[Lateralus]

Just as the title says.

I'm looking to migrate a good bit of my data to a hard drive destined for an XP/Vista PC. What would be the best file format to give it so that it's easy to write to in OS X and readily accessible from Windows?

Thanks.

[Barefoot Matt]

There are third party programs in windows that let you access HFS, but keep in mind that if you format your windows drive in FAT32 instead of NTFS, OS X can read and write to it.

[Eug Wanker]

I used FAT32 for my XP partition, specifically because I wanted to read and write on that partition from OS X. I'm also using it for data storage for files when in OS X, cuz on my MacBook my whole drive is only 75 GB I needed to be able to use that space.

However, if you prefer to use NTFS, you can install MacDrive. It rocks. I have version 5, but MacDrive 6 has been out for a while now.

[harrisjamieh]

If you use MacDrive, it lets windows read and write to HFS+ drives. Also, if you download the free trial, it lasts for 5 days - no restrictions during that time, so if you are quick and get all your data over in 5 days or less, then you don't have to pay for it . Thats assuming you do not have the need to keep reading/writing to the HFS+ drive

[Lateralus]

Okay,

I'm all set up on XP with MacDrive but I'm unable to access anything in my OS X Home folder due to ownership restrictions. It doesn't even ask me for a password to attempt to access my files.

Is there anything I can do?

[Nivag]

I haven't tried it myself but maybe if you changed the permissions to allow everyone to read and write on your home directory it'll give you access.

i personally like using BatChmod for doing this.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12057