External hard drive for pc and mac

How can I format my external hard drive to use it with both my pc and mac without deleting everything that's already on it?

No. The process of reformatting the drive wipes out all data on the disk drive.
Allan

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External hard drive for PC and Mac, how to format?

Hi
I have 3 laptops at home which I use for different roles:
1. A recent Macbook Pro with Leopard;
2. PC with Windows XP SP2;
3. PC with Windows Vista.
I have just ordered a powerful external drive (actually four drives of 1TB each in one enclosure, configured into the fastest RAID 0 for my work and storage needs.
I will need to edit High Definition movies directly from that hard drive, so I need to have very fast access to all files (up to 100MB/s - have eSATA connections sorted).
Now my question is how should I format the hard drive so it is read and write accessible by all three computers?
FAT32 is not an option because it has performance issues (and I need my HDD to be really fast) and wouldn't support files larger than 4GB (many of my videos are larger)...
I probably also cannot create 2 separate partitions as I need to use the same files with both Mac and Windows systems (not at the same time but e.g. download a 10GB file with my Vista computer while I am away, later edit it with MBP, then maybe record it onto a blu-ray in my Windows XP machine.)
I am sure there are many people out there with both Macs and PCs that need fast external hard drive where FAT32 is not good, so how do you format it?
Many thanks!

Hi,
if what you are looking for is a 4-disk-raid NAS with e-sata connection, you are looking at US$1000 (without drives) for something like the Allnet ALL6700 or the QNAP TS509pro which can use a 5th disk for raid-5 redundancy. (With a 4-disk-raid-0, the chance of losing ALL data is 4 times higher than when storing on a single disk)
With many NAS-devices, you don't have to worry about the format/file system - as capaho wrote, the box does it for You (don't take my word for it for a specific model). My DLink Nas ist Ext3-formatted and runs fine with OS X and/or XP - but can only be connected via LAN.
If you have connected it to a switch/router and you are accessing it via LAN, don't expect a transfer rate of more than 20MByte/s (Gigabit-Lan) unless using professional equipment.

"How to partition for an external hard drive for windows and Mac backups"

I have two PCs, Dells, and 1 Macbook Pro. They are set up on a wireless network. I would like to set up an external hard drive to backup all three automatically. Does anyone know how I can do this? Do I have to partition the external hard drive?

You would need to partition the hard drive using the GUID partition scheme. Your non-Apple machines would need their partitions formatted MS-DOS (FAT) and the Mac partition would have to be formatted Mac OS Extended. Note, however, that using the MS-DOS format may cause some problems with filenames on an NTFS formatted Windows drive.
Now you could use Mac OS Extended formats on all three partitions, but then you would need third-party software on your Windows machines to enable them to read and write a Mac-formatted drive.

Formatting An External Hard Drive For Windows And Mac

So here is the problem I'm running into. I have a 160GB external HD Passport from Western Digital. When I format it for the Mac, it won't show up on my Windows XP computer at work. If I don format it in Disk Utility as FAT, it won't allow me to transfer large files in OSX.
Is there a way I can get the best of both worlds?

An interesting & refreshingly honest comment (from the author?) about SL-NTFS at http://mac.brothersoft.com/sl-ntfs.html:
"Any encountered problem come from the Apple driver and not from the Preference. If you often need to write on NTFS disk, I recommend you to look for a better solution."
The story behind the story: NTFS is a proprietary file system owned by Microsoft, which doesn't make all its characteristics known to outside developers. Thus, all methods of writing to it rely at least in part on reverse engineering unless they are provided as a part of Windows itself. I'm not entirely sure what the comments about Snow Leopard having this by default disabled capability actually mean, but both the above quote & the fact that it isn't enabled in Snow Leopard as shipped make me wonder how prudent it is to rely on it for routinely saving important data.

Using external hard drive for itunes from mac to windows

Hello, I have an external hard drive for my itunes music connected to a G4. I just bought a laptop (windows) and would like to connect the external drive to it so it will read my music from the external hard drive. How can i do that?
Thanks,
M

You will lose all data when you reformat so you must copy it elsewhere temporarily, as for the format go to: Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility>Erase, in the format dropdown select MSDOS (FAT) and in the name dropdown, type a name.
Copy your data back to it and it will be accessible to windows and osx

I found information on how to transfer my library to a new computer. I am going to use an external hard drive for this and transfer my itunes folder to the new computer. I will then download and install a new version of itunes on my new computer. My q

I found information on how to transfer my itunes library to a new computer. I am going to use an external hard drive for this to transfer my itunes folder to the new computer.
I will then download and install a new version of itunes on my new computer.
My question is this. When I do this, will itunes have all my album artwork for all my library? My library has a lot of my own music and I have spent quite a bit of time copying album artwork that itunes did not add. I am really hoping I don't have to do this again!
Thanks for your help!

