Formatting a HD for use in a macbook

I have a new HD for my macbook.
Is it best to format it befor use & if so, to what format.
Many Thanks,
Jeff

to use it as a boot drive, it needs to be GUID partition & HFS+

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Do i need to reformat a samsung m3 for using with a macbook pro

Hello
Do i need to reformat a new samsung m3 for using with a macbook pro?
I have an old bipra which i use and i just remember literally plugging it in and going.
thanks for any info.

I don't know about your particular configuration but usually Disk Utility not recognizing a drive means the drive/card is history. My G4 running OSX 10.4.11 will format SD cards.
I don't know your model computer. Is this one with a SD slot built in? If it is, do you have an external reader, or can you try another card in this slot to see if it is a slot problem?

I recently purchased, from the APP store, Lion for use on my MacBook Pro. I wish to upgrade my IMac to Lion also. Do I need to make a 2nd purchase or will the single purchase suffice? If the single purchase will suffice, how do I facilitate ?

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How to re download apps from the Mac App Store:
Open the App Store. From the menu bar click Store > Sign In
Click Purchases from the top of the App Store window.
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I get missing plug-in error when opening my online bill which is in PDF format. I am using a 2010 Macbook with the latest version of Safari and Adobe suite installed in my computer. Why do I get this error? What should I do?

I get missing plug-in error when opening my online bill which is in PDF format. I am using a 2010 Macbook with the latest version of Safari and Adobe suite installed in my computer. Why do I get this error? What should I do?

In relation to my previous inquiry regarding inability to view a pdf file using Safari...
Is it possible that I can view other online bills from other website but not this particular bill from one specific website?
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How to format external drive for use against windows and mac

Hi.
Please bear with me, a possible MAC newbie here
I'm about to buy the 13" Mac Book Pro (after ditching the Lenovo X301 because of a super slow processor, slow FSB, slow intel graphics).
But I have a couple of questions before I buy this Mac Book Pro.
NOTE:
My main OS (stationary pc) is Windows, and will probably be so for a long time.
But I need a lightweight laptop while on the run, and could not actually find any other one than the Mac Book Pro that met my requirements.
I'm using Adobe Lightroom for indexing and managing images on my windows stationary computer and will also use Lightroom on my Mac Book Pro.
I'm to use an external HDD for this purpose and will need to be able to both write and read to/from that HDD from both MAC and Windows.
Export lightroom library to External HDD from Windows (thumbnails + keywords).
Import new images and edit keywords etc from mac book pro in lightroom.
Import changes into my windows library version after been edited from library in mac book pro.
What options do I have when it comes to formatting that HDD?
What will the PROS and CONS be for the different options?
Note (I'm not to switch to Aperture (my main computer is still Windows))
Regards

Hi.. and thanks for that answer... another related here:
I'm to buy this external drive:
http://www.lacie.com/no/products/product.htm?pid=11038
This page:
http://pc.wikia.com/wiki/FAT32
tells me that windows XP will only format FAT32 to max 32GB,
will my upcoming MAC book PRO be able to format that whole disk using FAT32?
Or do I have to use something else to format it with?
Regards

Format external HD for use with Mac Network and PC

System config: Home network: Mac Pro & MacBook Pro connected via AirPort Extreme. Both run OS X 10.5.6. The Mac Pro also runs Windows XP Pro. Work computer: Dell, Latitude D830 running Windows XP Pro.
Situation: I have a Western Digital WDMT5000TN 500GB Portable HD, (FireWire 800 & USB). The WDMT5000TN came formatted Mac OS Extended, which, as I suspected, could neither be read nor written to in XP. I reformatted the drive NTFS in XP Pro. This worked well with XP but was read only in OS X.
Ideally, I would like to format the drive so that it is both read/write capable with both OS X & XP Pro and handle file transfers in excess of 100 MB. If this is not possible my second choice would be to have the drive read/write OS X & read only XP, given that I upload mostly in the Apple domain & would be able to perform backups of it’s contents using Time Machine with OS X.
If anyone has a formatting recommendation or related information that may help I would appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Two basic options:
1. Format the drive FAT32 (MS-DOS) which is read/write on both Windows and OS X.
2. Leave the drive formatted NTFS and install software on OS X to enable read/write access. The options are: a.) Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X - 6.5.1; b.) MacFuse and NTFS-3G 2009.2.1u1; and, c.) NTFS for Mac 1.0.

