[djmb]

I have a powerbook and need extra space, so i'm getting hte Lacie 160 gig triple interface, firewire 800 for me.. and incase I want to use it on a PC.. USB.

now my question is, how should I format it?


if I format it with disk utility, PC won't be able to read it right?

I know that if I format with Windows, into Fat32, my mac will be able to read it also, but isn't it slower? I will primarily 99% be using it with my powerbook, but JUST IN CASE i need to use it witha PC i want the option to be open. what to do?

[zerock]

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/

[Simon]

Originally posted by djmb:
if I format it with disk utility, PC won't be able to read it right?

Not necessarily. You can use DiskUtility and chose the FS to format with. If you chose HFS+, PCs won't be able to read/write on the partition w/o extra software. You can however chose 'MS-DOS' which IIRC means FAT32. That way, your Mac and any PC should be able to access the disk.

I know that if I format with Windows, into Fat32, my mac will be able to read it also, but isn't it slower? I will primarily 99% be using it with my powerbook, but JUST IN CASE i need to use it witha PC i want the option to be open. what to do?

I don't know if it's really slower and I could imagine it depends strongly on what you do with the disk. Another option is to partition the disk in one HFS+ partition and one FAT32. That way, no matter what you plan on doing, there will be a mountable partition.

[Dr.Michael]

http://forums.macnn.com/57/consumer-hardware-and-components/249588/fat32-vs-hfs-external-firewire-drive/