What format i should use for my external hard drive that can be used interchangeably between mac and pc?

Usually Fat32/MS-DOS as mentioned, but that has several limitatiuns, like 4GB filesize limit.
One option is MacDrive for you PCs... allows them to Read/Write HFS+...
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
More options...
NTFS-3G Stable Read/Write Driver...
http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
MacFUSE: Full Read-Write NTFS for Mac OS X, Among Others...
http://www.osnews.com/story/16930

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Can I back up what I want to keep on an external hard drive, as far as apps,pictures, books etc, and then delete the entire iCloud ?

Can I back up apps, books, etc to an external hard drive and delete iCloud?

There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
Best iPad External Hard Drive Storage Options
http://www.unlocktips.com/2012/11/best-ipad-mini-external-hard-drive-memory-stor age-options/
iPad Storage Solutions
http://www.ipadstoragesolutions.com/iPadWirelessStorage.php
SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive
http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/media-drive/
WD My Cloud
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1140
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
 Cheers, Tom

Just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented. is it wise to do this or should i not??

just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented. is it wise to do this or should i not??

Let's hope a couple things: that you have bootable clones of your drives also; that the backup drive for TimeMachine has over 3x capacity of the data you plan and are storing. I would also switch TM backup drives so you have a 2nd.
Fragmented free space affecting performance happens when the drive is too full which may mean there isn't enough free space for a full backup set.
1.5TB for backing up 500GB, while WD Green 3TB is $140 and WD Black 1.5TB is, about the same price.
I'd be worried about the integrity and directory, and whether you can afford to lose that drive. Defragging is also a very slow operation. the ideal: to just clone a drive, or start over with another drive and wait. cloning TM volumes has not been done or has it? SuperDuper hoped to but I don't think they or Bombich's CCC made it there.
Trouble with highly fragged is when free space gets to 20% normally, 1/3 or so though for TM volumes, and finding where and a chunk of space for the file being written. Does TM use large spare image files of like 2GB?
Best would be to ask in the TimeMachine section Snow Leopard
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard?view= discussions#/?tagSet=1009
where there are some good FAQ and tutorials, and people that know the ins-and-outs and shortcomings.

Can I mount my external hard drive which will be compatible with both Mac and Windows?

Hello,
Can I mount my external hard drive which will be compatible with both Mac and Windows? If yes, then please let me know, because I intend to use my hard drive for both Windows and Mac, without losing any file.

Yes. By default, Mac OS X and Windows can read and write drives which are formatted as FAT32 or exFAT; NTFS drives aren't writable from Mac OS X without additional software.
(124553)

Recommendations for an external hard drive I can use for both the Mac and PC

Hello,
I’ve used PC’s for nearly most of my life, and recently Imade the leap to using a Macbook Pro (the 15” Intel i7) as I got tired of theconstant crashes. Long story short – Ineed to have a common external hard drive that I can use with both the PC’s andthe Mac I own. Mostly I need theexternal drive to save my Microsoft Office documents, and family photos (aswell as Mp3’s and other programs). I’vegone to the Mac Store in town, but I keep getting told that you cannot have acommon external hard drive between the two computers. I’m just having a hard time excepting that,as I keep reading on Apple’s own website making the sales pitch of how PC userswho switch to a Mac wouldn’t have to purchase replacement hardware. Are there recommended external drives thecommunity could recommend? Also, wouldit be best to create a network drive to accomplish my goal? Any advice isgreatly appreciated.

Only one computer can be connected to one drive at a time without a server being involved or a NAS drive.
I don't think your needs are along those lines it's too complex.
Just a external drive formatted exFAT will do between Mac's and PC's.
Swtich the cable and connect to one or the other as needed or get two drives.
There are some hacks floating around that create a portable wireless shared storage so anyone with a wif can connect and share files with at like coffee shops.
Is that what your looking for?

How do I change the desktop Icon for an external hard drive? I have gone to "Get Info" and tried dragging and dropping several formats of pictures and the icon changes to the generic image of that file type.

how can I change the desktop icon for an external hard drive. Using LaCies and Dimple hard drives.

One of the things I've found with OS X (at least with Snow Leopard, which is my first excursion into OS X), is that all too often the thumbnail displayed on a file, whether a file created or one downloaded, is a false thumbnail. That is, when you do a Get Info on the file the icon in the upper left is the generic icon for that file type, rather than the thumbnail displayed in Finder. Makes it a bit difficult to copy.
Apparently Finder uses Preview in the background to generate the displayed thumbnail without actually creating one.
What I've resorted to doing, particularly with graphic images, is to process them with GraphicConverter - I have its prefs set to automatially add thumbnails and previews. With an individual file this means opening it in GC and doing a Save As. However, a much easier and faster way is when there are two or more such files; I put them in a common folder and drop the folder onto GC. GC then opens them in a catalog view, in the process adding real thumbnails and previews to each automatically. Doesn't take long to do several hundred files that way.

