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Hi I'm Ben · Feb 14, 2003, 11:26 AM

I just purchased a new harddrive and i want to put my old one inside my PC, for use of network back up for my Mac...now.
i know the harddrive will work in there but the question i have is.. will it work without being reformatted so that i don't have to take all the information on it, back it up to a different harddrive, install my new harddrive, transfer the information to my new harddrives, then resend everything to my old 40 again as well.

Or.. is it even possible to put BOTH harddrives in my PC, the new one and the old one and copy all the information off the old one into the new one carbon copy style..

i have a cube so that's why i have to use something with multiple ide slots..

mr. burns · Feb 14, 2003, 11:46 AM

PCs don't like HFS drives.

CatOne · Feb 14, 2003, 12:10 PM

I bet it would work if you bought Mac Drive Plus. I use that and it lets me see Mac formatted disks (e.g. iPod, external firewire HD) from the PC -- I can't see why it wouldn't also work with an internal drive.

It'll cost you $40 or so, but it's probably worth the cost, in time saved.

Leonard · Feb 14, 2003, 12:43 PM

PCs use different file systems than Macs. Macs traditionally use the HFS and HFS+ file systems, although I believe Mac OS X can now read UFS (Unix File System) and NTSF (NT File System) file systems in some cases. PCs, from what I can remember, use the FAT32 file system and NTFS. I'm not sure what PCs use now that the operating system has gone to Windows 2000 and Windows XP. PCs would need some other software (as CatOne has indicated) to read a hard drive with a Mac file system (HFS or HFS+).

So you would have to reformat the drive if you want the PC to use it's native file system format. There would probably be some problem with certain applications on the PC if you didn't do this.

P.S. I just checked my Windows 2000 PC and it's using NTFS as the filing system.

bradoesch · Feb 14, 2003, 01:20 PM

Originally posted by Leonard:
PCs use different file systems than Macs. Macs traditionally use the HFS and HFS+ file systems, although I believe Mac OS X can now read UFS (Unix File System) and NTSF (NT File System) file systems in some cases. PCs, from what I can remember, use the FAT32 file system and NTFS. I'm not sure what PCs use now that the operating system has gone to Windows 2000 and Windows XP. PCs would need some other software (as CatOne has indicated) to read a hard drive with a Mac file system (HFS or HFS+).

So you would have to reformat the drive if you want the PC to use it's native file system format. There would probably be some problem with certain applications on the PC if you didn't do this.

P.S. I just checked my Windows 2000 PC and it's using NTFS as the filing system.

NTFS has been the main file system used with Windows NT (which includes 2000), and the variants of FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32) were used with DOS and Windows.

Hi I'm Ben · Feb 14, 2003, 03:40 PM

my other thought is to Hook up the second HD to my DVD IDE cable.. would that be possible.. just for a little bit.

CatOne · Feb 15, 2003, 03:48 PM

Originally posted by Leonard:
PCs use different file systems than Macs. Macs traditionally use the HFS and HFS+ file systems, although I believe Mac OS X can now read UFS (Unix File System) and NTSF (NT File System) file systems in some cases. PCs, from what I can remember, use the FAT32 file system and NTFS. ...

The Mac can read FAT32, but it cannot read NTFS, unfortunately.