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View Full Version : HD Format for Windows and OSX (not FAT)

Peter Jerome
12-08-2007, 11:52 AM
Is there any format that will work with both Windows and OSX? I want to use it for a 320GB external drive. As far as I know, FAT will not support larger than 32GB. Any suggestions?:???:
Karelia
12-09-2007, 02:04 AM
I've got a 160 GB hard drive formatted with FAT right now, and in fact, most external hard drives come either unpartitioned, or partitioned with FAT.
DrBoar
12-11-2007, 04:11 AM
The 32 GB limit is a MS "feature" for formatting in XP/Vista. In Win 2000 and ME you can format any HD in FAT32

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table

My 320 MB drive is OK in FAT32, as long as you stay away from files of 4 GB and larger.
penguincentral
12-11-2007, 06:00 AM
Isn't there software that you can install on XP to access mac formatted drives?
Karelia
12-11-2007, 11:50 PM
Isn't there software that you can install on XP to access mac formatted drives?

I doubt it. As far as I know, it needs to be built into the core of the OS. It's for that same reason that Mac OS X can read NTFS drives, but not write to them.
teedoff087
12-12-2007, 02:15 AM
Actually, there is. Try MacDrive (http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/).
Karelia
12-12-2007, 01:16 PM
I stand corrected.
talksense101
05-16-2008, 02:48 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext2

Try the ext2 file system if you don't like FAT. There are drivers for both OS-X and Windows and ext2 works with Linux as well.

disclaimer: I haven't done this, but it is doable. You might want to check the OS X drivers first.
spinnerlys
05-20-2008, 03:09 PM
There are free alternatives for both sides of access to either Windows and Mac OS X.

For accessing an HFS+ formatted volume under Windows you could use HFS Explorer (http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/index2.html).
It's a standalone progamme that works with Java. With it you can browse your HFS+ formatted volumes.
MacDrive is of course simpler, because you can just open the Explorer and there is your HFS+ volume, shown like all the other volumes.

For writing to an NTFS formatted volume under Mac OS x you can use MacFuse and the NTFS 3G Read/Write driver (http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/how-to-read-and-write-ntfs-windows-partition-on-mac-os-x.html). It works like a charm for me.