Formatting external HD for older computer

I had a PC formatted hard drive that I reformatted for Macintosh, to give to a friend of mine. She has an older mac than I. I have a macbook 10.5.6, and she has a G3 laptop with 10.2 (I think it's 10.2, but it could be 10.3). It is a small hard drive and runs on a USB cable.
After I formatted it, it ran fine on my computer, and I even copied some pictures on it for her.
But the hard drive won't mount on her desktop. It runs, it has power, it has a power light, but she can't access it. She can't even see it with Disk Utility.
Did I use the wrong option to format it? I used Disk Utility, and it gave me options, like Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (whatever that is), and other options I forget now. I chose the plainest one, and I forget what it was called, because I can't see the list of options now that I don't have an external hard drive attached.
But, in anyone's opinion, if I reformat it using another option, will it work? Thanks for your suggestions.

There are two things to consider:
The partition scheme (APC for PPC; GUID for Intel)
You probably used GUID which won't work on an older PPC computer.
I am not sure about the formatting. HFS+ may be too new for a G3 running 10.2
I would do this:
Have your friend format and partition the drive pn her machine, and then you take it back and if you can see it and access it normally, copy the file onto it and that should work.

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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.
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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

Formatting external drive for storage/backup/video files

Hi,
I just purchased a 500mb My Book Pro external drive for use with my imac duo which runs Windows XP via bootcamp. This computer is shared by three family with very different skills and needs. My dilemma. I want to format the drive so that the imac can be backed up easily three users. It is formated Fat32 and is supplied with Restrospect Express 7.5 backup software. It would be nice to backup the modestly used windows sector, but that's a secondary consideration. My problem is that one user has a lot of larger than 4 gb video files which are too large the Fat 32 format. My notion is to segment the backup drive so that I leave 300 mb in fat 32 to facilitate backup with supplied software, and segment a second 200 gb drive using mac os extended so that the user can manually move her video files for storage/backup on the backup drive. Is there a simpler solution? For example, if I formatted the entire 500gb as mac os extended, could I still run the retrospect backup software? If not, is there a reasonably priced alternative software? And finally, with either Fat32 or Mac OS extended, can I move files from the Windows platform? Would I be better off just biting the bullet and telling my daughter to make her own arrangements to compress and backup her video files or get her own hard drive, thus leaving the backup drive to the simple factory supplied software solution?
G-4 and iMac core duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) use emacs and imacs at work location

Hi,
I just purchased a 500mb My Book Pro external drive
for use with my imac duo which runs Windows XP via
bootcamp. This computer is shared by three family
with very different skills and needs. My dilemma. I
want to format the drive so that the imac can be
backed up easily three users. It is formated Fat32
and is supplied with Restrospect Express 7.5 backup
software. It would be nice to backup the modestly
used windows sector, but that's a secondary
consideration. My problem is that one user has a lot
of larger than 4 gb video files which are too large
the Fat 32 format. My notion is to segment the backup
drive so that I leave 300 mb in fat 32 to facilitate
backup with supplied software, and segment a second
200 gb drive using mac os extended so that the user
can manually move her video files for storage/backup
on the backup drive. Is there a simpler solution? For
example, if I formatted the entire 500gb as mac os
extended, could I still run the retrospect backup
software? If not, is there a reasonably priced
alternative software? And finally, with either Fat32
or Mac OS extended, can I move files from the Windows
platform? Would I be better off just biting the
bullet and telling my daughter to make her own
arrangements to compress and backup her video files
or get her own hard drive, thus leaving the backup
drive to the simple factory supplied software
solution?
G-4 and iMac
core duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) use emacs
and imacs at work location
Hello,
You're indeed in a pickle. If you use Bootcamp and want the HD accessible via the Mac and WinXP, then you don't want to format it as Mac HFS because WInXP wouldn't be able to access it. If you go FAT32 then both WInXP and Mac OS can access it, but you face the dilemma of the 4GB threshold.
If you format as NTFS, then you eliminate the 4GB threshold but then Mac OS cannot access it.
I have a similar dilemma, which is why i use Parallels more than Bootcamp. I have 2 external FW HD's (160GB/250GB), both formatted to Mac HFS. The 160GB i have partitioned as 50GB and 100GB. I have a bootable backup of Mac OS residing on the 100GB partition (yay to SuperDuper!) and some other stuff on the remaining 50GB. The 250GB is exclusive for movies (cough..cough..bittorrent) and for streaming via Orb 2.0 to my Treo. I have WinXP running in Parallels, and Vista Ultimate via Bootcamp. In Parallels, i can access my external HD's via Parallel's Shared Folders but in Vista (Bootcamp) since the HD's are in a non-Windows recognised formatting, they're not accessible (which is a bummer, as i'm loving Win media center).
What you can do is partition the HD the way you're thinking and format (one part Mac HFS and the other NTFS), but my best recommendation is that with the falling prices of HD's nowadays, why not just get a seperate HD do what you want with it. I spied a WD MyBook 500GB USB HD at CompUSA for $129.99 (no mail-in rebate nonsense) and similar good prices at Bestbuy and Newegg.com.
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Formatting External drive for Mac05

