Hi, I was looking for a guide on google on how to reformat an external HD, which is currently set to work with a Mac, to work with a PC? I use a PC more so than my mac and run the HD fine with MacDrive, or whatever it's called, but I'd rather not use MacDrive & just want my HD to work with a PC. Help??
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Mac formatted HD to PC?
- Thread starter Kristofer
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You could always use Disk Utility located in the Applications/Utilities folder to reformat the drive to a supported format (FAT32, NTFS).
OK. I don't know anything about it, so that's why I can't stumble my way through anything. Well, I could, but I'd probably end up disappointed when things go wrong.
You're saying I should plug the mac drive into my mac, and format it as a FAT32 or NTFS? What's the difference between the two? Are they both PC only formats, or something? Is it that simple?
Thanks for the data on this!
You're saying I should plug the mac drive into my mac, and format it as a FAT32 or NTFS? What's the difference between the two? Are they both PC only formats, or something? Is it that simple?
Thanks for the data on this!
NTFS is the preferred format for using it with Windows only. I assume your planning to use the external HDD only with Windows?
Which version of Windows are you running? If you want to completely reformat the drive (i.e. you would lose all the data currently on the HDD) I can help you out as I just did a format from Mac to PC earlier today for my mom.
Which version of Windows are you running? If you want to completely reformat the drive (i.e. you would lose all the data currently on the HDD) I can help you out as I just did a format from Mac to PC earlier today for my mom.
Disk Utility does not have NTFS support, only FAT32 (What Apple calls "MS-DOS").
FAT32 can be read on PC's and Mac's, the only downside is it has a 2GB per file limitation, so if you have lets say files that are larger than 2GB (video files, etc) then you will have problems.
FAT32 can be read on PC's and Mac's, the only downside is it has a 2GB per file limitation, so if you have lets say files that are larger than 2GB (video files, etc) then you will have problems.
FAT32 has a 4GB transfer limit not 2GB, NTFS volumes can be both read/write access with such programs as paragon & MacFuse
NTFS is the preferred format for using it with Windows only. I assume your planning to use the external HDD only with Windows?
Which version of Windows are you running? If you want to completely reformat the drive (i.e. you would lose all the data currently on the HDD) I can help you out as I just did a format from Mac to PC earlier today for my mom.
That would be awesome and much appreciated, thanks!!
Yes, I plan on using it only with windows. If I ever need it for my mac, I have windows with parallels on there, so it's not an issue. NTFS sounds like the way to go.
Alright, let's see here. Please keep in mind that doing this will result in all of your data being lost, so make sure you backup any info that is vital to you. Hook the HD up to your PC then follow these steps:
1) Go to start, and then right click on My Computer
2) In that menu you're going to want to click on manage (if you're using Vista you'll have to click continue)
3) In the root menus at the left, you want to click on Disk Management
4) Now if the hard drive is formatted for Mac, the disk management utility should see the hard drive space as "Unallocated" (which will show up as a black bar on one of the hard drives shown).
5) You'll want to right click the bar with the black bar on top and click on Create Partition
6) In the New Partition Wizard, you'll click Next and then Primary.
7) Decide how big you want the partition to be (typically the whole hard drive, but that's your choice)
8) At the next screen you assign a drive letter (your choice)
9) The next screen will give you a few options. The one you need to pay special attention to is to make sure that you've selected NTFS. No attention needs to be paid to the allocation size, and you can choose how to name the drive.
10) Click next, a screen will appear to validate everything you've done, and then click Finish.
After that it should go through the formatting process. Everything will be erased and it could take a while depending on the size of the drive. I believe there is an option to make it a quick format if you are impatient like me
1) Go to start, and then right click on My Computer
2) In that menu you're going to want to click on manage (if you're using Vista you'll have to click continue)
3) In the root menus at the left, you want to click on Disk Management
4) Now if the hard drive is formatted for Mac, the disk management utility should see the hard drive space as "Unallocated" (which will show up as a black bar on one of the hard drives shown).
5) You'll want to right click the bar with the black bar on top and click on Create Partition
6) In the New Partition Wizard, you'll click Next and then Primary.
7) Decide how big you want the partition to be (typically the whole hard drive, but that's your choice)
8) At the next screen you assign a drive letter (your choice)
9) The next screen will give you a few options. The one you need to pay special attention to is to make sure that you've selected NTFS. No attention needs to be paid to the allocation size, and you can choose how to name the drive.
10) Click next, a screen will appear to validate everything you've done, and then click Finish.
After that it should go through the formatting process. Everything will be erased and it could take a while depending on the size of the drive. I believe there is an option to make it a quick format if you are impatient like me
It is 2GB for video files and audio files. But 4GB for any other file. So if you have DVD ISO's (That you own legally of course) you will not be able to use them under FAT32 as a DVD5 and above are 4+GB.