Airport Extreme with NTFS external HD solutions for both Mac and Windows

I recently bought an apple extreme when friends who have them say you can shared both printers and external harddrives really easily. However, it seems I am unable to share my many NTFS harddrives. I see after searching forums that it does not support NTFS but does FAT32.
One day I will convert all my home laptops to mac's but at the moment I am using XP and Vista for the time being so converting them to the apple format is not an option.
The problem i have is that if I convert them to FAT32 then I will only be be to have ISO's that are less than 2gig in size, an only be able to format up to 30 gig. If I have a 500 gig disk I'll be left with 470 gig of wasted space that cannot be used.
Can anyone suggest a good solution for me? perhaps someone has worked out how to format FAT32 greater than 30gb. or perhaps there is another disk format that would be better to use and can be read/write from XP/Vista PC as well as being recognised by Airport extreme. Any help would be good as I am reluctant to get a refund on it, but will have to if I can get it to work with large files/partitions.

I think I answered my own question. I found this on the web:
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
Seems to suggest that using this third party exe to format it instead of windows inbuilt one will allow for partitions greater than 32GB. So this looks the way to go. And the 2GB limit per file is just for FAT16 not FAT32 apparently, but even if it is I only have a few iso/video files bigger than 2 gig so will just use a splitter on them.
Hope this is useful to someone else

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Can i use time capsule as external hard drive for both mac and windows

I have a mac book pro, ipad and iphone and ipod and a windows pc
Can i use time capsule as a external hard disk only for all of the above ( including windows ) without the back up activity for mac ?

You cannot access the TC from iOS devices without a browser. eg filebrowser.
Can i use time capsule as a external hard disk only for all of the above ( including windows ) without the back up activity for mac ?
Yes, with the following proviso.. the TC is not able to back itself up.. so if you store files on the TC without backups one day you will discover all your files are gone because of a hard drive failure of the TC. TM also cannot backup TC.. so you will need to buy a proper backup software.
It is also much slower than a real NAS..
And windows can be a bit painful.. especially windows 8.. other versions should work if you spend the time getting everything set right.

I have partitioned my time capsule, but I can't get it to work as a Time Machine back up and permanent media server for both mac and PC. What format do I need to partition the drive to so that it works for both mac and windows and so that it will be visab

I have partitioned my time capsule, as I want part of it to act as a media server for both mac and windows. However I don't know what format that I need to partition it to. I also can't make it a permanently accesible drive. I want to restore the drive to the original format (which I don't know) and start again and re-partition the drive in a format that can be used for media by both mac and PC and for time machine back-ups and make the media part of it permanetly accesible so I can add and acccess my files.
Thanks

You are mixing up a couple of things here.
The TC drive cannot be partitioned without removing it.. did you do that?
If you partition it you must use a Mac disk utility and use the HFS+ ie standard Mac format. And GUID partition table not windows type.
You can select erase disk in the airport utility.. that will take the disk back to original format. No partitions. TC is deliberately not partitioned as it is not a media server.. it is a backup device for TM. Over time .. the disk will be filled with TM backups so you have a long history of file changes to your computer.
There is no media server in the TC.. it is merely disk storage.. you can serve files from it to a media device.. but the TC itself is dumb as dumb.
Now the actual format of the drive is irrelevant to the PC.. The TC offers SMB file services to the network. You can copy files to and from the TC as if it was a local disk without caring one iota about the format. The TC handles that .. it is not a local disk .. it is a network drive.
Although you cannot partition the TC. you can still copy files to it.. this does have implications for TM.. but as long as there is plenty of free space should not be a major issue.
You can create a disk image via the disk utility in a Mac.. and as stated you can create partitions if you do it on a Mac with the disk directly connected which means breaking warranty if any exists on the TC.

Mac Mini freezes at startup for both mac and windows. Any Ideas?

Mac Mini freezes at startup for both mac and windows. Any Ideas?

Thanks for getting back so quickly. But, it worked. I did what you said and now it works doing a normal boot to in both Windows and Mac. I wonder what went wrong, as both operating systems didn't boot (I tried numerous times).
Anyway, thanks.

