External hard drive question

[luminosity]

I got an external hard drive tonight exclusively for use with backing up my photos (particularly RAW files). It's formatted right from the box as being ready for OS X, unlike some hard drives that are formatted for Windows. I know Windows can't read it as it is right now, and so my question is whether I should reformat it in FAT32 so both Windows and Mac can read it, or whether I should leave it alone. Is there a speed difference on OS X if it's formatted a certain way?

 

[redbotsoftware]

There is a file size limitation in Fat32. And there is a bit of speed difference. Also a limit to the size of the file name.
If you need it for both, maybe partition it in Disk Utility. Format a portion in Fat32?

 

[Abraxsis]

Leave it and get Macdrive 8 for Windows, or try HFSExplorer for free.

 

[mahood]

Leave it and get Macdrive 8 for Windows, or try HFSExplorer for free.

Or if you keep it plugged into your mac, you can share it with the windows PC over the network, and let the mac handle everything for you...

Obviously this is no good if you physically move it to the PC's location, of course.

Mark

 

[JDDavis]

Or if you keep it plugged into your mac, you can share it with the windows PC over the network, and let the mac handle everything for you...

Obviously this is no good if you physically move it to the PC's location, of course.

Mark

Although I don't use any PC's all my external hard drives are shared through my iMac and it works just fine. My Aperture library, Itunes library and all home videos are this way. I don't kow if it's truly "sharing" since I never changed any settings to share. I just connect to the iMac with the laptop as an administrator and then everything available to the iMac is there.