Using an external hard-disk with both mac and XP

I would like to use an external USB hard-drive to use with both my XP desktop and Macbook. This is mainly to store photo's and music. Am I right in believing this is possible so long as I format the disk in FAT32 first. Is there a file size limitation?

Hi,
I was planning to buy the Western Digital 'My Passport Essential 160GB USB Portable Hard Drive'. If I formatted that as FAT32 - would that be ok. Also can I use it as my ITunes 'base'?
Yes and yes.
But be aware that you can encounter difficulties with USB-powered external HDs, since such drives generally need more power from the USB port than a Mac and/or PC usually can deliver.
My personal choice would be to get a power supply for the external HD.
Regards
Stefan

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Using an external hard drive with a Mac and a PC?

I have an external hard drive that I've used with my Windows PC/ itunes / music that I've copied to the PC. Can I use the external hard drive that I use with my Windows PC on my Mac/ itunes / music I've downloaded to my Mac?

wendybird wrote:
I also have a lot of pictures stored on the external hard drive that I can't lose.
(1) Any hard drive may fail at any moment. If you don't have a backup for this external hard drive, your pictures are half-gone already.
(2) If you're trying to make this drive a repository for your music and pics, then its best to format it as FAT32. That's the file system with the widest compatibility, and you'll be able to use the drive with Mac, Win, media players, even TVs with built-in media players. For practicality, it's probably best to keep it attached to a desktop machine and share it on your home LAN for all other devices.

Using Seagate External Hard Drive with both PC and Mac

So I bought this hard drive knowing that it can be used back and forth between Macs and PCs. I currently have a PC, but it's pretty old and I figure I will be getting a Mac after it dies. But currently I want to use it to get files from a Mac computer and when I connect it, it says "read only". How do I configure it to be able to transfer files with a Mac?
Seagate - FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB External USB 2.0/3.0 Portable Hard Drive - Black

Here you go:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090913140023382
If you find my post useful or informative, please click the icon below with the plus sign and star to give kudos. Thank you!

I am not able to use my external hard drive with my Mac.

I am not able to use my external hard drive with my Mac. It was initially used with my Windows 7 laptop. Now when I insert my Hard drive in the Mac, it doesn't allow me to delete, format, make folders or copy new files on to my hard drive. I no longer have a Windows PC and am stuck. I tried going to Disc utilities,selected my HD, clicked on Erase and then changed the Format type to MS-DOS (FAT) but no luck .. Any other steps or advice?

It was likely formatted in NTFS which is readable by the Mac, but not writeable.
You should be able to reformat the disk in Disk Utility.
After having copied all the data off of it, you can try re-partitioning it.
Select the hard drive in the disk list in Disk Utility. Hard drives are the device itself, are left-aligned in the list, and are usually named with the manufacturer, size, and model number.
Click on the Partition tab.
Select 1-partition from the partition menu.
Click the Options button and set to GUID
Set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Give the Volume a name and click Apply.

Can i use time capsule as external hard drive for both mac and windows

I have a mac book pro, ipad and iphone and ipod and a windows pc
Can i use time capsule as a external hard disk only for all of the above ( including windows ) without the back up activity for mac ?

You cannot access the TC from iOS devices without a browser. eg filebrowser.
Can i use time capsule as a external hard disk only for all of the above ( including windows ) without the back up activity for mac ?
Yes, with the following proviso.. the TC is not able to back itself up.. so if you store files on the TC without backups one day you will discover all your files are gone because of a hard drive failure of the TC. TM also cannot backup TC.. so you will need to buy a proper backup software.
It is also much slower than a real NAS..
And windows can be a bit painful.. especially windows 8.. other versions should work if you spend the time getting everything set right.

