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Formatting external HDD?

S

Spikeywan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 11, 2012
252
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I bought a Verbatim USB3 512Gb hard drive to ease the transfer from PC to Mac, and to use as a backup once the transfer was complete.

Now I have everything on the Mac, I've discovered that the Mac can't write to the drive. :rolleyes:

Looking at the formatting options, the one that will be compatible with Windows (FAT32) has a maximum file size of 4Gb.

I'm not sure if I have any files larger than that. If I do, what will happen to them during a backup?

Is there a way around this?

I would like to keep PC compatibility, so that I can give people copies of my photos, etc from the external drive.
 
Spikeywan said:
I bought a Verbatim USB3 512Gb hard drive to ease the transfer from PC to Mac, and to use as a backup once the transfer was complete.

Now I have everything on the Mac, I've discovered that the Mac can't write to the drive. :rolleyes:

Looking at the formatting options, the one that will be compatible with Windows (FAT32) has a maximum file size of 4Gb.

I'm not sure if I have any files larger than that. If I do, what will happen to them during a backup?

Is there a way around this?

I would like to keep PC compatibility, so that I can give people copies of my photos, etc from the external drive.
Click to expand...

Use ExFAT.
If you have a file over 4GB, it just wont transfer.
Ive formated all my USBs into ExFAT which bypasses the 4GB limit and still have compatibility to Windows.
 
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

Choose the appropriate format:

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

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 ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
    • For Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, 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.

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.

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.
 
I use Paragon NTFS for the Mac and HFS+ for Windows. It's brilliant. It allows me to use disks that are ideally formatted for their native computer and easily connect them to the other system when I want. (www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/)

I also bought a Firewire800 card for my PC so I don't have to drop down to USB 2.0 speed when using my Mac drives on the PC.
 
Last edited:
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