How to partition an external HDD to NTFS and Fat32

Hi guys,
I wonder if you can help me.... I'm trying to partition my WD external HDD into two. I want the first partition to be formatted as NTFS as I will be using this part with only windows. The second half I need to be able to use it on both mac and windows and therefore would prefer FAT 32. I have already partitioned the drive into two and formatted the first half to NTFS. The problem occurs when I try to use disk utility to format the free space on the drive to FAT 32. Can you help me?

thats well and fine, but you do realize that :
A: HD are cheap as dirt
B: putting all your data into a single external HD is a nasty choke point for awful data loss?
ergo, not a hot idea in general.
Mac's on OS X can't format or write to NTFS formatted drives, they can read from it though.
Your best option is to format the external drive on the Windows machine using exFAT as it will do it correctly, the Mac has issues formatting exFAT for Windows.
Once the drive is formatted exFAT on Windows, it will work like a charm between both platforms and can use +4GB sized files, which FAT32 (MSDOS) cannot.
.Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's
from Dsstore

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I want to partition an external device for OSX and Windows. Opened Disk utility but Partition is not an option

I want to partition an external drive for OSX and PC. Went to Disk Utility but Partition is not an available option.

Why not? does the partition tab not exist?

HT5219 I have a macbook air and I connect it to an external HDD via thunderbolt and nothing happens....

I have a macbook air and I connect it to an external HDD via thunderbolt and nothing happens....

If a PRAM reset fails to help, an appointment at the Apple store genius bar would be the next option.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Ciao.

Problem! I just copied my extern hdd to finder and tried to open my files when I get the message: "The Map "Pictures" can not be opened since you don´t have authority to see it´s contents! What??? No one else has access to my computer....

Problem! I just copied my extern hdd to finder and tried to open my files when I get the message: "The Map ”Pictures” can not be opened since you don´t have authority to see it´s contents! What??? No one else has access to my computer....now I can´t open my 300 Gb on my hdd in my Macbook Pro. Help?

I've had this happen a few times before. What I found works is repairing the permissions. To do so click on go and then to utilities. click disk utilities. In disk utilities select the drive and click repair permissions. It may take a little time but try accessing after that.

Want to use Time Machine but my external HDD is NTFS formatted

Discussions suggest install NTFS ng but download failed (I'm on satellite broadband)...I need to backup my Macbook before installing Bootcamp and then I can use Windows on my Mac. I'm a new mac user and have just switch platforms. I don't want to loose the data on my Mac OR format the external HDD which is the backup of my previous WIN machine.
What is best plan.. <?> get a new HDD to exclusively Time machine to OR install Bootcamp and hope for the best...?

Lancer 10 wrote:
Discussions suggest install NTFS ng but download failed (I'm on satellite broadband)...
It's only 4 MB. Perhaps you should try again. If your satellite broadband can't handle that, perhaps you need something better, like 3G or dialup.
What is best plan.. <?> get a new HDD to exclusively Time machine to OR install Bootcamp and hope for the best...?
Time Machine requires HFS+ to work. It will create an HFS+ disk image when used with a server. For an external hard drive, I suggest you partition it into 2 volumes, one being HFS+ and the other NTFS.

Boot Camp Partition Size/External HDD recommendation

After updating software, hardware, downloading Boot Camp Asst, and installing Windows XP Pro (have not yet downloaded Mac drivers or software, nor have I submitted registration of my WinXP Pro software, still have 29 days), I realized that I set the partition size too small and need to resize it. I read in other postings that I can copy the Windows partition to an external HDD from the Mac OSX side, then run Boot Camp again, delete the "too small" Windows partition, then run Boot Camp again and reset the partition size larger. Does anyone have detailed instructions to do this?
Also, can anyone suggest an external HDD for this purpose? I need to be able to share files between a PC and my 17" MBP running OS X 10.4.6. Specifically, I need to share (for editing purposes) audio files created with PC-based software with the Windows side of my MBP. The PC has XP Pro and MacDrive6 for Windows installed. I read the "Sharing a FireWire drive between Mac and PC" document on "The X Lab" website and, based on this, am leaning toward getting a FW (not USB) HDD and formatting it in Mac OS Extended format (not sure how to do this but cross that bridge when I get there). Does this sound reasonable? When I run Boot Camp again and have to choose between NTSF and FAT32 should I choose NTSF? Will I also need "SharePoints" or other software to share the Mac's FW drive with the PC?
I may have the option to share and backup files over the workplace network (if I take the time to set it up). Does anyone know if there advantages/disadvantages to this option?
Thanks for answers to these questions. Any help would be very much appreciated. Best!

