Formatting Ext HDD for OSX/Windows use - how?

DeepBlue

I've a 2 TB WD Elements external hard-drive that I want to format for use with Windows XP/Win 7 and Mac OSX Snow Leopard.

The plan is to maybe have 3 partitions on it:

Partition | Main Use
Partition 1 | For Time Machine
Partition 2 | Writable from OSX (Readable from XP/Win 7)
Partition 3 | Writable from XP/Win7 (Readable fom OSX)

I'd hope to have the Mac partition at least readable when connected to a Windows PC and also have the Windows partition readable when connected to the Mac.

Could anyone give me a pointer/link as to how best to go about this? Do I have to format the whole drive to FAT32? Or is there a better way?

aidan_walsh

Time Machine won't work with FAT32, it'll need HFS+. Likewise Windows won't read a HFS+ partition, only FAT or NTFS formatted ones.

I've not tried an NTFS drive on OS X, so not sure what its support level is like. Might require something like a MacFUSE plugin.

DeepBlue

I'm guessing all partitions have to be formatted to the same filesystem?

Sean Quagmire

I was in a similar position.

What I did with my external HD (500GB) was create 2 partitions of equal size. 1 was purely for Time Machine (mac format) and the other was FAT32.

I know FAT32 is a bit taboo now and the file size restriction is 4gb but it's been working great for me. Being able to read/write on mac and windows OS without any problem. So if you can live with the 4gb file restriction you will be fine.

All of this can be done through OSX easily (disk utility).

See this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKMchxDH_aI

maggy_thatcher

As long as you're only dealing with Mac and Windows machines, why not consider exFAT? While not as good as HFS+/NTFS on their native platforms, it is cross-platform, and doesn't have the 4GB file limit.

The downside is that it won't work on Linux right now, due to patent restrictions, but if you are only using Mac/Windows that shouldn't be an issue for you.

You'll still need an HFS+ partition for Time Machine though.

There's no requirement that all partitions on a disk have to be the same.

Tazium

^ +1 think xp needs an update though. I was reading on exFAT recently, its 64bit FAT! That or NTFS with Paragon NTFS for Mac providing full access.

maggy_thatcher

Tazium wrote: »

^ +1 think xp needs an update though.

It comes as part of XP Service Pack 2.