How do I make my FireWire/USB Drive work on a Mac and windows computers

I have an Iomega Fire wire/USB 2.0 Potable hard drive I know that to use the hard drive on Windows the hard drive must be set for both Windows and Mac I forgot where to go on my Mac to do this. Its been a while since I had to do this thanks.

The drive must be formatted as MS-DOS for it to be seen natively by a windows machine. The problem with this is you are limited to a 2gb file size limit - which can be a real problem with video files.
There is a PC program called MacDrive that will enable a windows machine to see and access Mac formatted drives. Mac formatted drives do not have the file size limit.
Good luck,
x

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How come a USB will work with both Mac and Windows (as in that there are already files from Windows and Mac can still read and write onto it) but a external Hard Drive won't (as in there are files from Windows on there but Mac can read but not write)?

I have a Seagate Drive that I'm hoping to copy some movies from my Mac onto (because it only has a 512 SSD and I'd rather keep that empty and handy for more readily needed files) but it won't work. It shows up as a drive when connected (with the orange USB drive icon popping up) and is appropirately labeled "FreeAgent Drive", but when I try to copy files onto it it won't work. There are already windows files on there, such as some windows backups and lot's and lot's of pictures and videos. However, I have several USBs which already have windows files on them (namely movies, music, and other stuff) and copying and stuff works fine. Why won't it work with this hard drive and would work with USBs? Please help me out here guys, I am not experienced with Hard disks and formatting and stuff like that. 10 points for whoever helps me out the most. Thanks.

We will need to reformat your EXT, but it will then work on both Mac and Win
Connect the drive to your Mac, open disk utility
Go to the partiton tab and select '1' ... format should be ExFAT ... in options select MBR
Format the drive
It should now work on both OSs; report back

I want to make a bootable usb drive for my macbook air,and my ystem is osx mountain lion 10.8.5. How can i download it again without repaying for it so i can make my bootable flashdrive? I'm pretty new at this computer stuff so i don't know how things

I want to make a bootable usb drive for my macbook air,and my system is osx mountain lion 10.8.5. How can i download it again without repaying for it so i can make my bootable flashdrive? I'm pretty new at this computer stuff so i don't know how things work.
Message was edited by: tzaphon

This is not difficult and you will not have to download from the app store.
your computer has what is called a recovery partition that came with it.
simply hold cmd+R while you boot up. let go a second after you hear the chime.
you will boot into the recovery partition.
Use disk utlity to format your usb drive and then exit Disk utlity and go to Reinstall Mountain Lion.
it will ask you which disk you want to install ML onto. Choose your new USB drive.
easy peasy

I w system from OSX 10.5.8 to at least 10.6. Also my hard drive is partitioned for Mac and Windows (which I would like to remove). How should I upgrade?

I want to buy an Iphone 5 but need to upgrade my operating system from OSX 10.5.8 to at least 10.6.0. Also my hard drive is partitioned with Mac and Windows. How can I upgrade?

1. Click here and buy a Mac OS X 10.6 DVD.
2. Use the Boot Camp Assistant in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to return the drive to a single partition setup.
(83003)

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.

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.

What format for my external drive allows use with Mac and Windows?

I got an external hard disk (1 tr) and i want to used it for my windows and mac, i read i can have two partitions one for mac and one for windows, but i dont really want to have two parts, and I read i can format it by fat32 and i can write and read on both os, is that true?
I want to use it for movies, os backups, and files..
Is it true that i can only save files up to 4 GB when the format is fat32?
please advise..

It this case you would need to to go to "Disk Utility" on mac and select 3 partions which will be under the Parition Layout in my screen shot below. "Current" is grayed out that will drop down select 3 partitions and make one NTFS, second Mac OS Extended, third FAT32. Using the FAT32 for both Mac and Windows but the files have to be under 4GB each.

External hard drive use with both Mac and Windows

I know that you can't use an iPod (through iTunes) with both Mac and Windows, but can you still use it as an external hard drive with both operating systems?

