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How to Make Mac OS Extended to NTFS?

L

littlegreenyoda

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 4, 2009
61
0
Hi,

I currently have a mac and a windows pc, and need to transfer files between these two computers.

My Harddisk was formatted to Mac OS Extended and can someone please guide me how to format it to NTFS since Windows cant recognize my harddisk?

Thank you
 
You can't convert from one to the other without losing all your data. And OS X can't run on an NTFS partition.

Having said that:
Open up Disk Utility and erase the drive, tell it to format as NTFS.
 
cant the OP install flip4mac to transfer some files? I know it is limited to 4GB files (no single file larger than 4GB)...
 
I meant ntfs-3g, not flip4mac. Funny that i said that because I was using it earlier:) .
 
Yes, its an external hard disk.

My data is not important. So its alright to wipe it all out.

Just that i need some guidance on how to format it to NTFS-3G by using macbook so that my windows pc can also transfer files in and out of this hard-disk

Thanks!
 
littlegreenyoda said:
Yes, its an external hard disk.

My data is not important. So its alright to wipe it all out.

Just that i need some guidance on how to format it to NTFS-3G by using macbook so that my windows pc can also transfer files in and out of this hard-disk

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Have you tried the disk utility thing I suggested many posts ago?
 
Install MacFUSE and NTFS-3G, then use Disk Utility to format, as Jimmy says.
 

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TuffLuffJimmy said:
You can't convert from one to the other without losing all your data. And OS X can't run on an NTFS partition.

Having said that:
Open up Disk Utility and erase the drive, tell it to format as NTFS.
Click to expand...

Yes. Tried it but the prob is i do not see NTFS in the dropdown box.

I only saw NTFS at "partition".

Yes. MacFuse is installed together with NTFS-3G, but under the "Erase" Tab, i do not have this option.

Thank you for the screenshot btw.
 
BlueRevolution said:
Use Windows to format it instead. I don't use Windows much, but I think you just have to right-click on the drive and select Format.
Click to expand...

I cant. Windows cant detect my HDD which is already in Mac OS Extended.

What is RAID? I can only see NTFS-3G under RAID
 
I honestly don't know much about Windows... I just know that you don't have the option to format to NTFS in OSX, and Windows won't recognise a MacOS Journaled drive..

*edit* NTFS 3g is Mac OS software to allow you to read and write to that NTFS partitioned drive on your Mac. It has nothing to do with the formatting of the drive in Windows.
 
Shownarou said:
I honestly don't know much about Windows... I just know that you don't have the option to format to NTFS in OSX, and Windows won't recognise a MacOS Journaled drive..

*edit* NTFS 3g is Mac OS software to allow you to read and write to that NTFS partitioned drive on your Mac. It has nothing to do with the formatting of the drive in Windows.
Click to expand...

Ok. i will try tomorrow morning on my windows pc!

Thank you Shownarou!
 
Actually, Windows should see the drive, even if it can't be read. I use MacDrive when I run Boot Camp, but before MacDrive is installed, Windows always prompts me to format the "unreadable" Mac-formatted drives/partitions. I can see them listed with drive letters in My Computer, but double-clicking on the drives (if memory serves) just opens an empty window.
 
BlueRevolution said:
Actually, Windows should see the drive, even if it can't be read. I use MacDrive when I run Boot Camp, but before MacDrive is installed, Windows always prompts me to format the "unreadable" Mac-formatted drives/partitions. I can see them listed with drive letters in My Computer, but double-clicking on the drives (if memory serves) just opens an empty window.
Click to expand...

Really? I've never had Windows ask that when using a partitioned boot drive to boot Windows. Maybe if you are using an external or something? In the times I have installed it, Windows knows there is a partition there but doesn't recognize it or display it otherwise.

Using a flash drive formatted for Mac I have seen that, and then when you try to open it up it's a blank window and it asks to format it. Then again, I exclusively use XP and not Vista.

I'm not implying anything, just sounds odd to me.



And for the OP, if you format the drive as MS-DOS, it uses an old FAT format which is the same as all flash drives use which is Windows/Mac compatible. but has a single file limit of 4GB. If you don't have such large files then I would suggest it for the best compatibility and stability. If you end up formatting the drive to NTFS, Windows can read and write files to it, but the Mac OS can only read the files, as mentioned earlier in a few seperate posts. So you would be able to take files from the PC to the Mac, but not the other way around.

The problem with NTFS in general, and specifically with NTFS3G being used on a Mac, if you do not eject the device properly you can lose the file system and all data on it. It's not so much a problem on Windows because Windows knows it's a problem, and it's not so much an issue with NTFS being used on a Mac because it can only view the file system, but with the NTFS3G, if you disconnect the drive, or you have a power failure you're more likely to have a serious problem than with FAT.
 
I'm an XP user as well. All I do on Windows is play games, and I'd rather use a lighter OS for the purpose.

I'm pretty sure Windows reacts that way, anyway. It has been a long time since last I installed Windows. Maybe, as you say, it was reacting to my Time Machine external hard drive.

I have my other external drive formatted to NTFS, since NTFS doesn't have the fragmentation problem that FAT does, and I do often deal with files > 4 GiB. I have on several occasions had problems with the drive refusing to mount, but simply connecting the drive to a running Windows computer and properly ejecting it is all that it takes to get the drive back to normal. By my understanding, this is because NTFS has an "in use" flag that NTFS-3G sees and respects, while Windows clears the flag properly but doesn't mind if it's already set when the drive is first connected.
 
BlueRevolution said:
I'm an XP user as well. All I do on Windows is play games, and I'd rather use a lighter OS for the purpose.
Click to expand...

How else are we expected to play Fallout 3 without a new console?

I have on several occasions had problems with the drive refusing to mount, but simply connecting the drive to a running Windows computer and properly ejecting it is all that it takes to get the drive back to normal. .
Click to expand...

I believe I have heard that, but at the same I want to say that it can also turn out disastrous more so than another filesystem in the same situation. However, it may just be my misinformation about seeing people freaking out when they initially encounter that problem.

Edit: This always scared me Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940508. While it says a SP should fix it........ ehhhhhhhhh.
 
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