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Esaray · Jul 26, 2005, 12:14 AM

Hi everyone, i recently purchased a powerbook (in mail) and i probably should have done this sooner, but today i went to the mac store and brought my portable hard drive (i am a windows user) and i wanted to see if it would work. The files were read perfectly but nothing could be added. The mac technician told me, to be interchangeable, you must have it in "fat32"... mine is in 'nfts' .. i am on my computer and i am trying to format my 160gb hard drive to fat32 but it wont budge, it only says ntfs.

how do i change this? is it possible? do i have to buy a 'mac only' hard drive?!

thanks youu

zanyterp · Jul 26, 2005, 01:05 AM

you don't have to buy a mac only HD, but you also can't use NFTS. which computer are you attached to now? if you're in your PB, open up disk utility, and choose the drive and format it (don't choose HFS or HFS+ if you want to use your new HD between both your PC and PB). since it sounds like your PB hasn't made it yet to you, any idea how to do a full erase on your PC?

do you already have files on this from your PC? is it ok to overwrite them (ie you do have another backup somewhere)?

sarts · Jul 26, 2005, 01:18 AM

Macs can read NTFS drives only, not write. If you plan to use the ext drive on both OSX and Windows, then you have to format the in FAT32. FAT32 only supports up to 32GB (IIRC) partitions. So for your 160GB, you will have to create 5 partitions, then format them in FAT32. Hope this helps.

Esaray · Jul 26, 2005, 01:39 AM

Sarts, thank you.. do you remember how to create partitions?
thanks

dolphin36 · Jul 26, 2005, 12:08 PM

Hi
I just bought a PB and had the same problem as you. I ended up using a FAT32 system. The only limitation is that FAT32 can not handle filesizes over 4gb. However you do not need to divide your drive into 5 partitions as the 32gb limit only applies when formatting using windows own formatting tool.
I used a free application called swissknife (http://www.compuapps.com/download/sw...Swissknife.htm) for my 200gb drive and it works perfectly on both mac and PC.
Hope this helps.

analogika · Jul 26, 2005, 01:05 PM

What about Disk Utility? It's in Applications/Utilities, and its main purpose is formatting/copying disks...

drpepper · Jul 26, 2005, 01:30 PM

If you get MacDrive for your PC (Media Four Website), you can format your drive for Mac and not think much about it. I think this is a good solution because it increases the overall compatability - where there isn't really any in the PC to Mac direction.

Also, if there's any performance benefit to using native formatting with your Mac, this solution assures that.

sarts · Jul 26, 2005, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by Esaray

Sarts, thank you.. do you remember how to create partitions?
thanks

Esaray,

Both analogika and drpepper have answered your question. If you are really going with FAT32, you can either format the drive in OSX or Windows. In OSX, just use Disk Utility under Applications > Utilities. It's pretty straightforward from there.

I agree with drpepper, if possible go with HFS or HFS+ and get MacDrive.

CatOne · Jul 26, 2005, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by sarts

Esaray,

Both analogika and drpepper have answered your question. If you are really going with FAT32, you can either format the drive in OSX or Windows. In OSX, just use Disk Utility under Applications > Utilities. It's pretty straightforward from there.

I agree with drpepper, if possible go with HFS or HFS+ and get MacDrive.

MacDrive is the best solution.

However, to format it as FAT32, you will be limited to ~30 GB partitions if you format from Windows NT, 2000, or XP. I believe OS X can format it as FAT32 for the whole 160 GB from within Disk Utility. However, doing this is pretty inefficient -- Windows prohibits you from formatting the while 160 as FAT32 because the block size gets HUGE -- a 1 KB text file will actually take up something like 256 or 512 KB on disk!