help - format HFS to NTFS?

[monkeymann]

as the title suggests, i'd like to format my old osx hard drive to NTFS..

when i try it from windows it says that the drive is in use and won't allow it, even though it's a completely seperate drive..

anybody know of any method or suitable program out there to help with this sort of thing?

 

[j4g3rb0mb3d]

I had the same problem. I ended up using Ubuntu to format the drive to FAT32, and then used my Windows 7 cd to format to NTFS. I think you can just format to NTFS directly using Ubuntu, but for whatever reason it just working for me. Your results may vary if you go this route.

It's always a nice thing to have Ubuntu on a CD just in case of things like this. The utilities that come with Ubuntu are actually really powerful.

 

[monkeymann]

thanks for the response..

sounds like a decent idea though i've actually removed my dvd-drive for an SSD so i'd rather stay away from booting from cd's if i could..

i was hoping i could just download a program perhaps for either windows 7 or snow leopard to resolve it, looks like it's a little more difficult than i thought

 

[telecomm]

Format to FAT32 (it's listed as MS-DOS (FAT)) in OS X using Disk Utility, then reformat to NTFS from Windows.

No Linux required.

 

[maflynn]

I had/have the same problem. Seems like a stupid problem, perhaps its related to the partition type of the drive

 

[balamw]

I'm not clear on this, but are you trying to reformat it from Windows on your Mac? If so it is probably in use because of the read only HFS+ drivers and you need to unmount it before you reformat it.

I believe you can do this in Disk Management. Otherwise, as folks have suggested here, do so under Mac OS.

NOTE: You can also install ubuntu or gparted live on a USB flash drive instead of a CD. Very handy.

B

 

[monkeymann]

Format to FAT32 (it's listed as MS-DOS (FAT)) in OS X using Disk Utility, then reformat to NTFS from Windows.

No Linux required.

this worked like a charm don't know how i didn't think of it myself!

problem solved, thanks guys