Storage Solutions External HDD which can be used by both WIN & MAC

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W@rrier

W@rrier

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hi guys!

I am gonna get a Macbook Air pro soon and i need to buy a external HDD which can be used with both Windows and Mac ~ without formatting the content!

I have no knowledge about this more than what i have written above, so Gurus please help me out :D!

TIA
 
Re: External HDD which can be interchanged btw WIN & MAC

Any external HDD will do

The only constraint is the filesystem

Windows does not recognize HFS (apple's filesystem)

OS X recognizes NTFS (Windows filesystem) but can't write to it

So you will either have to format the new HDD in FAT32 , or you can alternatively install a third party NTFS writing support tool (like Paragon NTFS) on your Mac
 
Re: External HDD which can be interchanged btw WIN & MAC

superczar said:
Any external HDD will do

The only constraint is the filesystem

Windows does not recognize HFS (apple's filesystem)

OS X recognizes NTFS (Windows filesystem) but can't write to it

So you will either have to format the new HDD in FAT32 , or you can alternatively install a third party NTFS writing support tool (like Paragon NTFS) on your Mac
Click to expand...

Thanks a ton :), that pretty much cleared it!, Btw, if i make it FAT32 will i be able to use it with both MAC and Windows?

Fat32 has only one big limitation rite? The single file size limit of 4gb? anything other than that?

arun687 said:
Buy Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 2.5 USB Kit Black 500GB at Best Price in India - Also find Specifications, Photos, Features & Reviews

This one has got NTFS driver for Mac which makes it read/write as well.
Click to expand...
Thanks Buddy, so with this i can use the HDD normally on the windows platform and i have to install the driver in mac and thats also settled? :)
 
^ It says in the features that the driver comes pre installed in the HDD which enables drag and drop functionality within Mac and Windows. Not sure exactly how it works though, not an 'i' person here. :P
 
arun687 said:
^ It says in the features that the driver comes pre installed in the HDD which enables drag and drop functionality within Mac and Windows. Not sure exactly how it works though, not an 'i' person here. :P
Click to expand...
Thats pretty much what i was looking for when i started the thread :)
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
Here's a page on Seagate's GoFlex Mac NTFS driver : FreeAgent GoFlexâ„¢ Software | Seagate

BTW, about FAT32 - Windows restricts you to a maximum partition size of 32GB as well. You would need a third party partition manager to create larger sizes.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! that explained it perfectly :)

So if i get a E-HDD of say, 320gb, will it not work if its formatted in Fat32?
 
just install Paragon's NTFS for MAC 8

its for $20, small amount to pay as compared to MB-AIR...

works like a charm, can read-write to any NTFS drive - so u can use any windows formatted drive in it.....

I've been using it past 3 years.. no worries..

Latest is v9.0
 
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