Hard Disk drive in Optical Bay

[Awfisch]

I have an extra old HDD that I don't use any more. It was from a machine running Windows Vista. As I am nearing full on my current 500 GB HDD on my Macbook Pro, I was wondering if it is very hard to put my Vista disk drive in my optical bay, and how would I make it so that it is mountable and usable as another hard disk drive on my computer?

I bet there are other threads on this, but I couldn't find any. Thanks!

Here's the caddy I'm looking at buying:

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If the HDD from your Vista computer is a 2.5" HDD with a maximum height of 9.5 mm, then it will work, though you won't be able to boot Vista from it, as far as I know.

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Overview of the four major file systems (called "Formats" in Mac OS X) used on Windows and Mac OS X, compiled by GGJstudios. You can use Disk Utility to format any HDD to your liking.

Any external hard drive will work with PCs or Macs, as long as the connectors are there (Firewire, USB, etc.) It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can re-format any way you like. Formatting can be done with the Mac OS X Disk Utility, found in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Here are your formatting options:

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)

• Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
• Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
  [*]To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
  [*]To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
• Maximum file size: 8EiB
• Maximum volume size: 8EiB
• You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)

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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MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD​

How to format a new HDD/SSD to install Mac OS X or make a bootable copy onto​

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Maybe have a look at Advanced Search to find similar threads:

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[wikus]

If the HDD from your Vista computer is a 2.5" HDD with a maximum height of 9.5 mm, then it will work, though you won't be able to boot Vista from it, as far as I know.

Vista should boot from it no problem, or any other operating system.

Its the XP/Vista/Win7 install discs that won't boot from that point on because they'll need to use an external DVD drive. Only way around that is to put the ODD back into the bay.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Vista should boot from it no problem, or any other operating system.

Its the XP/Vista/Win7 install discs that won't boot from that point on because they'll need to use an external DVD drive. Only way around that is to put the ODD back into the bay.

Okay, wasn't sure of that, the booting Windows part. Only the external ODD/HDD issues Windows has, was known to me.