Iomega External Harddrive won't read on PC but will on Mac

[muffinman]

I bought an Iomega Prestige 1TB external harddrive a couple months ago with it running off my Macbook Pro.

I just flew down home for spring break, leaving my Macbook Pro charger at school. However, I do have the harddrive with all my backed up files. The problem is, my PC laptop (Dell, Windows XP) does not recognizes it. When I plug in the harddrive and turn it on, the computer recognizes that there is something plugged in (it gives me the option to safely remove hardware), but there is no sign of the drive anywhere.

Is there anyway my PC can read/recognize it?

 

[GGJstudios]

How is it formatted?

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 in HFS (Mac OS Extended) or FAT32 or NTFS-3G can be done with Mac's Disk Utility.

FAT32

• Read/Write from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
• No individual file larger than 4GB.

NTFS

• Read/Write from native Windows.
• Read only from native Mac OS X
• To Read/Write from Leopard: Install MacFUSE and NTFS-3G. You can install both with NTFS-3G for Mac OS X.
• To Read/Write from Snow Leopard: Guide: Enable native NTFS Read/Write in Snow Leopard
• (Be aware that some are of the opinion that enabling native NTFS in SL is unstable/unreliable, and favor the MacFuse/NTFS-3G method for Snow Leopard)

HFS

• Read/Write HFS from native Mac OS X
• To Read/Write HFS from Windows, Install MacDrive
• To Read HFS (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer

 

[muffinman]

How is it formatted?

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 in HFS (Mac OS Extended) or FAT32 or NTFS-3G can be done with Mac's Disk Utility.

FAT32

• Read/Write from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
• No individual file larger than 4GB.

NTFS

• Read/Write from native Windows.
• Read only from native Mac OS X
• To Read/Write from Leopard: Install MacFUSE and NTFS-3G. You can install both with NTFS-3G for Mac OS X.
• To Read/Write from Snow Leopard: Guide: Enable native NTFS Read/Write in Snow Leopard
• (Be aware that some are of the opinion that enabling native NTFS in SL is unstable/unreliable, and favor the MacFuse/NTFS-3G method for Snow Leopard)

HFS

• Read/Write from native Mac OS X
• To Read/Write from Windows, Install MacDrive

I'm assuming FAT32 but maybe it was HFS...When I purchased it, I just plugged and played. I didn't format it into any other type..

 

[GGJstudios]

I'm assuming FAT32 but maybe it was HFS...When I purchased it, I just plugged and played. I didn't format it into any other type..

Did you just plug it into the Mac or the PC first? If the Mac, it's probably HFS, unless it came pre-formatted.

 

[spinnerlys]

You can find out by right clicking on the HDD icon (wherever it is) and selecting Get Info and look under Format: .

Or use Disk Utility.

 

[GGJstudios]

You can find out by right clicking on the HDD icon (wherever it is) and selecting Get Info and look under Format:
Or use Disk Utility.

I just flew down home for spring break, leaving my Macbook Pro charger at school.

 

[spinnerlys]

Ha, I don't read posts anyway, why do you think I insist on proper thread titles?

This thread title is good and explains everything I need to know, thus no further investigation into the real problem/issue has to be undertaken by me.




Or I was lazy in reading the original post.

 

[appleeater1313]

Same Thing but the other way.

I have my Mass set for a PC and now use a IMAC. Is it the same way for it to be read on a mac if it was formatted for a PC?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I have my Mass set for a PC and now use a IMAC. Is it the same way for it to be read on a mac if it was formatted for a PC?

As posted before by GGJstudios:

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)

• Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
• Maximum file size: 4GB.
• Maximum volume size: 2TB

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: Install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free)
  
• Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx 33USD).
• Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard, 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

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended)

• Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
• Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner 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

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

Macs can read NTFS and FAT32 formatted HDDs, the formats Windows uses the most.