The best way to fornat my HD

[dilgit]

I I have the OS X SL installed on a SSD drive as well as Win 7 with Parallels. How should I best format the internal 1TB HD on the imac, so that it's recognized by Win 7 and is available to both OS systems. So that when I'm on win 7, I can transfer/write files to the 1TB HD and do the same with Snow Leopard.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

exFAT maybe?

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.
• exFAT partitions created with OS X 10.6.5 are inaccessible from Windows 7
• 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

 

[Voondebah]

If you're using Parallels, you should be able to stick with HFS+. Just make sure you've installed Parallels Tools in your Windows environment and have the VM settings to allow for sharing.

 

[dilgit]

If you're using Parallels, you should be able to stick with HFS+. Just make sure you've installed Parallels Tools in your Windows environment and have the VM settings to allow for sharing.

Thank You! This tip was very helpful and saved me money. It works with Parallels.