Upgrade for both mac and windows

I use PSE 9 (Photoshop Elements) on my Windows box and PE 11 (Premiere Elements) on my Mac, (both registered). The upgrade on the Adobe site offers download for a single platform. After I download for one platform, can I come back somewhere and download for the other?

Buy it in a box and you get discs for both platforms and a serial number that works on both. If you're in the US you can be sure that the full version will be cheaper than the adobe upgrade version soon, especially around Black Friday, if you watch online retailers and big box stores.

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Now this is a strange one: I create a Windows Media (WMV) file and it plays great on the Mac (I have Flip4Mac installed also). However, it doesn't play on Windows XP in MSIE -- but the QuickTime (.M4V file) does. I do have QuickTime installed on the WXP. I guess the following questions are of interest not only to me but to a lot of people:
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2. Same question for Windows XP. .AVI? .WMV?
I know there is a lot of already available information on this but I'm looking for a video expert who has troubleshot this to death and has this down and working on an existing website.
NOTE: I would make it a Flash file but Keynote exports a non-playing Flash format file as does QuickTime, so no luck there. Also, for some stupid reason Keynote separates the audio and video when exporting to a QuickTime movie and what's with that?
Sorry this got long but not only I, but I'm sure a lot of people have this set of questions. Much appreciated.
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

sorchard –
Depends – if you are planning on connecting to an Exchange Server then I would suggest that you install Crossover (www.codeweavers.com) on your Mac’s and then Office 2003/Outlook. I am connecting to an Exchange Server running Windows Small Business Server 2003 and have not had any problems using Outlook and sharing Calendar data between my XP and Mac systems.
If you are not planning on using Exchange and your mail usage is not that demanding (less than 20 messages daily) the you could use the basic Mail clients that come with OSX (Mail) and Windows (Outlook Express).
Respectfully –

Can I format a disc for both Mac and Windows?

Thank you for looking.
I'd like to format an external drive to use between osx and win xp.
Thank you again.

Use the MS-DOS option in Disk utility or format it as FAT-32 on the PC.

Time Machine for both Mac and Windows side of BootCamp

Can I use my external hard drive to backup both the Mac side and the windows side of BootCamp? I am using Time Machine for the Mac side, and I know that WinXP doesn't have Time Machine software. Can I use the hard drive when I'm on the Windows side as I would on any Windows machine, and move files under "My Computer"?

Can I use my external hard drive to backup both the Mac side and the windows side of BootCamp?
ONLY if you partition the external and use Winclone for windows-but leave as much space as possible for TM.
I am using Time Machine for the Mac side, and I know that WinXP doesn't have Time Machine software. Can I use the hard drive when I'm on the Windows side as I would on any Windows machine, and move files under "My Computer"?
Yes.
Without special software, the windows partition can't even see your OS X partition.
Good luck!

How can I access a Photoshop Elements catalog on an external hard disc from both: Mac and Windows PC

How can the directories and path be named, that catalog can access the same picture files.

TZachmann wrote:
How can the directories and path be named, that catalog can access the same picture files.
That means you should have both your files and your catalog on the external drive, and you plug in your external drive alternatively to one or the other computer.
Are your picture files already on the external drive ? If they are, you only need to copy the catalog folder to the external drive, as explained later,
otherwise, simply do a backup/restore to the external drive, with the choice to restore on custom location.
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/backup-restore-move-catalog-photoshop.html
(moving to the external drive is similar to moving to another computer)
Moving the catalog :
First locate where your catalog folder is situated : menu help / system info.
Copy the whole folder to the external drive.
In the copied catalog, double click the catalog.pse12db file, that will open the organizer and the new catalog. It will appear in the 'custom location' section in the catalog manager.
Backup and restore solution : restore on 'custom location', that is to a new master folder created on the external drive.
The first time you are using the catalog on either computer, you'll have to use the catalog manager (file / catalog...) to browse to the external drive location of the catalog. After that, the location will be remembered in each computer.

Looking for a good GTD app for both Mac and Windows

I have looked around the internet quite a bit and haven't found anything that looks promising. Lots of great Mac-only task management/Get Things Done (GTD) software, but I need something that will also work with Windows. Any Suggestions?

