External Hard drive on macbook pro can i share it via wifi to my pc.

[agentgore99]

The MacBook Pro is a late 2011 model and the pc is a hp pavillion dv4.
The external hard drive is a western digital mybook portable drive.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Yes, just add it to the "Shared Folders" section in System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing and give the appropriate permissions.

 

[old-wiz]

You also have to make sure both systems can read/write to the drive.
There are discussions in the forum about this; it all depends on how big the files are going to be and whether or not you want to install add-ons to the OS to read different disk formats.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You also have to make sure both systems can read/write to the drive.
There are discussions in the forum about this; it all depends on how big the files are going to be and whether or not you want to install add-ons to the OS to read different disk formats.

If the HDD is connected to the Mac and formatted with HFS+, Windows can write to it via a network connection, despite its file system. It is the same way, for writing to an NTFS formatted volume, which is connected to a Windows PC, via a network connection from a Mac.
The network protocol takes care of it.
The only consideration is file size though, if the HDD is using the FAT32 format.

____________________________________________________________

Overview of the four major file systems (called "Formats" in Mac OS X) used on Windows and Mac OS X, compiled by GGJstudios. You can use Disk Utility to format any HDD to your liking.

Any external hard drive will work with PCs or Macs, as long as the connectors are there (Firewire, USB, etc.) It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can re-format any way you like. Formatting can be done with the Mac OS X Disk Utility, found in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Here are your formatting options:

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.

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.

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 internal hard drive.
  [*]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
• 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)

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.

____________________________________________________________
​

 

[agentgore99]

Thanks.

Ill try it not right now though as a have a lot to get done.

 

[old-wiz]

from simsaladimbamba
---------------
if the HDD is connected to the Mac and formatted with HFS+, Windows can write to it via a network connection, despite its file system. It is the same way, for writing to an NTFS formatted volume, which is connected to a Windows PC, via a network connection from a Mac.
The network protocol takes care of it.
The only consideration is file size though, if the HDD is using the FAT32 format.
--------

for some reason I missed that it was going to be shared via wi-fi. I must have been half asleep. I was thinking he was going to plug into one machine, use it, then move the disk to another machine.

 

[blux]

external drive for Pc & Mac

Hi,
Does anyone use a portable external hard drive on both PC and mac?
While i appreciate that hardware SHOULD make no difference, i have in the past formatted ext drives to FAT32, which were then not recognised when plugged into a PC.

I need to access a range of files and file types daily on both PC and mac(bookpro) machines every other day. Previous solutions were:
flashdrive (but takes 45min to save files on PC)
dropbox (but now IT at uni don't allow download and using online doesn't work with some applications)

Can anyone suggest an external drive they routinely use (and have no problems with) to read and write to on both mac and pc machines?

Alternatively, is there another way to access files daily across two locations and machine types? I can't download anything to the PC as the system is locked.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[mfvisuals]

Hi,
Does anyone use a portable external hard drive on both PC and mac?
While i appreciate that hardware SHOULD make no difference, i have in the past formatted ext drives to FAT32, which were then not recognised when plugged into a PC.

I need to access a range of files and file types daily on both PC and mac(bookpro) machines every other day. Previous solutions were:
flashdrive (but takes 45min to save files on PC)
dropbox (but now IT at uni don't allow download and using online doesn't work with some applications)

Can anyone suggest an external drive they routinely use (and have no problems with) to read and write to on both mac and pc machines?

Alternatively, is there another way to access files daily across two locations and machine types? I can't download anything to the PC as the system is locked.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Nice thread hijack.

If you bothered to read the rest of this thread, you'd see that the you can use any external hard drive as long as you format it in a manner that will allow both Mac's and PC's to access it.

If you're asking for a specific recommendation, you'll need to be more specific about your needs. Super portable or desktop external drive? What capacity? What kinds of files will you be needing to access and store on the drive?