formatting an exernal drive

[Hibbity]

I recently switched. it's like escaping the matrix

Anyway, I have an external usb drive that i used for my pc. i can copy things from it to my mac, but i cannot change anything on the drive itself, i.e. i can't delete anything off it, add anything to it, etc.

I have te data on it backed up and i want to use m pc to format it. However, XP will only let me reformat in NTFS, and I've heard that you have to have it formatted for FAT32 in order for it to be totally compatible with macs. Is this right, and if so, does anyone know a way that I can format to FAT32 using XP?

Thanks all!

 

[combatcolin]

Macs can READ OR WRITE to FAT32

Macs can only READ from NTFS

So, yes if you want to use the drive on both mchines you will have to format down to FAT32, its not that bad - iPods do this and the advantage for me of lugging 40GB about in my pocket outweighs the increase of storage wastage.

 

[Hibbity]

OK so I formatted it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and now i can only use it on the Mac. My other two options (as far as Disk Utility is concerned) are Mac OS Extended and Unix File System. Will one of these make it so I can use the drive for both windows and Mac?

 

[mcadam]

OK so I formatted it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and now i can only use it on the Mac. My other two options (as far as Disk Utility is concerned) are Mac OS Extended and Unix File System. Will one of these make it so I can use the drive for both windows and Mac?

No, not as far as I know I'm afraid...

A

 

[yellow]

Technically, Panther (post 10.3.5) has "limited" write capabilities to NTFS volumes. But mostly that translates into it not working when you need it, so FAT32 is a much better choice.


1) Select the disk in Disk Utility, NOT what you have named the volume. For example, if you see:

111.8 GB ST3120026A
     HoJu

Select the "111.8 GB ST3120026A". Then go to the Erase tab. "MS-DOS File System" will now be available. This is FAT32.

OR

2) Buy MacDrive for your PC. It will allow the PC to read HFS+.

 

[Hibbity]

Beautiful.

You all are wonderful, my problem is solved.