Look at Google apps. calendar and mail and text and spreadsheet

How to set up Airport Extreme with Charter ARRIS Modem TM902A for the first time for WIRELESS.

How to set up Airport Extreme with Charter ARRIS Modem TM902A for the first time for WIRELESS.
When Charter Tech goes to your site, have them connect the modem up, but do not connect the modem to your iMAC or MacBook Pro. What you want to do is connect the Airport Extreme to the iMac or MacBook Pro first with the Ethernet Cable. You have to do this to configure via Airport Utility to set up the Base Station Name & Base Station Password.
You will then create/configure a Wireless Network, create your Wireless Password that will be entered on each of your Devices, example, Apple Tv, your iPhone, etc., you want to allow access to your Wireless Network you are creating.
Wireless Security will be -> WPA/WPA2 personal or just WPA2
Enter the Wireless Password you want
Verify the Wireless Password (enter it again)
After it is created you will see it on the Airport Utility window with the name you created for it and to the left, will be a Dot (circle that will be yellow).
Next you then want to unplug the power to the Airport Extreme, and then take the end of the Ethernet cable you unplugged from the iMac or Lap top MacBook Pro and connect it to the back of the Modem.
Next unplug the power cord from the modem and wait about 5 minutes, then plug the power back into the Arris Modem and wait until all lights come back on the modem wait
about 5 minutes, then plug the power cord back to the Airport Extreme and you will see it the light blinking yellow. Wait about 5 to 10 minutes, during this time Restart you IMAC or MacBook Pro, and once it is back up click on the Airport Utility and you should see on the Airport Utility screen.
For INTERNET to the left the light should be green and you should see the Airport Extreme also appear and the light to the left on the screen should also be green. If they are, you then should be able to click on the Wireless Symbol on top of bar of the screen and click to select the Wireless Network Name you created.
If you Do Not See the light (Icon) next to INTERNET turn Green, or if you see the Internet Light Green, but the Light (Icon) next to the Airport Extreme is yellow, unplug the power again to the modem and unplug the power again to the Airport extreme and wait about 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes. Then plug the power cord back to the modem wait till all the lights light up then, plug the power cord back into the Airport Extreme and Restart your iMAC or MacBook Pro.
The Airport Extreme light should change from yellow to green. Open up the Airport Utility to see what the indicators are showing they should both be green. Again select Wireless network you created under the Wireless Icon on the top right of the screen. Open Safari and see if you are able to Route to a web page or the apple site should appear.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR AIRPORT EXTREME WAS PREVIOUSLY SET UP FOR USE WITH ANOTHER CARRIERS ROUTER OR MODEM.
NOTE: If you already had your Airport Extreme connected for example, I previously had ATT Uverse and the Airport Extreme was connected to the Wireless Router Model 3801HGV, I disabled the Uverse Wireless and used the Airport Extreme for the Wireless signal in bridge mode, as the Airport extreme Signal is much stronger than the Uverse router, and I was able to obtain a Wireless signal with the Airport Extreme way much better with no signal loss which was very very frustrating with the Uverse router.