Using external hard drive with both iMac and PC

I own an old Dell PC and an iBook, and will soon replace the Dell with an iMac.
I recently bought a 250GB Western Digital external hard drive to back up my data. I would like to use this hard drive to back up all of the files that are on the PC (which I will soon be getting rid of) and also use it for backing up the files on the iBook and, when it arrives, the iMac. In other words, neatly back up all my info onto the back-up drive.
My question is this: can I do this? If not, what is the best way to consolidate all of the data from all of these computers into one place? Will the fact that some data comes from a PC and some from a Mac be a problem? Can you move back-up drives fromone computer to another? The photos on my PC are saved in Picasa, whereas the photos on the iBook are in iTunes. My iPod music files are all on the PC in iTunes.
Any advice about backing all this stuff up in a user friendly way would be greatly appreciated.
By the way, I have heard that there are ways to reformat external drives, to partition them, and to "raid" them. Can someone explain what this all means?
Thanks.
iBook G4

Hello,
Your best option would be to store the files from your PC on the drive with the drive in the FAT32 format. Then, copy the files to your Mac's Internal hard drive.
Now, once the files are stored safely on your Mac's internal hard drive, you can safely reformat the external drive as a Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) drive. That will be the best format to use for long-term purposes with your Mac.
Many OS X file types (such as many PKG files) cannot be stored / written to a FAT32 volume. So, a FAT32 drive would not be suitable for backing-up an entire OS X hard drive (or even many of the system updates that you might download).
So, that's how I'd do it. Use the drive as a FAT32 just long enough to get the files moved to your Mac.
Once the drive is re-formatted in the Native Mac format, then you could copy the files back to it, and any other Mac files that you wanted to back-up to it for safe-keeping.
Personally, I would re-partition it in at least two pieces on the Mac. One to hold data / personal files for safe-keeping, and a second bootable partition for a full system / OS X backup.
You can read a bit more about this in some of my previous discussions here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2536703&#2536703
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2597825&#2597825
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2632566&#2632566
Read through each of those three discussions and you'll see how they all come together and provide you with a good solution for backing-up your hard drive.
I hope you don't mind my linking you to those other discussions, but it just seemed more practical than re-typing what I had already said all over again
Also, if you are getting one of the new Intel iMac systems, and you want to be able to create a bootable backup as described in those posts, be sure to format your external hard drive using the new GUID format. That will provide you with the best solution.
I hope this helps.
Let us know if you have other questions.
P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.

How can I use my external hard drive on both pc and mac, but also being able to use it to back up my mac data?

I want to be able to transfer some of my files from my laptop to my macbook, but not all of them. I have a NTFS external hard drive and I have heard about reformatting it so that it can read/write across both systems, but can I still use this hard drive to back up the data on my macbook? If I can, how should I go about reformatting the hard drive?

FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

Using my external hard drive with my Mac?

I have a Maxtor external hard drive I used with my Dell. Can I use it with my Mac? Any worries about simply connecting it and seeing what will happen?

My best guess is it's formatted as NTFS, if that is the case OS X can read NTFS files but cannot write to a NTFS formatted drive. You can fix that by downloading NTFS-3G
OR
you can reformat the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Disk Utility. If you are sharing this drive with a PC then I'd recommend the NTFS-3G option
if it's only to be used by the Mac then reformat it.
You can download NTFS-3G at: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g
To reformat here are instructions: http://www.ehow.com/how_2063795_format-hard-drive-mac-os.html

Using Current FW Hard Disk with new Mac Mini..?

I'm using a G4 mini for over a year now, and intent to get an Intel version of it once the next product update occurs.
But is it possible for me to actually use the external FW hard disk which I'm booting my current system from right now, and use it as the bootup HD for my next mini, with all of the files in it remaining intact?
It is just a simple process of upgrading the FW HD with the universal version of OS X and then booting up from it? Or it is a more complicated process of having to format the HD first?
Hope seinors here can advise me on this, tks!
Mac Mini G4 1.42 GHZ Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Since the OS X Intel version uses EFI it also uses a different kind of partition scheme, so your F/W disk would not be bootable. You need to repartition it and select GUID partition table in the options (on your PPC machine, the Intel machine would choose the right one) in order to make it bootable for Intel Macs. All your data will be erased by repartitioning the HD!

Using same external hard drive with two Macs

I use two Lacie external hard drives and Time Machine to back-up my iMac, swapping over the drives each week to have one off-site.
I am soon to buy a MacBook. Can I use the same external hard drives for the MacBook's Time Machine back-ups, whilst continuing to use them with the iMac, or will that cause problems?
Thank you.

