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External hard drive question.

M

MrWazanskii

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
27
4
Norway & Sweden
Hi all!

I Just bought a new external hard drive from Seagate (GoFlex Slim 500GB) which is supposed to be compatible to both Mac & PC.

But as stupid as i am i changed the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I realise that the reason the drive is compatible to PC & Mac at the same time is because of the "Paragon NTFS for Mac".

The question is, if i format it back to NTFS through a PC, will the Paragon NTFS for mac be able to detect the hard drive? The program is supposedly only able to detect Seagate hard drives.
 
Your best bet would be to use FAT then it should work on all computers, both Mac and Windows even if Paragon is not installed.
 
stridemat said:
Your best bet would be to use FAT then it should work on all computers, both Mac and Windows even if Paragon is not installed.
Click to expand...
Yeah i know. Is there any differences in performance of the hard drive depending on the format?

I guess i should go for FAT, the only downside is that you can't install files that are bigger than 4GB
 
MrWazanskii said:
The question is, if i format it back to NTFS through a PC, will the Paragon NTFS for mac be able to detect the hard drive?
Click to expand...
Yes, it should. Here's some additional information:

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

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.
 
Paragon

So i even if i change the format back to NTFS, Paragon will be able to see that the hard drive is a Seagate then?

Maybe that's a stupid question but i'm kind of a newbie when it comes to different formats and everything regarding it :p
 
MrWazanskii said:
So i even if i change the format back to NTFS, Paragon will be able to see that the hard drive is a Seagate then?

Maybe that's a stupid question but i'm kind of a newbie when it comes to different formats and everything regarding it :p
Click to expand...
The brand of the drive is irrelevant. The format determines whether the drive can be read/written.
 
GGJstudios said:
The brand of the drive is irrelevant. The format determines whether the drive can be read/written.
Click to expand...
Yeah but the thing is that my other hard drive is in NTFS format and the Paragon for mac-program wasn't able to detect it.

After reading a couple of other threads regarding this program i found out that the Paragon-program that ships with the Seagate hard drive is only able to detect Seagate hard drives.
 
MrWazanskii said:
Yeah but the thing is that my other hard drive is in NTFS format and the Paragon for mac-program wasn't able to detect it.

After reading a couple of other threads regarding this program i found out that the Paragon-program that ships with the Seagate hard drive is only able to detect Seagate hard drives.
Click to expand...
Have you tried getting Paragon directly from the developer, using the link I posted?
 
GGJstudios said:
Have you tried getting Paragon directly from the developer, using the link I posted?
Click to expand...

Nope i haven't. I figured that i don't need to buy it when i only need it for my Seagate hard drive. The question is, if i change the format back to NTFS, will the program see that the hard drive is a Seagate? Probably right?

This text is in the manual that comes with the program:

"This version of the driver comes and can only be used with Seagate storage devices. It needs activation through the Internet within 5 days after the installation, otherwise it will become nonfunctional. So at every system startup you will be prompted to activate the driver."

I have activated it.
 
MrWazanskii said:
Nope i haven't. I figured that i don't need to buy it when i only need it for my Seagate hard drive. The question is, if i change the format back to NTFS, will the program see that the hard drive is a Seagate? Probably right?

This text is in the manual that comes with the program:

"This version of the driver comes and can only be used with Seagate storage devices. It needs activation through the Internet within 5 days after the installation, otherwise it will become nonfunctional. So at every system startup you will be prompted to activate the driver."

I have activated it.
Click to expand...
I can't speak for that version of the app. I only recommend the app from the developer. It appears the version Seagate offers is somewhat crippled in capability.
 
GGJstudios said:
I can't speak for that version of the app. I only recommend the app from the developer. It appears the version Seagate offers is somewhat crippled in capability.
Click to expand...
Yeah i figured that as well. In worst case scenario i either just have to buy the full version of Paragon, or just format it back to Mac OS.
 
GGJstudios said:
I can't speak for that version of the app. I only recommend the app from the developer. It appears the version Seagate offers is somewhat crippled in capability.
Click to expand...
I have one more question Mr.GGJstudios. If i intend to use for both Mac, PC and on my Samsung TV, wouldn't it be the best just to format it to exFAT?
 
MrWazanskii said:
I have one more question Mr.GGJstudios. If i intend to use for both Mac, PC and on my Samsung TV, wouldn't it be the best just to format it to exFAT?
Click to expand...
exFAT should work fine, as long as you're not using that drive for Time Machine or CCC backups.
 
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