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Formatted External drive for Mac OS extended

Hi,
I actually change from windows to Mac (no comparison...!!) but trying to transfer my photos (Pictures in finder) to an external hard disk i can`t drag and drop and i do not know why....i read in one forume that i have to formatted the external drive for Mac OS extended. First question: how could i do that? if my hard disk was originally formatted for windows, do i lose the info when i formatted?
Thanks!!

You will lose the files on the HD when you reformat it. So copy what you want off the drive to a folder on your Mac temporarily.
select the HD on the Desktop and launch Disk Utility.
select the HD in the left hand page of DU.
click on the Partiton button
select 1 Partition
select OS X Extended (journaled) in the drop down Format menu.
click on the Apply button
drag the folder of files onto the EHD to copy back and then delete from your Mac's drive after verifying that they all copied back successfully.
OT

Format external HDD for Macbook & Laptop

Apologies if this is not the best community for this query. Wasn't quite sure where to put this one.
I have a Western Digital Elements SE 1TB external HDD which I have been using to manually back-up files (mainly music, photos and documents) from a Dell Studio laptop running Windows Vista.
I now have a MacBook Pro and I would like to continue using my external HDD to back-up files from this too.
Can anyone tell me if there is a way to format my external HDD so that I can back-up files from both and also transfer files between the two?
If so, are there any risks associated with this?
Many thanks.

sure no problem asking questions, thats the whole point of a forum.
NTFS is older Microsoft file system (I still use it for Windows 7 so it's not OLD old) it's built for Windows specific security and therefore not mac friendly out of the box. There are 3rd party NTFS readers/writers, but unless are networking to a Windows host you don't get any advantage to NTFS on Mac. My Windows PC and Mac(s) will transfer files to one another from NTFS (on Windows) to Journaled (on Mac) and from Journaled to NTFS without incident as long as I have credentials to log into either machine from the other. On a network it doesn't matter what format I use (no special software needed), but connected directly to a computer those formats suddenly will (NTFS reader/writer software needed for Mac or Journaled reader/writer software for PC).
FAT32 is from back-in-the-DOS-day (File Allocation Table 32 bit) that has a few restrictions:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314463
Use FAT32 for flash drives and you will be Mac/Win/Unix cross compatible (all restrictions still apply) but I would not day-to-day use it on my "OS" drive.
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ITunes can't see external library from older computer

Hey guys. I had a 2008 iMac with iTunes set up to read all of my music, movies, TV shows, etc. from an external hard drive. I recently got a new MacBook Pro and am trying to get iTunes 12.1 to see all of my existing media, with no luck.
My iMac was running Mavericks (and I guess iTunes 11?), which I assume auto-updated my older library and paths to be compatible. However, my MacBook Pro is running Yosemite (10.10.2) with iTunes 12.1. It used to be that you could just point iTunes to your existing iTunes or iTunes/Music folder and everything would instantly be available in iTunes with no problem. I've noticed in 12.1, though, that iTunes now builds its own iTunes Media folder, separates music from TV shows, movies, ringtones, etc., and has an iTunes library file in addition to several other database sidecar files.
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I have not updated iTunes in a long time. While I cannot say that iTunes 12 would not have problems opening an iTunes 2 library generally a newer version can open any older version library, but not the other way around. Are you trying to open an iTunes 2 library?
As far as iTunes and the option key thing is concerned the library is a file called "iTunes Library.itl" and it is located in the iTunes folder, not the media folder. A media folder is only a bunch of media files and not a library, the way a pile of books on an empty city block is not a city library. If you do not have that file then you do not have a structured library and will have to build one from scratch with your media files. Sometimes people put only media on an external drive and leave the rest of iTunes which makes up the complete library on the internal drive. You need to recover that part (basically your iTunes folder) and replace the iTunes folder on your computer with it. It has the .itl file containing all the information pointing to those files on the external drive.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
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Hi.
I am trying to format my new external hard drive to my MacBook Pro but it keeps failing and coming up with an error.
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Try partitioning the drive first.
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Heys guys,
Tomorrow I will have my first Apple computer delivered after using Windows for many years. What my question is, is that what would I need to format my Western Digital Elements external HDD to in order for me to use it on both my iMac and Windows computers.
Now at Uni I have access to both Microsoft based and Apple based computers but in this first semester we will be using the Microsoft more than the Macs. I want to be able to open and edit Microsoft word files, Adobe Suite files, and other files such as MP3 on both machines no matter where I am.
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Assuming you'll be plugging it into all the computers directly, FAT32 or ExFAT.
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How to format external drive for mac AND pc use

