Making external HDD Windows compatible

[catrina]

Hi! I was wondering if it was possible to make my HDD windows and mac compatible. I got a tip that i could by reformatting my HDD on my mac and choosing the DOS option. Thing is when i checked there is none. Is it the same as UNIX?

[Maverick]

if you want to use a HDD on a Mac and on a PC, you can do something like:

a) Make 2 or more partitions on the HDD and format one for Mac and the other for the PC or what have you.

b) Format the whole partition for use on a PC (and you can still see it on a Mac and transfer files to and from it).

[catrina]

thanks !

does it work if i write on HDD wiht my MAC and move files to windows?

[Kenneth]

Depends on several factors. You can go about it several ways.

If your external HD is less than 30 gig, then format it using your PC in FAT32. That way both your mac and pc can read/write to it. No need to partition.

However, the problem with formatting a HD with FAT32 is its 30gig limitation. You cannot format a HD larger than 30gig in FAT32. So if you have a larger HD, you'll waste a lot of diskspace. What I did as a solution is format my 120gig HD in OS X (Mac OS Extended). Then installed MacDrive on my PC so it can read/write to it. Works like a charm. Unfortunately you have to pay for it. There's a 15 day trial download though.

Another way is to format it using a PC in NTFS if you're using Win2000 or later. However as far as I know, Panther can only read an NTFS HD and is unable to write to it, correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

[Maverick]

you're right kenneth... i can' t seem to write to my external hdd (1 partition on a mac and the other one on NTFS.)
I can't write to it.

[dude_funk]

Hi Catrina Fragante,

This has been in issue in another forum where I'm subscribed. Note that I have NOT tried this yet since I currently have no need for it. Suggestion comes "as is" without any assurance that it would work or not cause problems.

Hope this helps, though.

I will copy-paste the entire original message below:


--------------------Original Message--------------------
See the recent threads on this. FAT32 is the only common format. Yes,
OS10.3 can READ NTFS but can't write to it. Most drives come FAT32, BUT
there are several complicating issues.

#1 Partition Size: OS10.2 (can't speak for 10.3) can't see FAT32
partitions larger than 128GB. So if you buy a new drive larger than 128GB
and it's formatted with a single partition (the norm) OSX can't mount it
(but can see it in some utilities). So you have to repartition, which
leads to problem #2.

#2 Repartitioning: WinXP and OSX cannot make large FAT32 partitions.

Win98 using Format and Fdisk can, but not in it's default
installation. You must get and install the Fdisk update for large
partitions. This update will not appear in Windows Update, you must search
for it. You must run Fdisk in a DOS window, not from a clean DOS
boot. Why? Because you can't see a firewire drive in DOS, but you can in
a DOS shell under windows.

BUT !!! I could not make the above work. It sounds good in theory, but
I've never found anyone else for whom this worked either. Oh, I can create
the partitions, and they work fine in Windows 98, but only the first one
will mount in WinXP or OSX. Additional partitions simply appear as
unformatted. I have read some very low-level explanations for this, but
can't say I understand them. In fact, it's not clear anyone else does
either.

THE ONLY SOLUTION, that I have been able to make work is to format as FAT32
using Unix commands from the command line under OSX.

WARNING!! What follows are the intructions I posted a while back. Do NOT
attempt to follow these as a fool-proof step-by-step. If you are not
comfortable with this type of low-level work, I do NOT recommend you try.

**** Sometime a while ago, Tod wrote: ******

Success. I now have two large, external, firewire drives formatted FAT32
and readable on WinXP and Mac OSX and OS9. After many, many, many
attempts, here's what finally worked.

First, the WARNING: This involves using "Terminal" with "Root" access in
OSX. In this mode you have the power to cripple the Mac. Be
careful! Double-check everything. Whenever possible, I booted with only
the system drive and the target drive on line.

These instructions are sketchy, both because I don't want the uninitiated
to attempt them without some basic understanding of what they are doing,
and because I only barely understand them myself. If they are a mystery to
you, you should do some basic research before you attempt this. It is
apparently possible to do this without WinXP using the "diskutil" command
in Terminal, but in my case WinXP is more convenient.

In all cases you must be logged on as an adminstrator:

1) Using WinXP Drive Management, make one Extended partition spanning the
entire drive. You want to select "Partition Only - No format" when given
the option. Now create two logical drives within that partition. It
should work just as well to create one primary partition and one extended
partition if you prefer. You cannot mount FAT32 "drives" larger than
128GB in OSX so make your drives smaller than that.

2) Take the drive to an OSX system. Reboot the system with only the
internal drives.

3) Open Terminal

4) Type: ls /dev/rdisk?

5) You should get a list of the drives. Probably only "/dev/rdisk0" if
you only have one internal drive.

6) Connect the external drive. If the "can't use" dialog pops up, click
Ignore.

7) In Terminal, type: ls /dev/rdisk?

8) You should see a new drive in the list, probably "/dev/rdisk1"

9) Type: ls /dev/rdisk1*

10) You should see two listings for the two partitions on /rdisk1. In my
case, these were /dev/rdisk1s5 and /dev/rdisk1s6

11) Now the moment of truth! Type: sudo
newfs_msdos -v VOLUME_NAME -F 32 /dev/rdisk1s5

Replace "VOLUME_NAME" with your desired volume name (in all caps)
and "rdisk1s5" with the partition name for the partition you wish to format

The system will prompt you for your password. Remember you must
be logged in as an adminstrator. It will do this only once in this session.

The drive will format. In my case, this took about a minute
before the prompt returned. You will not get any confirmation of success.

12) Repeat step 11 for the other partition.

13) Now cycle the power on the external drive and wait. Both partitions
should mount.

Your done. I hope this works as well for you as it did for me. I have not
yet digitized to these drives (Xpress Pro), so I can't speak to
performance, but they moun on OSX, OS8, and Win XP systems. I'll be
checking on a few more soon.

[zChris]

I have a 250 gig hard drive.

What I did was to plug it into my Mac, use Disk Utility, select the drive, chose the Erase tab, and selected MD-DOS (?) or something similar to that, and ran it.

Worked for me.

[catrina]

thanks for all your help!

zChris -- i was going to do that but i dont see the MD-DOS. all i have is the mac os journaled, mac os soemthing and unix. can i use unix?

[pengski]

try this...
launch Disc Utility
Select your External HD
The go to Erase
Volume Format.. chose MacOS Extended
after formating....
Erase again now you can see
Format : MS-DOS File System
(now you can use your HD on a Mac and PC)

caution : your icon will all change and cant be shared on a network
environment :evil:

[catrina]

thanks pengski will try this.

hope that it works!