Anyhow if you had it hooked up like this, now that you will be using it with the Charter ARRIS Modem TM902A, you will need to reset the Airport Extreme to clear out the old data it has in memory, with the previous set up otherwise it will not work. Trust me I spent 6 hours trying to make it work reading all Apple Support Community questions and answers relating to this type issue/problem others have been having trying to get their set up working. I tried all the tips, and I finally decided just to see if by chance I would be able to connect with someone with Charter Tech support who might be familiar with Apple to be able to assist me and by luck I did. He told me why it was not working and was all due the previous configuration with the ATT Uverse router was still in memory with the Airport Extreme. Finally it was 10:30 PM when I decided to call Charter Tech Support and I had been working on this since 3:00 pm pacific. I did not call them earlier as all the post I read said they never received any good help from Charter. After calling them I finished up by 11:00 PM and was able to finally connect Apple Tv, iMac, iPhones and Macbook Pro. We love our Apple Product and Happy all is connected with the new
Internet Provider Charter. I must say the speed is way way much better than it ever was with AT&T Uverse.
THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO:
First you will need to unplug the Airport Extreme, then by taking the tip of a pen or paper clip end you need to push the reset button on the back of the Airport Extreme and hold it
down and at the same time plug the power cord back into the Airport Extreme count to 5 or 10 then release the reset button. Then once he light in front of the Airport Extreme stops blinking you need to plug the Ethernet cable from the Airport Extreme to your iMAC or Macbook Pro, and restart which ever one you have, then open the Airport Utility once it is back up. If you see airport extreme pop up with the old network name or it shows and yellow triangle click on the Airport Extreme ICON it will not let you configure it but will ask if you want to get rid of it or remove and just do it. Then Again restart your iMAC or MacBook Pro, open up Airport Utility again, and on the top left you should see under “Other Airport Base Stations” the MAC ID for the Airport Extreme.
You will then create/configure a Wireless Network, create your Wireless Password that will be entered on each of your Devices, example, Apple TV, your iPhone, etc., you want to allow access to your Wireless Network you are creating.
Wireless Security will be -> WPA/WPA2 personal or just WPA2
Enter the Wireless Password you want
Verify the Wireless Password (enter it again)
After it is created you will see it on the Airport Utility window with the name you created for it and to the left, will be a Dot (circle that will be yellow).
Next you then want to unplug the power to the Airport Extreme, and then take the end of the Ethernet cable you unplugged from the iMac or Lap top MacBook Pro and connect it to the back of the Modem.
Next unplug the power cord from the modem and wait about 5 minutes, then plug the power back into the Arris Modem and wait until all lights come back on the modem wait
about 5 minutes, then plug the power cord back to the Airport Extreme and you will see it the light blinking yellow. Wait about 5 to 10 minutes, during this time Restart you IMAC or MacBook Pro, and once it is back up click on the Airport Utility and you should see on the Airport Utility screen.
For INTERNET to the left the light should be green and you should see the Airport Extreme also appear and the light to the left on the screen should also be green. If they are, you then should be able to click on the Wireless Symbol on top of bar of the screen and click to select the Wireless Network Name you created.
If you Do Not See the light (Icon) next to INTERNET turn Green, or if you see the Internet Light Green, but the Light (Icon) next to the Airport Extreme is yellow, unplug the power again to the modem and unplug the power again to the Airport extreme and wait about 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes. Then plug the power cord back to the modem wait till all the lights light up then, plug the power cord back into the Airport Extreme and Restart your iMAC or MacBook Pro.
The Airport Extreme light should change from yellow to green. Open up the Airport Utility to see what the indicators are showing they should both be green. Again select Wireless network you created under the Wireless Icon on the top right of the screen. Open Safari and see if you are able to Route to a web page or the apple site should appear.

