because of gaming. I have an external harddrive that I use to store movies and music and such on my PC and I was wondering if I can use the same harddrive on my future iMac when it's running windows. I asked a sales associate at Apple and he said he's not 100% sure. When the iMac is running Windows, can I just play the external harddrive and open and play movies and open files normally as I would with a PC??

 

[GGJstudios]

It all depends on the format of the drive.

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)
  • 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.

 

[stridemat]

Edit* What this man said! ^^^^^

Im guessing that the existing partition of the HDD is NTFS?

If so you will need to install NTFS for Mac on your new iMac. You can then read and write to NTFS partitions, or in your case play movies on both the Mac and Windows.

 

[LittleGwen]

Yes, my external harddrive is NTFS. Thank you both for your help and your detailed explanation. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand 100% what you said but what's important is that it's POSSIBLE... right? haha! but do I have to install NTFS for Mac even if I'm only going to open the external harddrive while using windows and not osx?

 

[GGJstudios]

Yes, my external harddrive is NTFS. Thank you both for your help and your detailed explanation. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand 100% what you said but what's important is that it's POSSIBLE... right? haha! but do I have to install NTFS for Mac even if I'm only going to open the external harddrive while using windows and not osx?

Mac OS X can natively read from NTFS drives, but can't write to them. If all you're doing is reading, you're fine. If you want to write, install Paragon. If you're accessing the drive from Windows, you don't need to do anything different.

 

[LittleGwen]

yay! exactly what I wanted to know. thanks a bunch!! guess I'm getting my iMac this weekend!!