Frank,
You might want to check the Boot Camp discussions:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1165
In case no one in this part of the board knows.

Need help how to recover my external HDD

I just got my new MacBook pro 13. Yesterday
I was trying to instill windows 7
I opened bootcamp
It's asked my to connect USB external device
I have connected my external HDD it's 80 GB Toshiba External HDD full with 70 GB of data with NTFS windows format
I thought it will store the windows 7 in the External HDD
I put a DVD also
I though it will take the windows 7 from the external HDD to the DVD
But inrealized it was erasing and formatting my external HDD
So I interrupt the operation and disconnecting my external HDD from MacBook pro
When I connect it again I found some folders of windows 7 and I didn't find my files
How to solve this problem please help me it's 70 GB data size

Sorry to hear of your problem.
Also sorry to tell you your data is more then likely gone.
Hopefully that external was just a Backup for data that exists on other storage devices, like on one of your computers. If not it is gone.
Never have I heard of Boot Camp asking for any one to connect an External drive. In fact Windows can not be installed on an external drive. So I have no idea why BC would ask you connect one. Maybe for the Windows Support files that are downloaded from the Apple server at the start of the Boot Camp Assistant. But then they can be saved to the internal HDD.

How to rename two external hdd's, that are exactly the same brand and model, in order to distinguish?

Hello again.
First of all excuse me if I mistype anything or fail to use some terms correctly. English is not my mother tongue and I am kind of new to MacBooks.
Here's my problem.
I've got a macbook pro (yosemite 10.10.1, retina, 15", late 2013, 8gb memory, 250gb ssd), and I am using an external hard drive which I found to be quite good for what I wanted (in case it matters it's the lacie porsche design 2TB USB3).
I wanted one more external hard drive, and since I was satisfied with the one I had bought before, I decided to go for that one again.
Now the thing is that, when I go to finder I see 2 disks with the same name (and their "share" partitions) and I don't know which is which.
I'll try to post a screenshot that might clear things out.
What I would like to do would be to somehow rename the second disk so it appears in the finder as (for example) Lacie1 and Lacie Share1.
Apparently, the system kinda thinks in a similar way as I do.
As you can see below, it has done exactly what I want to do in Lacie's manager (or however it's called), but that does not appear in finder.
(some words are in Greek, but you'll get the point)
So, is there any way I can do something that will make the disks appear like that in finder so I can differentiate among them?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Connect the external HDD to the MBP. Click in the title below the icon two times. It should then allow you to change the name.
See this example:
Ciao.

Basic Question: How to partition an external drive and then set up TM?

Hi. I am going to be using an external hard drive (Western Digital - 640GB) on my MacBook for the first time and I think that I'd like to partition it so that part of it is for Time Machine and part of it can be used to just manually drag and drop my files (like any other USB external drive).
1. How to I partition the external drive for Mac?
2. If I insert my drive (not yet partitioned) in my MacBook for the first time and the MacBook automatically asks me if I want to use it for Time Machine, I'm assuming that I need to say "no" so that I can first partition it, right? If yes, then after partitioning it how do I set up the one partition for Time Machine?
3. If I have 640 GB external hard drive space and my MacBook has about 100GB of space, how much of the 640 should I allocate for Time Machine?
Thanks! Happy New Year!

coffeecoffee wrote:
Hi. I am going to be using an external hard drive (Western Digital - 640GB) on my MacBook for the first time and I think that I'd like to partition it so that part of it is for Time Machine and part of it can be used to just manually drag and drop my files (like any other USB external drive).
1. How to I partition the external drive for Mac?
select the whole drive (the model, not the name) in disk utility and click on the partition tab. set the number of partitions. set the partition scheme to GUID in options. set the format to mac os extended journaled. hit apply.
2. If I insert my drive (not yet partitioned) in my MacBook for the first time and the MacBook automatically asks me if I want to use it for Time Machine, I'm assuming that I need to say "no" so that I can first partition it, right? If yes, then after partitioning it how do I set up the one partition for Time Machine?
in system preferences->Time machine.
also see TM 101 for basic usage instructions.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
3. If I have 640 GB external hard drive space and my MacBook has about 100GB of space, how much of the 640 should I allocate for Time Machine?
it depends on your computing habits but it's generally recommended to have TM drive to be at least 2-3 times bigger than the total amount of data you are backing up.
Thanks! Happy New Year!

How to partition/format external drive?

