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External HDD

Platform

Platform

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 30, 2004
2,880
0
If you have an external HDD and use it for a PC "XP", will it work as in plug and play if I connect it to a mac :confused:

Meaning all the files "pictures, word etc" will all be read on both sides.

Or is it that if you first plug it into a PC it will format to NTFS or if a Mac it will be HFS

if im right :confused:

Edit sorry not HTFS but HFS
 
The best file system for interoperability is Fat-32. Note that XP will refuse to format a sensibly sized disk to Fat-32 but other OSs can manage it. Macs use HFS or HFS+ normally (no idea what HTFS is) but can read and write to Fat drives. Mac OSX can only read NTFS at the moment (it may gain write too).
 
robbieduncan said:
The best file system for interoperability is Fat-32. Note that XP will refuse to format a sensibly sized disk to Fat-32 but other OSs can manage it. Macs use HFS or HFS+ normally (no idea what HTFS is) but can read and write to Fat drives. Mac OSX can only read NTFS at the moment (it may gain write too).
Click to expand...

Thanks for that.

I was just thinking becasue, I would like to buy an external HDD because my internal one is nearly full :eek:

And for the moment I only have a PC but hoping that in the future I will have a mac. So if I now got another HDD that I would use it for my PC then later also use it for my mac, would that be OK and how :confused:
 
Platform said:
Thanks for that.

I was just thinking becasue, I would like to buy an external HDD because my internal one is nearly full :eek:

And for the moment I only have a PC but hoping that in the future I will have a mac. So if I now got another HDD that I would use it for my PC then later also use it for my mac, would that be OK and how :confused:
Click to expand...

Just be sure to get a FireWire drive (USB 2 is slower and drains CPU power), and format it to FAT-32 if possible.
 
Yvan256 said:
Just be sure to get a FireWire drive (USB 2 is slower and drains CPU power), and format it to FAT-32 if possible.
Click to expand...

Thank

Was thinking of getting some sort of a LaCie drive.

But FAT-32 can not be done in big partitions I have heard but would FAT-32 be able to read+write from both a mac and a PC :confused:
 
Platform said:
Thank

Was thinking of getting some sort of a LaCie drive.

But FAT-32 can not be done in big partitions I have heard but would FAT-32 be able to read+write from both a mac and a PC :confused:
Click to expand...

After searching a bit, it seems FAT-32 has a partition limit of 2TB (that's 2000 GigaBytes). If 2TB isn't a "big partition" for you (in 2005), then I'm seriously wondering about your storage needs. ;)
 
Yvan256 said:
After searching a bit, it seems FAT-32 has a partition limit of 2TB (that's 2000 GigaBytes). If 2TB isn't a "big partition" for you (in 2005), then I'm seriously wondering about your storage needs. ;)
Click to expand...

No my storage need are not that BIG at least not yet :p
 
Platform said:
Thanks :eek:

Edit: But would FAT32 support read+write in both OS X and win XP.
Also since windows wont help me what can I use :confused:

When you buy an external HDD, how does it come out of the box: eg a LaCie drive, is it allready formated into some sort or :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes both Windows XP and OSX can read from FAT32 drives, even very big ones. You could use a Linux LiveCD to format the external drive. That way you don't need to mess with your existing setup at all.
 
robbieduncan said:
Yes both Windows XP and OSX can read from FAT32 drives, even very big ones. You could use a Linux LiveCD to format the external drive. That way you don't need to mess with your existing setup at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks

Sorry to be pickey but can it write too :eek:
http://www.knoppix.net/

Is this the correct Linux Live CD :confused:

Also does anyone know how the LaCie drives comes out of the box formated or not if so in what format :confused:
 
I'd recommend buying an enclosure, and then just a normal IDE hard drive, you'll save money, you can pick a design you like for the enclosure, you can easily upgrade the hard drive in an enclosure, and it's just as reliable as a pre-assembled external drive.
 
rickvanr said:
I'd recommend buying an enclosure, and then just a normal IDE hard drive, you'll save money, you can pick a design you like for the enclosure, you can easily upgrade the hard drive in an enclosure, and it's just as reliable as a pre-assembled external drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks

I was thinking about that but I have not found any enclosure that is nice.. I like the LaCie one, but if I find one then it is different :rolleyes:
 
I have heard about some good Backup apps that come with LaCie drives what are they able to do :confused:

And I have use an old external drive before.. it was a laptop drive 20GB but I did not need to have it plugged into power even under use, there was a power cable but I did not see any difference with it connected or not.

Is it just the 3.5" 7200RPM drives that need it or :confused:

How much is considered normal size of a Desktop drive these days :confused:
 
LaCie 250 GB and 160 GB

Platform said:
Thanks :eek:

Edit: But would FAT32 support read+write in both OS X and win XP.
Also since windows wont help me what can I use :confused:

When you buy an external HDD, how does it come out of the box: eg a LaCie drive, is it allready formated into some sort or :confused:
Click to expand...

I have LaCie 250 GB for my 15" Al PB and LaCie 160 GB for my Windows PC for back up. Both LaCie came out of the box as Mac OS X native. However, when I set up LaCie 160 GB for my Windows PCs, I needed to format LaCie HD for NTFS.
 
YS2003 said:
I have LaCie 250 GB for my 15" Al PB and LaCie 160 GB for my Windows PC for back up. Both LaCie came out of the box as Mac OS X native. However, when I set up LaCie 160 GB for my Windows PCs, I needed to format LaCie HD for NTFS.
Click to expand...

Ok thank a lot ;)
 
Just thought......if you have an HDD.......can you part it so that one part is HFS+ and one other part is NTFS :confused:
 
Platform said:
Thanks

I was thinking about that but I have not found any enclosure that is nice.. I like the LaCie one, but if I find one then it is different :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well, I think this one is pretty darn nice. If you're not in the U.S., you might want to look around to see if anyone near you sells it.
 
sw1tcher said:
Well, I think this one is pretty darn nice. If you're not in the U.S., you might want to look around to see if anyone near you sells it.
Click to expand...

Thanks...........have seen that one.......but it does not have FW800 :(
 
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