External hd using for Mac and Windows

I'm using external free agent drive - seagate, My Mac can access and read and do anything with my drive but when I switch to other computer, it cant recognize my drive...What can I do now to fix it??? - I wanna share files from my drive to other computer as well. Besides, I dont wanna erase my drive to fix it...or if i have to, does anyone know how to back up my drive's data?

How have you formatted the drive? if you format in FAT, or FAT32, both systems should be able to read it. The MAC side will put some hidden folders (proprietary to MAC, leave them alone), but other than that, you should be able to use on both systems.

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    I have a 500GB external HDD which I had to format o Fat32 a while ago. I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I remember it was a pain in the *** and took forever (I was under Windows XP).
    So short answer to your question is yes. It is possible and as the above person said, you need to format to Fat32. Long answer is it will take some time and effort. Here are a few links to help you get started:
    http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
    http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-system-mac-software/270038-format-new-hard-dis k-into-fat32.html
    http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-676-formatting-your-drive-with-fat32
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    Hi, anyone knows how to make an external HD compatible for Mac and PC?
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    Mitshko wrote:
    Thank you OGELTHORPE and JoeyR,
    Yes, I tried formatting in Ex FAT, MS DOS, and Mac Extended and did all kind of tests trying to copy from one computer to another. I have being reading in some forums also that some people have the same problem.
    Formatting in FAT 32, I had to use fat32formatting.exe from this link http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm because the HD is of 500GB.
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    This is more of an apple operating system combined with windows operating system question, but being that my OS will upgrade an fluctuate there is not option to choose in the operating system section.
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    This whole prbolem came about when my computer started having issues, I want to back it up and whether I can continue to use my laptop or not I will still be owning an apple in the future. I went to buy a hard for back up and got told that it is not as easy as one would think to transfer files from mac OS to windows OS and vice versa. I have a mac, my boyfriend has a windows computer; we share files. Mostly I just copy his files, but once in a while I give him files too. I have read up and talked to people and only found one solution so far to format the external drive to fat 32 or exfat. I think only mac has the exfat option, but works well between both OSs, correct me if I am wrong.
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    I still do not know which format would be the best. That is so that I can use it easily between mac OSX and windows. Is FAT32 the only true option? How limited is it? I heard it is limited to 4GB file size for windows and 32 GB for Mac. Are there other sources I have not found with more concrete information on the limitations of this format?
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  • How to use an external hard drive and copy files to the disk for mac and windows??

    please tell me how to copy files to external hard disk and use it for both mac and windows. there is the fat32 formatting bt i dont wanna use formatting because i already have a lot of content on the exteral hard disk. thank you.

    It is simplest to have the HDD formatted to noe common to both Mac an PC.  ExFAT is one.  But to do that will erase all data on the HDD.
    If the HDD id formatted NTFS, Mac can read but not write to it.  The solution then is to use a third party application such as Paragon or Tuxera which will overcome that obstacle.  These applications do have mixed reviews.
    Ciao.

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