FireWire Enclosures

[Kwyjibo]

I'm an ibook user and i'm considering buying a firewire usb2.0 3.5/5.25 enclouse and I have a few questions.
1) I know this sounds strange but can I partition it so half is HFS+ and half is fat32?
2)If Windows can't read hfs+ will i be forced to format in fat32?
3) any horror stories i'm looking at buying one from wwww.cn-sol.com and they seem to offer a good deal


Thanks for reading another dumb question from Kwyjibo

 

[Rower_CPU]

Could you fill in some details about how you plan to use it first?

I assume you want to hook it up to a PC since you're asking about fat32, but what are your plans for the hfs+ partition? Are you going to install a system there, or just keep data?

If you only want data, you can just leave the whole thing as fat32, since Macs can read that format.

 

[Kwyjibo]

ok

sorry for the vagueness, i plan to keep data and backups on this drive but I had an intersting issue with my ipod. I had a winpod and decided that i would convert it to hfs+ and the speed of copying to the ipod almost doubled. I'm not sure why this was but i was amazed at the faster writing to an hfs+. I also plan to get a faster CDRW because I would liek the higher speed and the ibook one just gets to loud and hot when burning a cd. does that help?

 

[Rower_CPU]

Hmmm...there may be a little extra latency when using fat32 on Mac, but that might be the price you have to pay for greater compatibility.

If you still want to set up two partitions, start out on the PC creating your partitions, both in fat32. Then take the drive to the Mac and reformat the partition you want to make hfs+.

 

[Billicus]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
Hmmm...there may be a little extra latency when using fat32 on Mac, but that might be the price you have to pay for greater compatibility.

If you still want to set up two partitions, start out on the PC creating your partitions, both in fat32. Then take the drive to the Mac and reformat the partition you want to make hfs+.

OS X can read fat32, but I thought it had problems reading it.

 

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by Billicus
OS X can read fat32, but I thought it had problems reading it.

Such as?

I've mostly only used PC formatted Zip disks in OS X and they've worked just fine. Anyone have experience with PC formatted hard drives?

 

[alex_ant]

FAT32 doesn't support resource forks though, does it? Copying a file with a resource fork to the FAT32 filesystem will transparently strip off the resource fork, and that won't be good for a lot of Classic & Carbon programs.

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

ive never heard of that vendor but they look subpar to me. they do not provide the normal information regarding the kit. seems fishy. probably a cheap case. i would go with a more reputable vendor if i were you. you might spend a little more money but it won't break and will operate at firewire's fullest capacity.

www.otherworldcomputing.com
www.transintl.com

these are vendors you can trust. they list the bridgeset used and all the pertinent information.