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paul619LT

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2007
16
0
I have a PC and a MBP, and I want to regularly share files between the two of them. Problem is, my external HDD only works on one of the computers. If I format it HFS+ for my Mac, my PC can't read it. If I format it NTFS, then my Mac can't write to it. I don't want to use FAT32 since it has a 4GB file limit, and I can't use MacDrive on my PC since it's running Vista 64 bit, which isn't supported. Is there any other file system than FAT32 that would be readable and writeable on both computers?
 
Doesn't FAT32 have a larger than 4gb limit?

the 4gb limit is per single file. so if you have a drive full of 5gb ripped movies, you are out of luck.

without buying something like macdrive, i have no idea. i just use the network to push the files from my pc to the mac, and then use a big external in the HFS format to back up the mac. works for me.
 
Doesn't FAT32 have a larger than 4gb limit?

I believe..theres a very low size limit such as 4GB if you "put" FAT32 onto the drive with a Windows computer. But Macs can make it w/e size. But as the other guy said. I believe there is a size limit for files also.
 
if there was a version of macdrive for 64 bit vista, i wouldn't have this problem :(
 
Unless Windows can read a Unix file system (doubtful) you may be out of luck. Fat32 is the only file system that is writable by both operating systems.

However, there is one last thing you can try:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/351476/

I haven't used it myself but supposedly you can write to NTFS volumes with a Mac using that. And I hear it is decent performance.
 
why don't you just make a network share on one of the computers and access it over your lan via NFS from the other computer?
 
Unless Windows can read a Unix file system (doubtful) you may be out of luck. Fat32 is the only file system that is writable by both operating systems.

However, there is one last thing you can try:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/351476/

I haven't used it myself but supposedly you can write to NTFS volumes with a Mac using that. And I hear it is decent performance.

thank you man, so much!
 
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