Yes, if the iPod is in Windows format. Mac OS X can read and write Windows formatted iPods, but Windows can't access Mac formatted disks unless special software is installed.
(9844)

I recently purchase macbook air with OS 10.10.2. I want to use my Seagate external backup plus hard drive for time machine back up. How to partition my 1TB Seagate back up plus hard drive for use with mac and windows pc?

Hi All,
I recently purchased 13" Macbook Air with OS 10.10.2. I want to use my 1TB Seagate backup plus external hard drive as time machine and my windows 7 pc. Please suggest a method. Thanks in advance for your reply.

I strongly recommend having an external drive dedicated solely for TimeMachine. You could partition the drive but if something goes wrong you risk losing the data on both partitions. Should you decide to go ahead with splitting the drive for two different uses you’ll need to partition the drive either using the Mac’s built in Disk Utility program or Windows utility. I believe the built in Windows disk utility program will destroy the current partition and erase the data that’s on it - I use a third party Windows disk utility program for partitioning and it allows for non-destructive partitioning but warns to back up data first just in case. Apple’s Disk Utility can do non-destructive partitions but I don’t recall every trying to do a non-destructive partition on a disk originally formatted for Windows using it. Again - back up that data just in case.
Finally, your TimeMachine drive should be at least 1.5 times (I prefer 2 times) the size of the data you expect to be backing up a year or two from now. In other words, if you currently are using 50GB of your computer’s drive but expect to begin purchasing Mac software to replace software on your Windows computer and if you expect to be putting photos, music, and other data on it you might expect that two years from now you’ll have 100GB of stuff on the drive. So a 200GB partition is the smallest size you’d want. TM’s backup scheme keeps multiple copies of data as it changes so the extra room is important for this scheme.

Whcih external hard drive works best with macs and time machine

I'm looking for an external hard drive preferably at circuit city since I have $100 in gift cards.
I'm looking at the Acomdata pure drive 500 and 750
The Western Digital Mybook essential edition 500 and 750
Simpletech 500GB
Simpletech redrive 500GB
or Maxtor 500GB
I don't which one to pick as there are negative reviews on all of them with crashing after only one year. If not any of these what other one to pick, would like it to be from circuit city, not matter what your opinion might be of them.
I know about the Lacie drives and the G-drive but those seems expensive and only from apple store. I have airport extreme so only need usb connection so i don't care what other ports it has.
It seems like a really tough decision and looking for some help.
Let me know

Hi,\ not sure how this translates to the USA market (brand names) Im UK;
But I've been using a Lacie external hard drive for ages without problems.
Not so sure about Western Digital, - I've heard some bad reports.
I posted a request myself, and Lacie came back highly reccomended, so thats why I chose them.

Use same external drive for itunes in mac and windows?

Hi,
I have a Macbook Air that has bootcamp and I use 99% of my time under Windows 7.
All of my music and movies are on an external hard drive and I have a problem using
it for iTunes under Windows and the Mac at the same time.
Is it possible to have both versions point to the same external drive?
I tried almost everything but it fails as the file paths are stored once and for all in
the iTunes library file.
When booting under OS/X and opening iTunes, it loads the .itl file and shows all music
but of course it doesn't see anything since the path under OS/X has nothing to do with
the one under Windows.
My iTunes lib was created under Windows and all files are stored in a variation of:
J:\Private\My Music\iTunes[Rock | Classical | Soundtracks]
Under OS/X of course the path is totally different:
/Volumes/DRIVE_J/Private/My Music/iTunes/[Rock | Classical | Soundtracks]
Now if I reimport everything in iTunes for OS/X it will change all the paths and then
Windows will not be able to fetch the files.
Isn't there a way to have relative paths so both the OS/X and Windows versions
of iTunes work flawlessly without caring at all about which OS is running?
This is driving me nuts.
I'm not talking about Sharing an iTunes library over a network. I want to share the
same physical folder between Windows and OS/X
Thanks for any help.
Steve

Anyone?

