How to format a drive for both iBook (10.3.9) and MacBook Pro (10.5.8)?

We have two external drives, one Firewire and one USB. They're working like a charm with our MBP under 10.5.8.
The MBP has to go into the shop. I figured I could use the iBook with the external drive until the MBP comes back.
Alas, the IB cannot read either drive!
What do I do to format an external drive so that it works with both? Ideally, it would be good if both laptops could boot from the same drive, too!

Lyssa, both have their own power supplies. It's the usual assortment of files--photos, Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, astronomy programs (natch!), and the complete system.
Niel, I think you're on to it. We have a third smaller drive that must have been formatted APM for the iBook, which the MBP sees and works with--and probably can even boot from. But you've provided an important cautionary note about that.
Alas, the quest for a decently priced 10.4 for the iBook has turned up empty...
This is a head-scratcher. I'll have to figure out the best way to keep working while the MBP is in the shop. I certainly can copy over several key folders I've been using, or the entire home folder, but that leaves behind the MBP's apps!
Do you think I could clone my MBP to an APM formatted drive? And boot with it from the iBook? Or, would I run into problems with it being an Intel based 10.5.8 OS on the external drive booting a Power PC iBook? Woe is me!

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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.
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What will the PROS and CONS be for the different options?
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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

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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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disk as FAT32. Firstly, there is a limit on the file
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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.
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How to format a drive for both iBook (10.3.9) and MacBook Pro (10.5.8)?

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