Sharing External Hard Drive with Windows PC

I just purchased the Maxtor Turbo III. I can read/write to/from my PowerBook to the Maxtor, but I cannot even see the drive when it is attached to my PC. I'm assuming that it the drive has been formatted for OSX but that it needs to be reformatted for PC.
Is there a formating method that can be applied such that both Windows PC's and Macs can read and write to the drive?
Thanks

You wrote: "Thanks, but isn't Fat32 "old technology"? And doesn't it have file size limitations?"Yes: 4 GB is the largest file size under FAT32.
See my "Sharing a FireWire drive between a Mac and a PC" FAQ for some other ideas.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
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Cannot access shared external hard drive with other mac accounts

I cannot access a shared external hard drive with other mac accounts (all accounts are on the same macbook Pro). The shared external drive is shared via time capsule and is connected (of course) in USB. I see well this external hard drive as a shared disk with my main account. Yes shared option has been activated with the Airport Utility .. but when I open other account these othe accounts can see the external drive but cannot access to its content that is flagged with a no way sign. Strangely enough when I close my main account and start opening a new session with one of the other account then fine I can access the external hard drive and its content .. BUT then it is from my main account than I cannot access its content the no way sign showing ..
Looks like only one account at a time can access the content of this SHARED external hard drive .. any one as an idea on how to really make it a shared hard drive so that all accounts on the same mac can also access it ? I am at my wit ends on this case. THANKS ..

Results of my enquiries at Apple Genius Bar .. the guys found the problem interesting. They've been unable to provide a fix neither to give any explanation as to the reason why. To be fair I was not much impressed by the technical level demonstrated ..
In the mean time I have found that if account no.1 can see the shared external drive content and in such case account no.2 (same Mac computer) cannot see its content (only the external HD with a no way sign) this account no.2 can UNMOUNT (by ejecting) this external HD from account 1 and then remount it (just clicking on the TC shared part in a finder window) and .. see and access its content ; whilst account no.1 cannot see its content anylonger. Unless it unmounts the shared external HD and remount it .. then account no.2 can see its content anylonger. This can goes on an on.
So eventually YES the TC can allow to share a USB external drive between several accounts and a same Mac .. BUT this require to unmount and remount EACH time the external drive is accessed from a "no.2 account". So OK to share files with seldom access but not practical in case of frequent access needed.
I just I have now to figure how iTunes can automatically unmount and remount a shared external HD when it needs to access one of this shared HD content from on time account no.1 and then next time from account no.2. May be I am asking too much ..

Problems sharing external hard drives with Lion

I have 2 external hard drives connected to my imac. I had no problem sharing and accessing my external drives on other computers (pc & mac). Recently I just upgraded my mac os to Lion and since I am having problems accessing my external drives on my PC (windows 7).
On my PC in the shared folder I can see the external drive folders but I am getting an error code when I try to open them. I have no problem accessing my imac folders on my PC, just my external drive folders.
I would like some help because it would be nice to access them wirelessly on my PC without having to disconnect them from my iMac.
Rome.

My external hard drive was formatted in the FAT32 format--my iBook had no trouble reading or writing on this drive, and neither did my family's Dell deskop.
If I recall correctly, the FAT32 format cannot store files larger than 4GB. Also, you will have to partition the drive. My 160GB drive was split into 4 parts, each about 30GB in size. This is another limitation of the FAT32 format.
Formatting my drive was such a pain--and time consuming--that I didn't bother to format the remaining 30 or so gigabytes.
I've reformatted my drive to be HFS and will likely do some work with our home network so that our Dell will be able to send files to my machine & then to the external hard drive.
Programs exist for Windows machines to allow them to read a HFS (Mac-formatted) volume. If you want to be able to use all space possible on the hard drive, purchasing such a program may be your best option.

Can I boot to an external hard drive with Windows OS installed on it to play games?

Hello,
I am getting a Mac in the near future for work, and was wondering if it was possible to take my current PC's hard drive and connect it to the Mac with the high speed thunderbolt cable, then book to the external hard drive to play games in windows. In my research I have not seen much about this. I understand that BootCamp works, and am willing to do this, but with the new Macbook Pros that were released, there is very little storage space for two partitions.
Any help would be great,
Also, I know that the performance would not be stunning, but my performance is already lacking because I only have AMD integrated graphics on my machine.
Thanks

A virtual machine is a software system such as VMware Fusion or Parallels which provides a software environment within which a different operating system, such as Windows can run. The files which make up the virtual machine itself (e.g., where Windows and any Windows based software, such as Microsoft Office, reside) can be located on an internal or an external drive. Only the virtualizing program itself needs to be on the boot drive. The connection between an external drive on which the virtual machine files reside will be faster than the external drive itself if the connection is USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt because the speed of an external HD will be the limiting factor. If the external is an SSD, the connection used might make a difference. But a virtual machine will still be slower than a physical machine (i.e., computer) because hardware is faster than the software emulation of it whether the hardware is Windows in BootCamp or a real PC, as BobTheFisherman says.
If you mean the new Retina MacBook Pro (Late 2013), the internal storage isn't a hard drive, it's an SSD on a PCIe bus. OWC, among other vendors, may one day develop an upgrade method as they have for the SSD's in earlier rMBP's but for now, what you order is what you get.