I have an external hard drive that is both Mac and Windows compatible and can no longer delete any files. I recently reformatted my Mac, does this have anything to do with it?

I've clicked on the 'get info' tab, but it says read only for all files.

You can't write to it because it's formatted as NTFS which OS X will read but not write to. If you want to continue using the drive with both a PC and OS X you will need to download and install NTFS-3G so you can then write to it from your Mac. You can get NTFS-3G at:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g
If you want to use the drive exclusively with your Mac then move the data off it and reformat it in Disk Utility (Applications - Utilities - Disk Utilities) as Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

How do you make a stand-alone app work without seeing a command window...

I'm new to Java so please forgive the very basic question I'm asking. All the apps I've learned how to make so far cause a command window to appear along with the GUI. How do you keep the command window from showing up?

java ExampleApp
I just discovered using the search for this site. I should know better than to make a post without first using the forum's search. It's just that I had been searching the java tutorials already to no avail as well as using a search engine.
According to the forum here, people have said that you need to create a .jar file. I'll need to look into the specifics. Sounds a bit confusing at first. There was also mention of starting the app like so:
javaw ExampleApp
I'll go try that now! Any other suggestions you may have will be appreciated!
Thanks,
Darren

How can I make my iPhone sync with iCal on my Mac and not with iCloud?

I live and travel in Africa and wi-fi is frequently a luxury. iCloud syncing between Mac and my iPhones (a 3GS & 4) is not possible but when I turn iClod off, it deletes the calendar on my Mac. In another forum it was suggested that you export your various calendars (personal, business etc) to the desktop, log out of iCloud and therefore have your iCal calendar deleted, re-boot to clear anything in the cache, import the calendars which are then on My Mac and sync. It worked all the way until the last bit. Syncing the iPhone is clunkingly slow and it only syncs one of my calendars which is the only one that appears in the info dialogue box in iTunes when the iPhone is connected. Can anyone help? iCloud is I am sure fine for those who have regular access to wi-fi but not me - I will be happy to go back to my time capsule which has done me well over the years.
Some advice please

Plug yr iPhone to your compu in the old fashioned way with cable.
Just to cover yourself...select the iPhone in Devices of left pane of iTunes window, then on main pane, select radio button Back up to Computer. Right click on the iPhone in devices, do a backup. It shld then be on your compu'.
Then, back in main windo, select Info 'tab' from top of the right pane, and tick the Sync iCal events.
I'm sure this will help.
If it all goes pear-shape, u have the backup to restore the pre-sync device.

How do I create a shared network drive between a remote Mac and a remote PC?

I have read blog after blog to try to find a simple solution to my problem, with no luck.
I have two computers. 1 is a Macbook Pro Retina with paralelled-Window 7 access. The other is a Windows 7 PC. The two computers are remote. ie one is on a home network in 1 state, the other is on a home network in another state.
The PC is running a software program that has a large data file with sensitive material. I want my Mac to be able to share this data file. I am told I need to set up a network connection between the two. I have tried doing a Microsoft VPN connection through the paralleled-Windows 7 mac and the Windows 7 PC. I am setting up the network to have the PC act as the server, thereby creating a network connection directly to the PC's IP address. I receive several different errors for the network tunneling when trying to connect. I believe this is because both computers are running on home networks, rather than one running on a secured work network. I read every blog out there about resolving these error messages I get, but again no luck.
Is there an easier way to resolve my problem? Can the data file be stored on some sort of cloud server that would allow constant updating. For instance, we may both be in the software at the exact same time on our remote computers, but we need whatever I save on my mac to be accessible immediately to the PC.
If anyone has any VPN software suggestions, cloud storage suggestions, or input on the method I have already tried, please help!
Thank you!

I don't know if this will work for you or not but you might want to consider something like TeamViewer. Its a great program that can not only be used to remote control any pc or mac but you can also transfer files as well. Here is the link for more information.
http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx
Of course someone will have to be at the site to install it the first time and then it can be used remotely.

How do I make my FireWire/USB Drive work on a Mac and windows computers

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