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What do you think of this external hd for MacBook Pro?

R

rkaria19

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 27, 2011
15
0
Hi,

Earlier last month I was looking for a suitable external hard drive for my MacBook Pro that would be compatible with Windows too because my work have PCs and not Macs.

I was looking for 1tb or 2tb but was very hesitant on the price. I was looking at under £100 so it meant a firewire one or from Apple website was out of the question.

I just want good storage at an acceptable speed. I've found this.

http://www.ebuyer.com/275642-touro-desk-black-2-tb-3-5in-7200-rpm-htoldxeb20001bbb-in-0s03292

Would it suitable? The big question I wanted to ask, would I be able to use it properly on both Mac and PC? It says compatible with both operating systems but I was hoping it meant compatible to read and write on both. Would there be any need for this partition stuff?

Would be great to hear your views.

Thanks.
 
It's USB, so it'll work with both. Probably already formatted FAT32 if not you can and read/write by both operating systems.

Drawback is that if you want to use it for Time Machine you will need to create an HFS+ partition on it though, as TM won't back up to a FAT32 Volume.
 
Ccrew said:
It's USB, so it'll work with both. Probably already formatted FAT32 if not you can and read/write by both operating systems.

Drawback is that if you want to use it for Time Machine you will need to create an HFS+ partition on it though, as TM won't back up to a FAT32 Volume.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

So for any external hard drive to read/write Mac and PC, it has to be FAT32 right?

Sometime I would probably want to use it for Time Machine. Would that partition be hard to create?
 
rkaria19 said:
Thanks for your reply.

So for any external hard drive to read/write Mac and PC, it has to be FAT32 right?

Sometime I would probably want to use it for Time Machine. Would that partition be hard to create?
Click to expand...


You'd either have to format the partition FAT32 or exFAT for both systems to see it natively, or you'd have to format it NTFS and put something like Paragon NTFS on the OSX side to read it, or format it HFS+ and put HFS+ drivers on the Windows side. One way it costs you nothing, but you lose Time Machine if it's a single partition, other way you're looking at spending $20us or so.

Partitioning is very easy, that's what Disk Utility is for, but remember it's data destructive, so do it first.
 
rkaria19 said:
So for any external hard drive to read/write Mac and PC, it has to be FAT32 right?
Click to expand...
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

Choose the appropriate format:

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

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, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, 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
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.

exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • 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
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
 
GGJstudios said:
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

Choose the appropriate format:

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

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, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, 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
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.

exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • 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
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
Click to expand...

Ccrew said:
You'd either have to format the partition FAT32 or exFAT for both systems to see it natively, or you'd have to format it NTFS and put something like Paragon NTFS on the OSX side to read it, or format it HFS+ and put HFS+ drivers on the Windows side. One way it costs you nothing, but you lose Time Machine if it's a single partition, other way you're looking at spending $20us or so.

Partitioning is very easy, that's what Disk Utility is for, but remember it's data destructive, so do it first.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the advice guys.

So it would be a case of formatting an external hard drive to the correct format right? Would I be right in saying exFAT would be best because I use Mac OSX Lion at home and at work it is all Windows 7.

Then if I want to do Time Machine in the future I just make a new partition? I'm firstly buying a hard drive for storage purposes really. TimeMachine is something I would like to do later though.
 
rkaria19 said:
Would I be right in saying exFAT would be best because I use Mac OSX Lion at home and at work it is all Windows 7.

Then if I want to do Time Machine in the future I just make a new partition?
Click to expand...
Yep, that would work.
 
Thanks for the info, just got a WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB. I plan on using half for Time Machine and half for general storage :)
 
Just a side question, I have a late 2011 MBP and a PS#. I use my PS3 for media as well, so generally just plug in a external drive which I also use on my MBP. My only real issue now is that, due to the FAT formatting I can't put MKVs over 4.XXGB on there. It's not a huge deal, I have plenty of space on my HDD, but was wondering of there's a way short of partitioning that would allow me to put the larger files on there and still be able to be read by my PS3.
 
Interstella5555 said:
Just a side question, I have a late 2011 MBP and a PS#. I use my PS3 for media as well, so generally just plug in a external drive which I also use on my MBP. My only real issue now is that, due to the FAT formatting I can't put MKVs over 4.XXGB on there. It's not a huge deal, I have plenty of space on my HDD, but was wondering of there's a way short of partitioning that would allow me to put the larger files on there and still be able to be read by my PS3.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no, that file size limitation is a function of the formatting. Sounds like you understand the partitioning to get around it so I won't go there.

Personally if it's a drive I have to switch between machines or travel with I format it NTFS. I run Paragon on all my Macs and it works flawlessly and I just consider that $20 as the "cost of doing business".
 
Ccrew said:
Unfortunately no, that file size limitation is a function of the formatting. Sounds like you understand the partitioning to get around it so I won't go there.

Personally if it's a drive I have to switch between machines or travel with I format it NTFS. I run Paragon on all my Macs and it works flawlessly and I just consider that $20 as the "cost of doing business".
Click to expand...

Thanks. Like I said, it's not a big deal and it's not like my PS3 can play MKV's, just would be nice to do. I'll look into NTFS and see if the PS3 supports it.
 
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