Hi,
I bought a WD MyBook 320 GB external drive. It is by default formatted in fat32. However, fat32 has a ridiculous file size limitation! (<4GB)
I have 2 Macs, one windows and one linux boxes at home, one linux and one windows boxes at work. I want that all the machines has access to it. But maybe I can forget windows box. I need some advice, which one is better:
1. Format it as HFS+, forget windows, maybe I can use hfsutils for windows, and maybe I can access to it by this (is there anybody using hfsutils???)
2. Format 120 GB in HFS+, the rest fat32. I will use HFS partition just for full image of my mac's harddisks, and fat32 will be accessible to every computer.
Any suggestions?
Thanks...

You cannot format the drive with both Mac OS Extended and FAT32 partitions. If you need FAT32 you must format the entire drive FAT32. If you format the drive Mac OS Extended, then you will need software on the Window's PC that enables reading/writing Mac disks such as MacDrive.
To format the drive:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing (this does not apply to external drives.) Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button and select the GUID partition scheme then click on OK. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
If you prefer to format the entire drive as FAT32, then in Step 3 select the MBR partition scheme instead of GUID.
If you plan to use the external drive to backup your main hard drive then do that by cloning the main drive:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Set Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only.
2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
3. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
4. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button.
5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
6. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
7. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Lost partition on external HDD

Hi there,
I recently partitioned my Time Machine external HDD so I'd have half of it for spare storage (500 GB Time Machine, 500 GB spare storage).
I then was having issues backing up my Time Machine, and went to remove the spare partition. My MBA died overnight, while it was removing the partition, I believe, and now, only the 500 GB of the Time Machine partition is showing up in Disk Utility, with no hint of the other 500 GB. I've also tried using TechTool, but no bad sectors or anything of the sort are turning up, and I'd like to not have to reformat the whole drive, (and lose my Time Machine data) especially in case it doesn't fix it, either.
Any tips? I'm about to try DiskWarrior, but we'll see what happens.
Thanks guys...

I solved my own problem. Plugged it into my PC (Win7) and used Disk Management on there, which immediately displayed the unallocated space, which I allocated into a partition, which then showed up in OSX and was deleteable so as to make the disk one whole partition again.

How do I encrypt external HDD

Hi all,
I have FileVault turned on for my internal HDD and all is working well.
Can someone please tell me how I can encrypt my external HDD being a LaCie 1TB and using FileVault to do it or is this not possible.
Is FileVault for internal HDD only? If so what do you recommend to encrypt my external HDD.
Thanks heaps,

Right-click the volume icon and select Encrypt... from the contextual menu.

How to read and write to the same external HDD using Mac and PC

Hello,
I am using a mid 2014 MacBook Pro.
I read somewhere that to write to an external HDD from a Mac, you need to format it in a particular way.
But this would stop it from being used on my PC. Is there any way I can write to the same HDD from both OSes ?
Thanks !

Yes. Format the HDD to FAT or ExFAT. It seems best to do that on a PC.
Ciao.

Itunes library on external hdd for mac and pc

I want to store my my iTunes library on an external hdd and use it with a Mac and a PC. All changes made on the Mac should be recognised on the PC and all changes made on the PC should although be recognised on the Mac - one library for both.
I already tried to store my library from my PC on an external HDD and then started iTunes on the Mac, pressing "alt". But I wasn't able to open the library. When I choose library.itl, the Mac just opens iTunes without opening my iTunes library.
Any ideas, how I can put all my music, videos and podcasts on the external and then use it on Mac and PC?
Kind regards,
Matthias

The only format drive that will work with both a Mac and a PC without you using additional drivers is an older format called FAT. Disk Utility can create this. Otherwise if you use Windows' NTFS you need something like NTFS3G or MacFuse, and if you use OSX's HFS format you will need MacDrive on Windows (others may also work for both PC and Mac -- those are just the ones I could remember).
Theoretically the Mac should have been able to read the .itl on the Windows NTFS drive but maybe since it found it could not write to it, it reverted to default.
Note, if anything happens to the FAT32 drive you will need to repair it using Windows. I also assume you aren't usign this drive for huge files because FAT32 has a 4GB filesize limit.
You will have to completely erase the drive to partition and re-format it.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html

Have Airport Base: Want to share external HDD with Mac and PC

I have an Airport Base station with an external HDD connected via USB that has 2 partitions (1 in FAT32 & the other in NTFS).
I can access the eHDD via my Mac and listen to my music, photos, etc...
I want my XP machine to be able to do access the same eHDD and listen to music, see photos, etc.
My XP machine connects fine to the base station to use the Internet.
How do I share the external HDD so that it pops up in the Explorer in my XP machine?

Look into using exFAT format http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT

How to partition an external HDD to NTFS and Fat32

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