If you follow the directions in this Link...
Copy iTunes to an External Drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Everything should be carried across...

My external hard drive for backup and Time Machine is full. I bought a new HD. Can I just begin using it, or must I transfer old BkUp and TM to the new HD?

My external hard drive for Back Up and Time Machine is full. I bought a new HD. Can I just begin using it and rely on the old HD for past Time Machine versions, or must I transfer the old Back Up and Time Machine files to the new HD?

It is your choice.
If you don't want to be able to far back into the time slots covered by the old disk then just start using the new disk.
If you want to retain the ability to go back into those time slots then copy it.
Allan

External hard drive for iPhotos and itunes

I want to move my iPhotos and iTunes libraries to an external hard drive. What are the best external hard drives for a
1. iMac running OSX Yosemite version 10.10.1
2. MacBook Air (I actually want to store my iPhotos library stored currently on my old macbook pro to an external drive but access the library with my new MacBook Air.

My personal preference for EHDs are these: OWC Mercury Elite Pro. I have 6 of them and have no problems with any of them. Be sure to format any drive you get to OS X Extended (journaled) with ownership set to be ignored.
To copy the iPhoto library to the EHD just drag the iPhoto Library package from your Pictures folder to the EHD. When the copying is completed launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and select the EHD library to open it. Once you've confirmed that the EHD library is good and working as expected you can delete the library from your Pictures folder.
Ask in the iTunes forum on how to move the iTunes library.

How can I partition my external hard drive into NTFC and Mac OS Extended Journaled?

I brought a 1tb external hard drive from Western Digital. It currently have one partition which is Mac OS X (Journaled). I want to have two partition, one Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and one NTFC for Windows. When I try to choose 2 partition and choose a partition type, I only get the following choices:
1. Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
2. Mac OS X Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled)
3. MS-DOS (FAT)
4. ExFAT
5. Free Space
I don't want to use MS-DOS (FAT) because I am limited to only 32gb of space and I need plenty of space for Windows files.

Assuming that entire drive is GUID and you keep the existing journaled partition.
Make a second partition that is exFAT (more storage ability than FAT) using DU.
Then mount the drive on a Windows 7 and reformat that exFAT as NTFS. But remember that Mac can read and write exFAT natively, but cannot write NTFS without special software. Perhaps exFAT is what you want.
But more the the point: is the journaled partition used as a backup device? If it is, I would leave that drive alone as a backup drive and use a second device for "data only" sharing between types.

What is the best external hard drive for an older Mac (2007)

Need to purchase an external drive and wondering if the
G-Tech 1TB G-DRIVE mobile USB 3.0 Hard Drive (5400 rpm) - Special Edition
one will work on a 2007 desktop Mac with USB 2 and fully updated to Maverick Version 10.9.2.

Data cloning apps are another and more reliable method of creating a full backup of your Mac's internal hard drive than using and relying on Apple's own Time Machine app for data backups.
Data cloning apps make an exact replica of your internal hard drive that is transferred to to another hard drive.
In your example, tonan externally connected hard drive.
The cloning software transfers everything including a complete working, bootable copy of your currently running OS.
This is a bounus as you get your important data backed up and in addition your whole operating system gets backed up, as well, and you get the additional bonus of being able to boot and run your Mac from that external drive if something happens with your Mac's internal hard drive.
Plus, once you make the initial clone with everything from your internal drive copied, the cloning software can be tweaked to just do incremental backups of just any data the has been recently added to your internal drive,
So, the next day or week or next time you make a backup, the cloning software will only clone data that is new or has been altered since the last time the internal drive was cloned.

Switching external hard drive between pc and mac

I'm planning on buying about a 160-200g external hard drive. I have a pc with windows xp that I use, and I also have an iBook G4. It's becoming an annoyance moving files that I want on both computers, not to mention I am running out of hard drive space on my iBook. So I figured the best solution was an external drive...however I've been reading some posts and it seems as though you can only format them for a mac or a pc, not both. Can I use an external drive on both my computers with out having to partition the drive? Any other info on this would be appreciated. Also, if I can use it on both, can I hook them up simultaneously? Thanks!

yeah the auotplay search on the windows machine on a
large external can take ages but it only did this the
first time with me, but it still does take a lot
longer for it to recognise the drive.
just hit "cancel" button when autoplay starts up - once autoplay starts mean windows has recognized it anyways - it just is doing that to see if it should start up like windows media player or whatever :-P

How to format an external hard drive for vista and snow leopard?

