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cristo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 16, 2008
117
0
This is probably a stupid question that's been asked before (I couldn't find anything with a search), and may even be in the wrong place, but hopefully you'll be lenient!

Anyway, I've got a usb pen drive with some files etc on that was formatted on my old windows laptop, which then died. Well, there's a .pdf file on there that I could really do with: I was wondering whether I'd be able to plug the usb drive into my macbook and get the .pdf off it?

Course, I could try, but I don't have either with me at work at the moment: if not, then I'll have to try and find another way of getting the file.

Thanks in advance.
 
This is probably a stupid question that's been asked before (I couldn't find anything with a search), and may even be in the wrong place, but hopefully you'll be lenient!

Anyway, I've got a usb pen drive with some files etc on that was formatted on my old windows laptop, which then died. Well, there's a .pdf file on there that I could really do with: I was wondering whether I'd be able to plug the usb drive into my macbook and get the .pdf off it?

Course, I could try, but I don't have either with me at work at the moment: if not, then I'll have to try and find another way of getting the file.

Thanks in advance.

shouldn't be a problem

I have had time getting mac formatted USB keys open in windows ... but never the other way around

shouldn't be a problem

IF you plug it in and it doesn't work --- and it say "inititialize" --- SAY NO

that will wipe it clean ... find another computer
 
If the USB drive was formatted in NTFS, and you have Leopard or Tiger, you can read the drive. You will need 3rd party software to write to the USB drive.

I have a few USB external hard drives, and format them in NTFS because I move between OS X and Windows XP frequently (VMware Fusion and other workstations) for work. I backup my 8gb thumb drive, which I use multiple times daily in Windows, to my Macbook Pro. If that is something that you could use, check out: http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

Format the drive for Windows, so you do not have to mess with your work machine, and use the link above to get write access in OS X.
 
Format the drive for Windows, so you do not have to mess with your work machine, and use the link above to get write access in OS X.

I managed to get the file off the drive. To be honest, I hardly use it anymore, as it's quite old and only has a very small capacity anyway. My work machine actually runs linux (which is one of the reasons I switched to a mac when my windows laptop died). I shouldn't have this problem again, since I'll be accessing most of the files I do need on the work machine remotely from my mac, when needed. This was the one thing I didn't backup on the work machine though!

Thanks for your help, anyway.
 
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