keeping my current XP HD

[blahbrah]

Hey I know OSX only works with fat32 where as my XP drive is formatted as NTFS. Does this mean that if I turn my current drive into an external it will be read only? Also if it is do you know if I could get a different external and back it up on that as FAT32 and use it for OSX?

Thanks.

 

[Chundles]

Hey I know OSX only works with fat32 where as my XP drive is formatted as NTFS. Does this mean that if I turn my current drive into an external it will be read only? Also if it is do you know if I could get a different external and back it up on that as FAT32 and use it for OSX?

Thanks.

OSX can read-only to NTFS.

If you transfer the files to a FAT32 formatted HDD you will be able to read/write to that disk. Remember, FAT32 has a size limit.

 

[blahbrah]

OSX can read-only to NTFS.

If you transfer the files to a FAT32 formatted HDD you will be able to read/write to that disk. Remember, FAT32 has a size limit.

I had no idea, how big is the FAT32 size limit?

 

[mad jew]

Well, if you format it in OSX it won't have a limit but if you format it in Windows, you'll have a 32GB limit to the drive (only 32GB is recognised). So, format it in OSX. No matter which OS you use to format the drive, it'll have a 4GB limit on file sizes. It isn't capable of storing files over this size.

You might also have some trouble with file names. They can't be too long nor contain illegal characters. Yeah, how the hell can a character be illegal? I dunno, but it can be.

 

[blahbrah]

ok thanks, so I can format it in OSX and transfer the files from my windows machine to it right?

 

[ddekker]

osx ntfs

windows in stock for can not read mac file system, there are programs that allow it, I haven't tried any but also never heard any big success stories.. but bootom line is mac can read NTFS not write, fat 32 has drive size and file size limitation... windows cana read mac... someone on my site said macdrive works well.

good luck

DD

http://trialsoftheswitch.com/index.php/2006/10/04/mac-ntfs/

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, MacDrive's pretty good but unless you work with many files over 4GB, it's probably just easier to format it in OSX as FAT32. In Disk Utility, this format is called MS-DOS File System.

 

[emptyCup]

how the hell can a character be illegal? I dunno, but it can be.

When they are separators. For example, the space character can not be used as part of the spelling of any word.

 

[mad jew]

Thanks, I was being facetious.