Format external drive for use with both Leopard & XP, & maybe Win7

I want to repurpose one of my old small Firewire drives to use with both Leopard and XP via Boot Camp on my MacBook. It is is 60GB and is currently formatted with MacOS Extended Journaled, and Apple Partition Map. I don't think I will have any need at the present time to store files of more than 4GB on it (most of the ones I want to store are no more than a few hundred MB each).
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Hi,
using FAT32 as file system and MBR as partition table should work just fine with OSX and all Windows versions up to 7.
And since your files don't come close to 4GB single-file-size, that FAT32 limitation is no hinderance.
Use Disk Utility to do this, since Windows won't format partitions/drives with more than 32GB to FAT32 (built-in limitation).
Nonetheless it can use such partitions (I have a 200GB on my external HD).
Regards
Stefan
Message was edited by: Fortuny

Reformating external hard drive for use with new MacBook Pro

I'm trying to figure out how to use an existing external hard drive (formatted for a Powermac G4) with my new MacBook Pro. I understand that the file formats are different and that I need to erase the hard drive and reformat it with a GUID partition, but how does one do that?
I've already erased the drive with disk utility (using the old Powermac) and connected it to my MacBook with the hope that it would be recognized. No dice, alas. It doesn't mount at all.
Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My external harddrives all work just fine with the MacBook Pro. You shouldn't have to reformat anything. I think if you did then it would not be backwards compatable with the older systems. Stick it back in your old computer and try to mount it again, repair permissions shutdown your macbook pro and connect the external drive then reboot

FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR USE ON MAC AND WINDOWS

I'm going to start working on scanning a lot of old family photos and getting them put on an external hard drive for my parents. I'd also like to eventually put old VHS family home movies on the hard drive as well. However, I'm not sure what to do about the hard drive. I know if I format it to be compatible with my Mac it probably won't be compatible with their PC. I read about the FAT32 option but I saw something about a file not working if it's over 4 GB in size. I'm thinking maybe some of those home movies will be larger than 4GB. I also saw an exFAT option. If I go with that will I be able to scan the photos on my Mac, get the home videos converted and put it all on the hard drive will all of it be visible and usable on their Windows PC?
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matahari_1946,
if you’re not yet backing up your Mac’s internal hard disk, I’d recommend first that you purchase an external hard drive for yourself for exclusive use as a Time Machine backup destination; that way, in case of a disk problem, you won’t permanently lose all of your scanned photos and imported movies.
A 4 GB file limit does apply to FAT32 filesystems. If their version of Windows allows, the external disk which will hold those photos and videos should be formatted as NTFS from their PC, so that they can watch video files over 4 GB. (It’s unlikely that an individual photo file would be over 4 GB.) However, OS X doesn’t come out of the box with NTFS support. The exFAT filesystem is able to hold files over 4 GB, and it is supported by Mac OS X 10.6.5 and newer, but it’s optimized for flash drives; it’s more “fragile” on hard disks than other filesystems are. As a workaround, you could format a flash drive to have exFAT, copy videos over 4 GB onto the flash drive, and then use your parents’ PC to copy the videos from the flash drive to their NTFS external disk. Other alternatives would be to look for third-party software for OS X which supports reading from and writing to NTFS disks, or third-party software for Windows which supports reading from and writing to journaled HFS+ (the default OS X filesystem) disks.

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Emailing video can be a real drama.
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Camcorder for use with new MacBook Pro?

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Pauls43:
Please start your own topic with your question. You posted in a dormant topic that has seen no activity in over 3 years. Your question has nothing to do with the original poster's (OP) topic, and out of consideration to the topic's originator we try focus on their question and to not drift off-topic. You will get speedier and more targeted assistance for your needs if you post a new topic in the iPhoto forum. This will also activate the feature which lets you award stars for helpful answers which can be an encouragement to some to reply.
I can say this to your question, playing photos on a DVD player will not be easy unless the player comes with media playing capabilities which many do these days. Then it is a matter of copying the files to a DVD and you reading your player's manual to see how this is done. If you are trying to make a standard movie-style DVD it requires special authoring software. Apple no longer sells iDVD and there's really no low-cost equivalent. You can try the free application "Burn" but be prepared for something that has quite a learning curve.

External HDD formatting for use in Mac OS X and Windows

I've been gifted with WD (My Passport) 1TB External HDD. On the box it says it requires reformatting for use in Mac OS X.
I used the earlier discussions. I couldn't decipher the steps details as it was mostly by level 4 above.
Can any honourable member advice me on how to reformat my new external HDD for use in Mac OS X and Windows (As in office and during meetings I might haveto use wwindows system)
Also if done with formatting will this be allowing to setup Time Machine back ups.
Please be sure that I want to use time machine exclusively for backup, some earlier discussions mention that TM can also be used for OS booting etc.,
I would be greatful to all who will help me in these regard

Normally the drives are formated as exFAT which could be used by both a Mac and a PC out of the box. Connect the drive to your computer it should be able to read it. If not then the system will ask you if you want o erase the hard drive. Select yes, it will format the drive for use with a Mac only. This is the required format to use it as a Time Machine backup. As stated in our post you would like to use this hard drive on both Windows and Mac, you should reformat the hard drive as exFAT in disk utility.

Formatting a HD for use in a macbook

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