I just got a Charter Modem. Model TM822. While I was moving, my Airport Extreme was still at my old place.
I have a Linksys WRT320N I used for the initial Charter setup.
I can get my Airport to work here, but the Internet light on the Modem flashes Yellow.
Hasn't caused any issues so far but one thing I did notice.
On the Linksys there were 3 DNS servers listed.
The Airport Extreme only lists 2 and i don't see where I could add another, only change whats already there.
I tried everything above, but light on modem still flashes yellow.
I have the technicians cell phone. Told me "that shouldn't be" and gave the same advice listed above.
I'll break down and call Charter one day, see if it's on their end. NSA tracking may need a reset LMAO.

HT3546 I have been unsuccessfully trying to extend the wifi of my Time 2T Capsule with an Airport Extreme 2nd Gen. It works for a while and then loses configuration. I have done everything possible, disconnected it, reset it but it keeps failing, what to

I have been unsuccessfully trying to extend the wifi of my Time 2T Capsule with an Airport Extreme 2nd Gen. It works for a while and then loses configuration. I have done everything possible, disconnected it, reset it but it keeps failing, what to do?

What model and firmware is the 2TB TC?
What firmware is the AE?
Does the AE get good signal from the TC in its current location?
Signal can only be extended that is received intact.
Is it extending on 5ghz? As I remember it a Gen2 AE is only single band, although you can choose either 2.4ghz or 5ghz.
I am fairly sure you are going to tell me your TC is AC model..
I would do a couple of things..
1. Fix the wireless name, make it short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
2. Fix the wireless channel for 2.4ghz so it is not going to jump around.
3. Get real results from the AE in its current location for signal strength.. this is really only possible on v5 utility. And that is a double pain with Mavericks because you cannot use it.
Apple have removed all the useful diagnostics from the airport utility. There is next to nothing left. So you need to use the computer and its diagnostics to find signal levels in the location.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5606

One Format External Hard Drive for Your Mac and PC...

I have Formatted my External HD Passport 500GB = (465.8) and split it in two partition Mac OS Extended (Journal = 232GB) and FAT32 (Ms-Dos-FAT = 232GB) and reformat to NTFS using Windows...
How to use one External HUD for your Mac and PC you have a PC and how to have two Partition in Mac OS Extended (Journal) and FAT (Ms-Dos-FAT)as you desire the size of your partition under application, Utilities and Disk Utility and covert the (FAT32) to (NTFS)using Windows Control Panel or just search by Start, search Computer Management or just right my Computer and format the second partition to (NTFS)
Tips for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) FAT32 vs NTFS, what works and don't work...
(1)Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Partition can't be use in Windows to transfer files but NTFS Partition can be use in Mac by transferring file from Windows to Mac and NTFS support for files over 4G in size...
(2)FAT32 can be use in Mac and Windows but with a limitation that a file cannot be transferred to a FAT32 partition if the file is larger than 4GB such as a video file and FAT32 file system performs more slowly than NTFS...
(2)Mac OS Extended (Journaled) can be use in Windows when you Reformat your HD to HFS+ by third-party app such as http://www.macdrive.com/ MacDrive for $50.or http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ NTFS For Mac 6.0 for $30...
Reference link 1 External Hard Drive for Your Mac and PC...
http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/articles/1-external-hard-drive-for-your- mac-and-pc
Best regards...
JamesUFOs...
http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesEBEs

I have many external drives I use between my MacBook Pro and my Windows PC's. I use a free NTFS driver for Mac OS-X to give me full read/write access to any NTFS formatted partitions when running Mac OS. I also use MediaFour's MacDrive v8 on some of my Windows PC's to access any HFS+ formatted partitions.
Most of my drives are formatted NTFS because I have more Windows machines than I have MacDrive licenses, and with the driver for Mac OS, they are fully accessible. I have a few drives I do keep formatted as HFS+ because I have encountered an app or two that don't work quite right when they don't get to write to files on an HFS+ partition (one of my backup programs is picky about this).
As said before, FAT32 is fully accessible between the two OS'es but it also has it's own limitations.

Can I mount my external hard drive which will be compatible with both Mac and Windows?

Hello,
Can I mount my external hard drive which will be compatible with both Mac and Windows? If yes, then please let me know, because I intend to use my hard drive for both Windows and Mac, without losing any file.

Yes. By default, Mac OS X and Windows can read and write drives which are formatted as FAT32 or exFAT; NTFS drives aren't writable from Mac OS X without additional software.
(124553)

I have an external drive - WD My Passport FOR MAC. I want to format it to work on both mac and windows. Which format do you think I should use? Will either one cause damage to the files on the hard drive?

I have an external hard drive - WD My Passport FOR MAC. I want to format it to work on both mac and windows. I also want to be able to connect it to my TV and watch movies.
I read up and I think I am supposed to use exFAT or FAT32? I also saw MS-DOS. Which format should I should use? Will any of them cause damage to the files on the hard drive?
My little memory stick uses MS-DOS and it works on both mac and windows.
Please can you just tell me a little about each and suggest which one to use.
I know how to change it once you tell me so don't waste your time writing about changing it.

Will any of them cause damage to the files on the hard drive?
WARNING: FORMATTING A DRIVE ERASES IT COMPLETELY !!
If you need to carry large files (e.g., larger than about 4GB) back and forth, you may need ExFAT. Otherwise MS-DOS works for smaller files.
The Mac can Read, but not write Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) without an add-on program such as Paragon NTFS.

Airport Extreme with NTFS external HD solutions for both Mac and Windows

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