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drummer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 27, 2012
7
0
Hi guys,

Have another question regarding data transfer from PC to Mac.

I am thinking of investing in an external hard drive to transfer my media (music, movies, documents, photos) from my PC to my new Mac. I've done some hunting for suitable external Hard Drives, and I've noticed that some specify that they are "For Mac."

Without getting into a detailed explanation on the differences between Mac and Windows files, I'm really looking for an answer on whether or not transferring stuff from PC to Mac is as simple as:

1) Connect external hard drive to PC
2) Transfer files to hard drive
3) Disconnect external hard drive from PC
4) Connect external hard drive to Mac
5) Transfer files from hard drive to Mac

I understand that the hard drive will need to be formatted depending on which machine it connects to, but will that render the files useless if I transfer them from one to the other? I.e. if the hard drive is formatted "for PC" for steps 1 and 2, when I connect it to the Mac for steps 4 and 5, will it give me problems?

Sorry for the 'dumbed down' questions. I've tried multiple methods for transferring files from PC to Mac, and it's proving to be much more of a hassle than I anticipated. Some insight and recommendations would be much appreciated. If anyone can speak to the above points and/or recommend a suitable hard drive, it'd be much appreciated.

I've been looking at WD's "My Passport" series, but I've been a bit confused regarding the distinction between the 'For Mac' ones vs. the ones that do not specify an OS.

Thanks!
 
Don't buy one of the external drives labeled as 'for Mac' - Windows cannot (natively) write to HFS+ drives, so you would have to format it as NTFS or FAT32/64 anyway.

To answer your question, yes, transferring files from Windows to Mac is as easy as:

1) Connect external hard drive to PC
2) Transfer files to hard drive
3) Disconnect external hard drive from PC
4) Connect external hard drive to Mac
5) Transfer files from hard drive to Mac

If you want to set the drive up to work the other way around, you will need to format it as exFAT/FAT64, or purchase software that allows you to write to NTFS drives on your Mac.

Here is a helpful bit of information compiled by GGJstudios:

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)

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.
 
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