I want to format an external hard drive to attach to Airport Extreme base station to us with Snow Leopard and a PC with Vista. What format should I use for read/write access for both?

I use NTFS for my external drives being used on both Macs and Windows. To get the Mac to write to NTFS, you need a separate program. I use Paragon for Mac software. It works behind the scenes. There are also some free things that do the same thing but I found them cranky and unreliable. YMMV.
Windows can not read any of the Mac disk formats without additional software.. FAT32 is fine but is extremely limited.
For the last year, I have had absolutely no problems on any computer, Mac or Windows.

Looking for best 1tb external hard drive for 2008 I-mac?

Hi, I'm currently running Snow Leopard 10.6.8, but might upgrade to Mavericks at some point. I have 3GB of RAM, but will upgrade to 6GB soon. I would like to get a reliable 1tb external hard drive. It's only for the desktop, so it doesn't have to be portable, although it might be nice to have a smaller one. I don't have much money to spend (not more than 90$), so if I could get a good one that doesn't cost too much (perhaps on sale?) that would be perfect. I mainly need it to store a lot of photos and videos, nothing fancy. What would be a good drive, or reliable company? I thought about this one: WD My Passport for Mac 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 (WDBLUZ0010BSL-NESN) which I found on sale at 59,99$. It appeared to have a lot of good reviews on other sites, but many bad ones on this one, so I'm not sure. It also says on here that it needs 10.7 or higher to work, although someone else said it would work with Snow Leopard as well.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

Very easy. Plug in the drive, open Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder which in the Applications folder).
Select the drive in the sidebar. Select the partition tab, and select the number of partitions (one is fine).
Click options at the bottom of the screen. Select GUID.
Make sure the format is Mac OS Extended (journaled), name the disk and click apply.
It takes longer to type how to do it than to actually do it.

Sharing external hard drive between PowerMac and Mac Pro

I have a western digital external hard drive connected to a PowerMac and one connected to a Mac Pro. The PowerMac can see the Mac Pro external, but not vise versa. Can someone tell me what could possibly be wrong? Both computers have the sharing setup and we have partitioned the hard drives.
Thanks

I'm assuming that you have Leopard on both Macs? When you say that you "see" the Mac Pro's external drive, are you seeing it in the sidebar? And if so is that showing up as the Mac Pro, or as the drive? It seems to me that if you're seeing the one, then what you've done is to "connect as" with the user login, but haven't yet done that with the MacPro to the PowerMac. Have you from the PowerMac clicked Add at the bottom of the User's list to add the right username, or clicked New Person to enter a name and password?

2TB Time Capsule or External Hard Drive for use with Mac MINI and AppleTV

Hi,
My current setup is I have a 1TB Hard Drive linked to my intel Mac Mini via FireWire 400, the Mini shares my music and films through iTunes so that my AppleTV can pick them up.
All devices are connected to an AEBS 802.11n (early model) via Cat6 Gigabit cables.
As I have run out of space and am looking for a bigger drive, I wanted to know if I would be able to use the 2TB Time Capsule to hold my films and be able to stream them to the Mac Mini so that it may stream them through iTunes to the AppleTV.
The theory of if should work, as the devices are all Gigabit capable and connected by high quality Cat6 leads their shouldn't be network bandwith issues, I am just unsure of how quickly the TimeCapsule can read stored data from a hard drive and transmit, some of my films are HD and run 4GB plus.
The obvious answers is just to buy a bigger hard drive with FW400, however I would like to reduce the number of boxes I have under the TV, I plan to upgrade my AEBS to the latest one anyway so just thought it made sense to explore this option.
looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Hello,
It should work in theory, but the disk access time of the TC is much slower. I was setup like you are with an external drive connected to a Mini via FW and I had true Gigabit transfer between computers.
When my hard drive failed I sold my Linksys gigabit router and bought a TC to reduce the number of boxes, but I soon learned that the read/write speed on a TC is a little bit faster than on a thumb drive! Not that great. All my machines are also connected with Cat6.
It's still OK to watch a movie though, but transferring 10+ Gb is a pain.

External hard drive for pc and mac

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