[iluvmypowerbook]

I have a portable external hard drive (40gb) which is formatted to FAT32 so I can exchange files between PC's and my Mac.

If I wanted to load any Mac software onto the external I would have to install OSX onto it correct?

If I do this that means I would have to reformat the external to HFS thus loosing the ability to read and write files between PC's and my Mac?

Can I partition the external so that it can be formatted as FAT32 and HFS or is this just a pipe dream?

[SSharon]

The easy way to test this is to throw some apps on the drive and try to open them. I think that it will open them just fine in whatever format they are saved in, but if you are really determined to have two partitions for mac and pc (since some people do like to have an OS on the external drive for emergencies) you can find another thread similar to this one or read this page at macosxhints.com. The instructions there look intimidating and I haven't tried them myself. (Personally, I don't see any benefit to doing it either but some people do)