As Kappy says, Time Machine will put both sets of backups in the same Backups.backupdb folder. That may not be a good idea for the future; your best bet may be to partition the drive.
See #4 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Using an external hard drive with my mac

My PC crashed last night (THANK GOD NOW I CAN GET A NEW DESKTOP MAC!!!) but I need to get some pictures off of my external hard drive. Can I just plug it up with my macbook and get them off? It is compatible with MAC. It's a Lacie. Thanks for any help.
Adrienne

What's the format of the drive? If it's FAT32 you should have no problem. If it's NTFS you probably can read it to get data off the drive (although I can't get my iBook G4 1.42 to mount them - MacBook does read-only with NTFS). The particular model and interface type of your LaCie drive could be helpful.
I had a LaCie d2 FireWire drive that crashed a few months after I got it. I then reformatted in FAT32 on my iBook and had ScanDisk quarantine bad sectors on a PC. It finally bit the dust and the PC would no longer mount the drive. My iBook was able to read it but took minutes to mount. I got the data to another drive and make sure to back up my important stuff to three different external drives.
Message was edited by: ypw

How can I use my external hard drive on my mac and a windows computer?

Hello,
Can anyone help...I have recently purchased a new external hard drive for my macbook pro, it is a 1TB hard drive. I use it for time machine back ups which only takes up about 250gb of space so obviously I have a lot more to use. I'm at University and the computers there are Windows so I'm hoping to be able to drag my uni work to my external HD and connect it to the windows computers at my university so that I have my work there as well - however I'm not sure how I should format my HD???
Thanks

You will eventually use all of that 1TB external for the Time Machine backups, that is if you do regular Time Machine backups (It is NOT a One Time thing). So using that same external for anything else is not a good idea.
You would be much better off buying a large USB thumb drive, like 64GBs in size, and format that to one of the Windows formates that both Mac OS X and Windows can read from and write to. Those would be FAT32 and exFAT. If you are moving file less than 4GBs in size then format it FAT32. You can then copy files to it from your Mac and Read those files on the Windows PCs the school has and just stick that Thumb drive in your pocket.

How can I access a Photoshop Elements catalog on an external hard disc from both: Mac and Windows PC

How can the directories and path be named, that catalog can access the same picture files.

TZachmann wrote:
How can the directories and path be named, that catalog can access the same picture files.
That means you should have both your files and your catalog on the external drive, and you plug in your external drive alternatively to one or the other computer.
Are your picture files already on the external drive ? If they are, you only need to copy the catalog folder to the external drive, as explained later,
otherwise, simply do a backup/restore to the external drive, with the choice to restore on custom location.
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/backup-restore-move-catalog-photoshop.html
(moving to the external drive is similar to moving to another computer)
Moving the catalog :
First locate where your catalog folder is situated : menu help / system info.
Copy the whole folder to the external drive.
In the copied catalog, double click the catalog.pse12db file, that will open the organizer and the new catalog. It will appear in the 'custom location' section in the catalog manager.
Backup and restore solution : restore on 'custom location', that is to a new master folder created on the external drive.
The first time you are using the catalog on either computer, you'll have to use the catalog manager (file / catalog...) to browse to the external drive location of the catalog. After that, the location will be remembered in each computer.

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)

Using an external hard drive for both TM backups

I would like to use an external hard drive for both TM and as the main hard drive storage for my Macbook which is now approaching being full...how do I do this ??? or should I have 2 separate devices....want to free up space on Macbook

Now that I've partitioned my I Terabyte external drive to two partitions using the disk utility with one partition for Time Machine and one partition as my new "hard drive"...my internal drive on the MacBook almost filled....I wanted to move...pix, movies, music..etc to the new drive and have all future storage pointed to that drive not the internal drive....need to have space available on the original drive on the MacBook....How do I move existing stored data and point ongoining saved music..files...etc to the new drive...???
Thank you...Bob

Using an external hard-disk with both mac and XP

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