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I very new... Please Speak Slowly..PC to External HD to MacBookPro..?!?!?!

M

Michael Scoak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2007
3
0
London
Hi, I'm currently using a PC... but I'm 'moving' to a MacBook Pro...
I have just bought an External HD (500GB)... So as I can 1, back up/save all my PC stuff... 2, Transfer everything to my MacBook Pro... over the next few months as to when I need it etc.
Now, I thought that it would be a fairly 'simple' job of moving everything from the PC to the External HD then to the Mac.... BUT, after having a little look around some forums.. I have come to realise (I think?) that it ISN'T as 'simple' as I would've thought!!! Am I right in NOW thinking that my Mac won't/can't write/edit/change the files that are on the External HD because they are currently NTFS....(I haven't even started moving files etc, cause I want to be sure before I start 'formatting' the External HD) Do I need to change them to FAT32 so they can all be edited/worked on on my Mac??.... AND, if so.... would I be able to 'work' on them again on a PC? If you change them... is there any going back?!?!?!?
All the stuff I need to 'work on' is Photoshop stuff... does this make any difference???...Because I 'thought' that So long as it's a 'Photoshop' file it would open on either the PC or the Mac???
ALSO... is it possible to have the External HD with both NTFS and FAT32.. so I CAN use/work on the files either on a PC or a Mac??

I am very confused.com to say the least:confused:
...and I thought this was going to be easy?!?!?!?

Thank you for any help you can give...

Michael
 
1, Relax
2, Format external HDD to FAT32
3, Copy files from PC to external drive
4, Both PC and Mac will be able to read & write with no problem - no matter the file type.
5, Enjoy your Mac :)
 
Thank you... thank you... you've saved the day ... I think!!

l33r0y said:
1, Relax
2, Format external HDD to FAT32
3, Copy files from PC to external drive
4, Both PC and Mac will be able to read & write with no problem - no matter the file type.
5, Enjoy your Mac :)
Click to expand...

Thank you... Thank you...Thank you I33r0y...
(I'm not even sure if I'm using this Forum correctly, I hope this reply works?!?!?)

I shall go off now and start on moving 'stuff'... I may be some time.. haha!!

I will return and let you know how things went.... in a while... don't hold your breath... lots to move!!

Cheers..:)

Michael.
 
May I suggest you COPY rather than MOVE, in the unlikely event of a problem during this process?

Also, ensure you perform a FULL format on the external drive. You may want to leave this process overnight. Formatting will take some time on 500Gb. ;)
 
l33r0y said:
May I suggest you COPY rather than MOVE, in the unlikely event of a problem during this process?

Also, ensure you perform a FULL format on the external drive. You may want to leave this process overnight. Formatting will take some time on 500Gb. ;)
Click to expand...

Okey doke, yep, I will COPY all the stuff... and will do a FULL format on the External HD...

Thanks again... Cheers.:)

Michael.
 
I haven't read it for a while so I'll just mention it. Windows has a size limit for formatting FAT32 drives, so you won't be able to format the HDD on the PC unless you use software like Acronis Disk Director. You'll have to do it on the Mac.
 
Also FAT32 has a limited allowable text character set for file names, so if you try to drag certain files from a Mac formatted hfs disk onto a FAT32 disk then OS X will give you an error saying something about how it can't copy that file because the file name contains an illegal character.
 
Sesshi said:
I haven't read it for a while so I'll just mention it. Windows has a size limit for formatting FAT32 drives, so you won't be able to format the HDD on the PC unless you use software like Acronis Disk Director. You'll have to do it on the Mac.
Click to expand...

To expand on Sesshi's comments:

The maximum volume size for FAT32 is 8TB, but Windows XP format tool only allows you to format to 32Gb.

Therefore, use FAT32FORMAT to format your drive to the maximum capacity.

The maximum single file size is 4GB.
 
My guess is that the external drive you bought will be formatted to use on a PC right out of the box. Copy your files to it an hook it to your new mac. Your mac will recognize the external disk and you will be able to copy your files to it. As already mentioned, you could have problems with some characters that are not allowed in filenames.
 
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