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    If i format an external HDD to Mac OS Extended, can only Apple comps use it?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by marcosdjcm, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. marcosdjcm

    marcosdjcm Notebook Guru

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    Ive always used FAT32 for compatibility on ext. HDDs, but now i need to put a massive 100GB image on an ext. drive, how should i format the drive so that both a Macbook and an XP computer can access it?
     
    marcosdjcm, Oct 19, 2009
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  2. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    format the drive as NTFS and use NTFS-3g

    http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
    http://tzechuen.wordpress.com/2008/...ntfs-and-hfs-volumes-on-both-windows-and-mac/

    or format as hfs+ ( mac OS ) and use a program such as Mac Drive or any number of freeware apps or paid software to read it, personally I like Mac Drive 8
    http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

    the 30 day trial may still be available as well to use

    for read only this little program works wonders and its free

    http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html
     
    crazycanuk, Oct 19, 2009
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  3. maxsquared

    maxsquared Notebook Consultant

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    I personally find NTFS-3g slow, actually, if you are using Snow Leopard it does have the ability to write to NTFS drive, but you will need to enable it, it's quite fast, see below:

    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=785376

    If it's pr0ns you don't want anyone to see then the best bet is to format to hfs+ and so no one on Windows can read it unless they use paid software :)
     
    maxsquared, Oct 19, 2009
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  4. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    Lots of freeware apps to read hfs+ I listed one above and do most of my Data pulls from hsf drives from windows. BTW the OP WANTS to read the data from windows AND OSX easily, but yes I did forget about the native suppoet in SL but it seems to have issues when working witha 20GB+ file
     
    crazycanuk, Oct 19, 2009
    #4