Share external hard drive with windows

I have 2 pc's and a minimac. I want to share them on my home network. I have a new 3TB external hard drive that I want to store everything on. I want to write to it from all computers. I want some files to be shared such as photoshop illustrator and premeire pro from both pc's and mac. Lastly I want to use time machine. Am I asking too much? The wife refuses to learn mac at this time. Maybe in the future then I can turn the pc's into a boat anchor.

While it is possible to do all of these things on your external hard drive after going through a few steps, you will find that after some time - Time Machine will consume all of the free space on that hard drive.
My recommendation is that you use a seperate hard drive for Time Machine - and don't do anything else with that hard drive.
In the meantime, you could use the equipment you have available and establish a folder on your Mac Mini that will allow you to do all of the sharing that you need. Everything will then be archived on the external hard drive using Time Machine.
The following Mac 101 article will get you up and running in the file sharing arena:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1549?viewlocale=en_US
Enjoy!

Can you boot a MacBookPro from an external hard drive with Windows XP?

I'm planning on getting a MacBookPro with a 512GB Solid State drive.
Is there any chance I would be able to find a way to boot from an external drive that has Windows XP installed.
Why would I want to do that you ask? I want to travel with my Mac, but have access to certain programs(AutoCad2010 & 3dMax)that are supplied on my Employer supplied computer without carting it around too... it's a "brick." I know there are Mac versions of AutoCad and 3Dmax, but my employer won't supply me with them. (They are not smart enough to recognize the productivity benifits of Macs.) I thought it would be great to take the Hard drive, put it in a USB or Firewire case and just boot up from that. Probably just a crazy idea, but maybe some clever person knows a way?

Windows XP will neither install nor run on an external drive. However, your boot volume is more than large enough to accommodate a Boot Camp partition in which to run Windows. Or you can purchase Parallels or VM Fusion to run Windows in a virtual machine. Problem solved.

Sharing external hard drive with all home macs and pc's

I'd like to connect my go flex desk hard drive to my BT home hub 4 and access it through my macbook pro, is this possible and how can I do this myself?

You need to format the external drive to a format that can be used by Windows, OSx, and your BT home hub (what ever that is). So I think your best bet would be to format it FAT32 or ExFat since Windows and OSx can read/write to a hard drive formatted as FAT32 or ExFat. Read your BT home hub documentation to determine how to connect a hard drive to it. Most likely it will have a usb port if hard drives can be connected to it.

"Sharing" external firewire drive with Windows Machine

Is there a way to share my external firewire drive on my mac with a networked XP machine?

Have a look at Sharepoints for the Mac. It should provide the services you are looking for.

Sharing External Hard Drive with PC

I have added external HD that has one partition formatted in FAT32 to my iMac. My goal is for this EX. HD to stay connected to my iMac but I want to be able to see it and share it with my PC. Both computers are located on my personal home network <router - cables, etc.>.
What I've done so far is as follows:
On my iMac <OS X 10.4.10>, I have turned on Personal File Sharing and turned on Windows Sharing. Also I have created a user account to match the user account on the PC.<even though Winuser was there already>.
My iMac can see the folders I have shared on my PC.
My PC <XP SP2> can see the folders and files on my iMac.
My PC cannot see the EX. USB HD attached to my iMac.
I tried putting an alias of my EX. HD in my Public Folder but when I click on that from the PC, it doesn’t work. The message my PC displays says: HD alias is an unknown File type.
I don't see anything else I can do to make the EX. HD visible to the PC. Are there any ideas what I should do to make this setup work? Or isn’t it possible for an iMAC to share an EX HD with a PC?
Thanks for any and all help
Skitterbug

Hi Dennis!
Wow! A perfect tool <SharePoints> and it worked like a charm. I am busy playing with the SharePoints App. now and if I run into any questions, I'll post back. But so far this seems to do the trick for me!
Also thanks for the link to the document about Sharing files between PC and Mac. I hadn't seen this one and I got to where I am now by trial and error. I had worked on the old LCII and III and later on some of the PowerMacs but my poor brain was a bit rusty regarding the steps I needed to take. Add to that, a lot of what I used to know doesn't always apply to the current platforms!
Thanks lots for your great help! <thumbs up>
Skitterbug

Can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition?

can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB external hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition? I now want to add another 500 GB?