hi
i want to format my external drive so i can use it on my mac and on pc's as well. i've gathered that the MS-DOS format is the way to go. my question is this: would this create any problems for my mac then?
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There are a couple of disadvantages with formatting a
disk as FAT32. Firstly, there is a limit on the file
size for FAT32. I think it like 2 GB so if you
capturing video the results will probably not fit
into this file limit. Secondly FAT32 will not be
bootable. I alway clone my system to a backup disk as
bootable. That way if anything goes wrong with my
system, I can just boot from my backup disk and fix
it.
The problem with doing this though is that the drive will not be usable with Windows (which was in the original posting) unless you use the third party MacDrive software on the PC.
iFelix

Format external drive for Mac and PC?

Can I format an external Drive to have 1 partition for OS X and another for my wife to use with her PC?
thanks!
ray

Yes, just use Disk Utility under OS X to create two volumes on it, one Mac OS Ext, the other FAT. Use a Master Boot Record partition scheme (also known as “fdisk”).

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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).
Is using FAT32 with Master Boot Record adequate? Up until now I have just used flash drives for external Windows storage, but I would like to consolidate lots of topographic maps files onto this one Firewire drive instead of using multiple flash drives, and use these files with both Leopard and XP. If I want to try Windows 7 in the future via either Boot Camp or virtualization, will there be a problem with FAT32/MBR?

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

Format External Drive for HFS+ volume and FAT32 volume with Disk Utility

I just bought a Seagate 1tb external drive from OWC and I want to partition it into a HFS+ (journaled I assume) volume and a NTFS volume. Objective: To manually backup critical folders from my wife’s Dell (running XP) to the NTFS volume and critical Mac folders from my PowerBookG4 to the HFS volume.
My plan was to have my Mac (10.4.11) do the partitioning into a 350gb FAT32 volume for Windows and a 650gb HFS+ volume for Mac – then take the external drive to the Dell and have the Dell reformat the 350gb FAT drive to NTFS.
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Second question – I haven’t been able to get my Disk Utility on my Mac to do the initial partitioning into one HFS volume and one FAT32 volume the way I want it. Is this step possible?
I’m happy to be more specific about the steps I’ve taken if the basic plan is good. From what I’ve found in some forums so far, I think I’m on the right track but am unable to execute it. Thank you.

Thank you Limnos for all your help. Last night I tried again and it worked! I’ not totally sure on what I did right but:
• Both volumes on the new ext. driver were HFS (from my last attempt the other day) so I looked into a simple erase of one partition/volume into a different format, but DU did not offer a way of erasing it into MS-DOS(FAT32). But I think I did a simple HFS erase anyway of the volume I wanted to format to FAT32. There was nothing “in” that volume because this was a new external drive but I figured it could not hurt anything.
• So then, I think I went back to Partition, locked the partition/volume that I wanted to keep in HFS+ for my Mac files, and (re)partitioned the other just erased volume to MS-DOS. I think I did it under the MBR option.
• It worked! Not sure why but my Mac recognized both volumes one as HFS, the other as FAT32. Maybe someone will find this useful some day!!
• Then, I hooked up the drive to my work Dell, the Dell found only the FAT32 drive (as expected), and I executed a short simple easy command I found on ehow.com (search for ‘convert FAT32 to NTFS’) to make that volume NTFS.
Thanks again Limnos and everyone else!

Formatting external HD for older computer

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