[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?

[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.

[seanc]

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.

[frankthetank966]

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?

[Cold Warrior]

fat32, or what seanc wrote.

[frankthetank966]

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

[Cold Warrior]

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.

[seanc]

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.

[frankthetank966]

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.

[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.

[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.

[frankthetank966]

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?

[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.

[frankthetank966]

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...

[frankthetank966]

Please help sorry if I wasn't clear.

[Cold Warrior]

If you want ntfs, you'll have to use Windows to format the drive.

[frankthetank966]

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.

[Cold Warrior]

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

[frankthetank966]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

hfs+ journaled

Perfect. So that is listed as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" under the volumes correct?

[seanc]

Yes

[frankthetank966]

Thanks for all your help!