Mac external drive, can i use with PC?

[bob2131]

Hi
i have a 1TB external, which when i bought i partitioned with disc utility i think, 500Gb mac journaled: for backing up macbook with super duper.

The other half of the drive also seems to be mac journaled, ive just checked in disc utility.

I want to use this part of hard drive, to connect to my desktop PC, to back up some stuff on PC. Is this possible?

When i connect external to PC, the PC does not recognise the drive at all.

Can i solve this problem?

Could i format this partition to NTFS, whilst leaving the mac journaled partition with mac backup on there in tact, unaffected?

thankyou

 

[spinnerlys]

You can format the other partition with FAT32 or NTFS, but the problem, AFAIK, is the so-called "partition scheme", which is set to GUID, thus the drive is not really readable natively by Windows. You could give MacDrive a try, it enables reading HFS+ formatted volumes in Windows, or you re-partition, thus losing the data already on the HDD, and use MBR as partition scheme.

via Disk Utility > Partitions > Options

 

[bob2131]

thanks

if i erase the partition to MS DOS FAT using disc utility, will this not solve the problem? and would this leave the mac backup partition in tact?

i think macdrive seems like an easier solution.

 

[spinnerlys]

thanks

if i erase the partition to MS DOS FAT using disc utility, will this not solve the problem? and would this leave the mac backup partition in tact?

i think macdrive seems like an easier solution.

In order for you to use the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition scheme, you have to repartition the complete drive, thus losing the data on the HFS+ volume.

MacDrive is easier, but it is not free.

 

[bob2131]

i dont wanna change GUID, i read it is necessary for something i did before, i cant remember.

but in disc utility, at present, it allows me to choose one partition and erase it to MS DOS, this shouldnt chnage the other partition, im not sure.

 

[spinnerlys]

It shouldn't change the other partition, you can try to format the empty partition with FAT32, but when you click the Partition/Erase button, make sure the message does tell you, only the contents of the empty partition gets deleted (even if empty) and not the whole disk.

If you were successful with formatting the empty partition with FAT32 and the other partition is still HFS+ and still has its data, you can try for yourself, if Windows recognises the FAT32 partition. IF it does not, then it has something to do with that partition scheme I wrote earlier about, thus the only solution is to copy all the data from the HFS+ partition to whatever free HDD or internal HDD you have and repartition the whole drive and set it to Master Boot Record.

Btw, you can use MRoogle to find plenty of similar threads if you like.

 

[Pillar]

In order for you to use the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition scheme, you have to repartition the complete drive, thus losing the data on the HFS+ volume.

MacDrive is easier, but it is not free.

i bought macdrive 8 today and it's simple and easy. no regrets