How do I use an external hard drive that has been used on a windows machine on my mac....

I have recently just bought a new mac and want to edit files that are currently saved on my external hard drive that I used on my windows machine.
Is there any way to be able to do this or will I have to transfer all files across to my mac and then re-format the external?
Thanks in advance.

Either copy files over, reformat drive from NTFS to a Mac format and copy files back, or tell your Mac how to write to NTFS drives with a third-party product. Tuxera NTFS has high ratings: http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/

How can you back up your ipod onto your external hard drive that you're using in time machine?

I just bought an external hard drive and want to put my ipod music on it but can't figure out how. My ipod has music that my itunes library on my computer doesn't have. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would also suggest you get a 2nd, much larger hard drive, partition it if desired, move your data to it, and start a 2nd Time Machine backup on it. You can set Time Machine to alternate between the 2 drives by adding the new drive to System Preferences/Time Machine. If you want to make a copy of your current backup on the new drive, you can do that using the Disk Utility Restore tab. If you chose to do that, make the copy first since using the Restore tab erases all data on the drive or the partition.

How do I save pictures to an external hard drive that can be opened by a pc?

I have saved all of my pictures from my macbook pro on an external hard drive but my PC does not even show the hard drive when I plug it in to transfer the pictures over... any ideas here?
Thanks

I formatted a thumb drive as ExFAT to share data. I found that when I formatted ExFAT using the Mac, the PC thought the drive unformatted. When I formatted ExFAT in the PC, the MAC read/wrote it without issue -- go figure!

Buying an external hard drive that works on both!

I am looking to buy and external hard drive that can be accessed by my pc and mac book pro. Using mac drive or the like is not an option. This is because I am looking to go over to a mac full time. At we have a windows network. The techies won't install mac drive, so I need one that works on both.
Do they exist?
I had bought a fujitsu. Formatted it on the macbook and doesn't work on the school network. Is there anything I can do with that so it can be accessed by both?

I use Mac OS X (10.6) as my primary OS with Windows 7 under Boot Camp for games. Pretty much any USB drive will do, I have WD Elements 500GB 3.5in one partitioned approximately 300/200 between HFS (the partition scheme for Mac OS) and NTFS. This allows me to do my Time Machine backups and still have a usable amount of extra storage for windows. Under Snow Leopard I can read both partitions from windows, no problem, but beware, in my experience, Mac OS won't see the windows partition on the external drive if you're using one of the partitions for Time Machine.
Hope this helps,
lambda.

How can I use an external hard drive that says it's for pc?

HI,
I just ordered an external hard drive that said it would work with Macs. ON the box, it says for Pc's only. Is there a way to have it work with macbookpro?
Thanks

Does the macbook detect the HD in finder? If it does then you can go to DISK UTILITY and select it on the left panel side of DISK utility and go to ERASE. Select Exfat or Fat 32 format if you need to go in between MAC OSX and Windows 7. (Exfat is not supported on all machines running XP) Click the erase when you have the correct format and it should work.
If you can't detect the HD on your mac then you need to format it on a Windows machine to FAT 32 then you should be able to read it.
Your still using leopard? do you happen to have a PPC?

HT4718 I have an external hard drive that I used as Time Machine Backup. I have not used it for a while and now, when I plug it in computer says: This disc is not readable. I want to recover the backups and not erase and reformat the disc. Thank you in

I have an external hard drive that I have used as Time Machine backup, but not for a while. Now when I plug it in, computer says this disc is not readable.
I want to keep the backups on it and not erase and start over.
Thank you in advance.
Gregor

It sounds like something went wrong with the drive. Did you drop it? How long has it been sitting around unused?

What format is best for an external hard drive for video editing on a mac?

What's the best format for an external hard drive for video editing to be use with a mac only? I need to format my new hard drive and want to be sure I choose the right format.

I concur with Kappy. His suggestion is correct.
Allan

I have an external hard drive that was formatted by a PC and has files and directories etc. I want to format it and use it on my IMAC for backup but I can't seem to write to it nor can I delete current content. How do I initialize it for use with the MAC?

I have an external hard drive that was formatted by a PC and has files and directories copied to it etc. I want to use it on my IMAC for backup. I see it on my my IMAC . I can open files etc. But I can't seem to write to it nor can I delete current content. I don't care if I lose current content. How do I initialize it for use with the MAC?

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.)

I have a western digital external hard drive that needs to be re formatted for use on my but iMac but I do not want to lose existing data

I have a Western Digital external hard drive that needs to be re formatted for use on my iMac, but I do not want to lose existing data, is this possible ?

Formatting a disk always erases all the data on it. Your only option is to back it up elsewhere and restore it once formatted.

What format i should use for my external hard drive that can be used interchangeably between mac and pc?

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