Yes. Windows supports external USB drives.

I have a seagate external hard drive with files copied from windows pc. If I will download NTFS driver from seagate to my mac, could I install it safely without harming my files in the external hard drive? I am afraid I may erase all files in there.

I have a seagate external hard drive with files transferred from my windows pc. If I will download NTFS Driver from seagate to my mac, could I install it safely without harming my files? I am afraid.. I might erase all my important files during the installation..

Thanks a lot! I have already downloaded Paragon Driver and it works well with seagate external hard drive. I am copying as of now my important files from my mac to it. However, I have only the trial version which will expire in 10 days. I don't have credit card to buy for it.

External Hard Drive with Snow Leopard/Windows 7

I just bought a 500GB external HD that I would like to be able to use with Snow Leopard AND Win 7. I won't be using it for any Time Machine backups. I just want to be able to read/write files on it with both Leopard and Win 7.
Is there any recommended format procedures in order to be able to do this. I may be wrong, but I don't think I can read/write to my external Time Machine external hard drive with my Windows lap top running Win 7.

a TM drive must be formatted mac os extended and windows can't even read that without extra software like Mac Drive. It also requires that the partition scheme be GUID which it's most likely not at the moment so repartition the drive with correct partition scheme now if you do decide to use it for TM in the future. also, snow bootcamp drivers once you install them in windows will let you red (but not write) to mac os extended formatted drives.
the only FS which is natively read+write from both OS X and windows is FAT. but it's very old and has many deficiencies especially on the OS X side.
but it's good for interoperability.
or you can format the drive NTFS and use some software like NTFS-3g or NTFS for mac by paragon to make it writable from OS X.
you may also wish to split the drive in two partitions and format them differently.

How do I connect my external hard drive with all of my digital media to my Apple TV network and make it accessable 24/7?

How do I connect my external hard drive with all of my digital media to my Apple TV network and make it accessable 24/7? I have the latest Apple TV, ipads, iPhones as well as a solid HP Windows machine all on my home network. Is there a way that I can connect my hard drive to my receiver or Apple TV directly so that the digital media is available on my network 24/7 rather than have it connected to my computer and available through Home Share which never works anyway??

Sorry it's all done through iTunes.
The following article(s) may help you with home sharing.
Troubleshooting Home Sharing
Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
Recommended Wi-Fi settings
Wifi Diagnostic Software (for Mac users)
You may also find some help on this page, where I’ve collected some of the more unusual solutions to network issues.

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

What are these files you are trying to copy over?
If they are program specific and there is no program on a Mac to read them then you'll have to find either a Mac version of that program or one that does the same thing and can read those files.
The file extension should not change just because you connect a NTFS formatted drive to a Mac computer. A Word Document is still a .doc/.docx ad the same for all other office type programs. Music files with an extension of .MP3, or whatever, should read the same on both system. Same goes for all other files like images with a .JPG extension.
Yes I would network them.
I would not use Migration Assistant. There is nothing on your Windows PC that can be used on the Mac other than your personal data files. No programs or settings can be carried over from Windows to OS X.
marimbapony1 wrote:
Also, when I view the files from the external hard drive, they show up as .nbz and are not recognized by any program on the Mac. Should I just abandon the hard drive option and start sharing files through the LAN approach?

Help, I installed parallel and windows, and opened videos (on an external hard disk) with windows, and now cannot open them with Mac, and use i movies. How do I reverse this?

Help, I installed parallel and windows, and opened videos (on an external hard disk) with windows, and now cannot open them with Mac, and use i movies. How do I reverse this?

Paragraphs help the reader, just saying.
What are you actually trying to do? Why do you need "DVD size" folders if you're creatng an Archive on an external hard drive?
Also, I understand burning folders instead of individual photos or albums gives you more space on a DVD.
It makes no difference at all.
How can I keep the captions on my photos (not events) when I print or transfer to a new folder?
You can export while writing the metadata to the file in most cases.
Tne only way I know is to copy photos from the Windows to folders on my HD, then copy and paste photos or albums or events to HD, then create a new folder and fill it to the appropriate DVD size.
HD? Another HD? You use HD there in a way that makes no sense. What's the point of 'DVD size'?
I also thought I should download future photos to my Canon programming that comes with EOS cameras and edit and then decide which photos to save to iPhoto library and which to save only to my archival HD?
Does this have any relation to the previous questions? You know you can delete from iPhoto, right?
You're somewhat confused and you need to
1. Decide what exactly you want to do
2. Then go about it.
If I understand you correctly - and there's no guarantee that I do - the easiest thing is to bring all your Photos into iPhoto and do everything from there.
You can have an archive on an external disk, you can sort and select and edit with or via iPhoto
Regards
TD

Sharing External Hard Drive with Windows PC

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