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    PC to MAC external HDD... what format?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by j0hn00, Mar 11, 2007.

  1. j0hn00

    j0hn00 Notebook Evangelist

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    My sister just got a Mac and I'm about to load up my external HDD with my music and video collection for her to take. I haven't used a Mac since high school... roughly 15 years ago, so I have no idea how the Mac OS works. Do I format the external HDD as NTFS? FAT32? Or do I need to install some kind of software? Thanks in advance for any help given.
     
    j0hn00, Mar 11, 2007
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  2. passive101

    passive101 Notebook Deity

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    The mac will read FAT 32 and NTFS but the pc needs a program to go the other way from my understanding. Just plug it in and drag and drop I believe.

    My USB flash drives work both ways and it should be the same principal since I've seen external HD's say PC and Mac now :)

    I'm a noob thought but it won't hurt trying.
     
    passive101, Mar 11, 2007
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  3. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    FAT32 can be read and written to by both operating systems, so that would be the most ideal. However, it only supports files with size smaller than 4GB. Any single file over 4GB will be corrupt.

    NTFS can be read and written to by Windows, but only read by by Mac OS X. However, it does support files greater than 4GB, so if you have some big videos, this would be your only choice unless you plan to split the file.

    HFS can be read and written to by Mac OS X, but cannot be accessed at all by Windows.
     
    Budding, Mar 11, 2007
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  4. j0hn00

    j0hn00 Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for the info.
     
    j0hn00, Mar 12, 2007
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