External Hard Drive for Mac and Windows?

[Wmhunt]

Hi all,

I'd like to have an external hard drive that will work on both Mac and Windows units, and I know that I can do that in the formatting of the drive. I'd also like to be able to make use of Time Machine. If I have a drive that is formatted in this way, can I still use Time Machine on the same drive, or will I need two separate drives?

A followup question...can I run Time Machine on two different Macs on the same drive?

What's my easiest solution to do everything I'd like to do? Thanks!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Time Machine requires Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, so not readable on Windows.

It's possible to do two partitions - one for TM, one for Mac/Windows sharing, but some people have reported problems with that.

 

[munakib]

You have to make two partitions (thats if you must have TM), make the 2nd exFAT so both can read it, otherwise you can also format it to ntfs and grab http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

 

[Wmhunt]

Ah okay. I won't be concerned if the TimeMachine stuff can't be read on my Windows machines. It's fine to keep that Mac only. Does that change anything?

 

[munakib]

Ah okay. I won't be concerned if the TimeMachine stuff can't be read on my Windows machines. It's fine to keep that Mac only. Does that change anything?

Then you are good to go - start formatting!