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qwerty0033

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 5, 2011
25
0
Hi, I run Snow Leopard natively on my MBP, and have installed Windows 7 on bootcamp.

So, i boot into Win7 and i can read files on my Mac partition but i cant edit/ write to them.
I was wondering if there was any way to edit/write files on Mac partition while being in Win7 partition.

I've done my search and found MacDrive to be an option, but it costs a lot where i'm from. Are there any free alternatives?

Thanks :)
 
Alternatively, you could create a third partition on your laptop and format it as FAT32 or exFAT and keep all of your data on there so both Windows and Mac and read & write the files.
 
I haven't found anything that works well for Windows. I would recommend that you give MacDrive a try or look a Paragon. Both are well maintained and if there is an issue have tools to help you repair the partition.
 
Alternatively, you could create a third partition on your laptop and format it as FAT32 or exFAT and keep all of your data on there so both Windows and Mac and read & write the files.

Hmm, FAT32 only allows for 4GB, right? Anyway, can you please tell me how this can be achieved? Links would be appreciated :)

I haven't found anything that works well for Windows. I would recommend that you give MacDrive a try or look a Paragon. Both are well maintained and if there is an issue have tools to help you repair the partition.

I see, but like i said, MacDrive is paid.. So is Paragon.. i need a free version, if you know of any. thanks :D

Side note: Did you know that NTFS Mounter works perfectly and quietly for writing NTFS from HFS?

Cheers :)
 
Last edited:
Individual files can only be 4 gig in size. The partition itself can be much larger

So, does this mean that I can transfer files that are 4GB or less at once into the FAT32? Assuming as an example I have a 20GB video, I wont be able to transfer it into the FAT32, right?


And also, I wanna ask: does it mean that while in Windows 7, i put my files into the FAT32, and then boot into OS X and retrieve it from the FAT32? And this works vice versa, right?


One more thing, files on FAT32 can be read/written by both Windows 7 AND OS X?
 
exFAT supports larger files

So, does this mean that I can transfer files that are 4GB or less at once into the FAT32? Assuming as an example I have a 20GB video, I wont be able to transfer it into the FAT32, right?

You can´t store your 20Gb video file on a FAT32 file system but you can on an exFAT file system.

NTFS
* Windows read/write
* OS X read/write (write requires a free driver NTFS-3G)
* Support large files

HFS+
* Windows can´t read/write
* OS X read/write
* Support large files

exFAT
* Windows read/write
* OS X read/write
* Support large files

FAT32
* Windows read/write
* OS X read/write
* Only support file size below 4Gb

Apple added exFAT support around 10.6.4.
 
So, does this mean that I can transfer files that are 4GB or less at once into the FAT32? Assuming as an example I have a 20GB video, I wont be able to transfer it into the FAT32, right?


And also, I wanna ask: does it mean that while in Windows 7, i put my files into the FAT32, and then boot into OS X and retrieve it from the FAT32? And this works vice versa, right?


One more thing, files on FAT32 can be read/written by both Windows 7 AND OS X?

Hi, I have my MBP set up with OS X, W7 and a FAT32 partition so I think I can answer your questions:

You will not be able to transfer your 20GB video file to the FAT32 partition. It will give you an error. But you can work with files that are 4GB and less.

Files on the FAT32 partition will be available and accessible from both OS X and Windows 7. You should have no problems reading and writing to the partition from either operating system. Good luck!
 
I'd say suck it up and buy Macdrive. It works great and I often edit files and save on the windows side into my mac partition.
 
You can´t store your 20Gb video file on a FAT32 file system but you can on an exFAT file system.

NTFS
* Windows read/write
* OS X read/write (write requires a free driver NTFS-3G)
* Support large files

HFS+
* Windows can´t read/write
* OS X read/write
* Support large files

exFAT
* Windows read/write
* OS X read/write
* Support large files

FAT32
* Windows read/write
* OS X read/write
* Only support file size below 4Gb

Apple added exFAT support around 10.6.4.


Thanks, that was informative :)
However, it still doesn't solve the bit that i need to write onto the HFS partition FROM the NTFS(windows) partition.


I'd say suck it up and buy Macdrive. It works great and I often edit files and save on the windows side into my mac partition.

If i COULD suck it up and buy Macdrive, would I have started this thread, considering i already know about it?
 
OP, after reading the responses to your thread and seeing that there aren't too many viable solutions to your issue, I recommended what I said earlier. I didn't mean to suck it up in the beginning.

So I recommend you not deal with this anymore, buy the software, and be on your way =).
 
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