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WD HD Reformat Suggestions
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I recently purchased a 2TB Western Digital External HD that is formatted NFFTS. I need to erase the date and reformat the disk. Any suggestions as to what I should do with the volume?
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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What do you plan on using the drive for?
just Macs, use hfs+
If it's a mixed environment Mac and Windows with no files over 2 4 GB, then use FAT32, unless you plan on installing an ntfs read-write driver on the Mac.
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Last edited by Cold Warrior; Nov 27, 2010 at 12:08 PM.
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Bleh, FAT32 has terrible limitations, you'll hit those without realising it.
Just install NTFS-3G or figure out a way to suck the HFS driver out of Bootcamp for Snow Leopard.
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Originally Posted by Cold Warrior
What do you plan on using the drive for?
just Macs, use hfs+
If it's a mixed environment Mac and Windows with no files over 2 GB, then use FAT32, unless you plan on installing an ntfs read-write driver on the Mac.
Mac but it would be nice to use the documents on Windows if I need to. Is there no universal volume that can be used on both?
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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fat32, or what seanc wrote.
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Originally Posted by Cold Warrior
fat32, or what seanc wrote.
I'm a little confused as to the 2nd part of his response. He advises against FAT32. Then not sure what he means
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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fat32 doesn't support files larger than 4 GB or partitions larger than 2 TB. It's handy if that's all you have, but seanc rightly recommends ntfs as the superior option. The only thing is that OS X needs a driver to write to ntfs volumes. NTFS-3G is one such driver, but if you're running boot camp, be aware of the side effect.
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It should be noted that the side effect is not a show stopper. I'd never noticed until Lateralus brought it up!
Snow Leopard's Bootcamp drivers come with a HFS+ driver which means you can read and write to your Mac partitions from Windows, however I've not investigated installing it on a non Apple computer.
The HFS+ driver is also buggy. I encountered issues with file structure depth/file name length. This could however have been a Windows issue. It has also been known to cause a BSOD in Windows.
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So what is the final verdict? FAT32? I do not use bootcamp. Does FAT32 work with time machine?
Also I've read "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" is the best.
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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Do not use FAT32.
Here's my suggestion.
Install NTFS-3G
Create 2 partitions on the drive.
Format one as HFS+ for Time Machine.
Format one as NTFS for sharing documents with Windows PCs. Other Macs without NTFS-3G will be able to read the data, just not write.
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just use ntfs, since that's not going to cause a disaster like copying your 6 GB pst and wondering why it all didn't copy and was corrupted, or your home movies raw video backup getting hosed.
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Originally Posted by Cold Warrior
just use ntfs, since that's not going to cause a disaster like copying your 6 GB pst and wondering why it all didn't copy and was corrupted, or your home movies raw video backup getting hosed.
which volume is "nfts" or do i just leave it as is?
Originally Posted by seanc
Do not use FAT32.
Here's my suggestion.
Install NTFS-3G
Create 2 partitions on the drive.
Format one as HFS+ for Time Machine.
Format one as NTFS for sharing documents with Windows PCs. Other Macs without NTFS-3G will be able to read the data, just not write.
will time machine not work without being partioned? also which volume is hfs?
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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I've never tried Time Machine with NTFS. Not sure I would trust it with the NTFS-3G 'drivers', but that's just me.
HFS and NTFS are types of filesystems.
You format whatever partition as the filesystem you want to use.
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Originally Posted by seanc
I've never tried Time Machine with NTFS. Not sure I would trust it with the NTFS-3G 'drivers', but that's just me.
HFS and NTFS are types of filesystems.
You format whatever partition as the filesystem you want to use.
Okay, I think there is some confusion. Here is what I am doing Open Disk Utility>Select External HD>Go to Erase>Select A volume of choice> Erase
Is that not correct? If it is correct my volume are not written like that. You have option of Journaled, FAT...
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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Please help sorry if I wasn't clear.
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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If you want ntfs, you'll have to use Windows to format the drive.
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Originally Posted by Cold Warrior
If you want ntfs, you'll have to use Windows to format the drive.
Forget about Windows, whats the best way to do this so I can get all my data from my Mac onto my HD without issues and possibly use Time Machine.
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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Originally Posted by frankthetank966
I recently purchased a 2TB Western Digital External HD that is formatted NFFTS. I need to erase the date and reformat the disk. Any suggestions as to what I should do with the volume?
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior
What do you plan on using the drive for?
just Macs, use hfs+
If it's a mixed environment Mac and Windows with no files over 2 4 GB, then use FAT32, unless you plan on installing an ntfs read-write driver on the Mac.
Originally Posted by frankthetank966
Forget about Windows, whats the best way to do this so I can get all my data from my Mac onto my HD without issues and possibly use Time Machine.
hfs+ journaled
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Originally Posted by Cold Warrior
hfs+ journaled
Perfect. So that is listed as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" under the volumes correct?
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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Thanks for all your help!
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16 GB 2nd Generation Black iPod Touch w/Contour Showcase
White Core 2 Duo Macbook with: 2.0 GHz/1 GB Ram/80 GB Hard Drive
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