Problem: External Drive

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kennywrxkennywrx
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a FAT32 formated external USB HD that I've been using with a Mac for back-up. The other day I tried to plug it in my PC to put additional files on it. There wasn't enough space left, so I started deleting the older data to make space, and even though I deleted sufficient stuff, it still says the drive doesn't have enough space. Why does this happen?



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    bobmarksdalebobmarksdale Posts: 744member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KennyWRX View Post


    I have a FAT32 formated external USB HD that I've been using with a Mac for back-up. The other day I tried to plug it in my PC to put additional files on it. There wasn't enough space left, so I started deleting the older data to make space, and even though I deleted sufficient stuff, it still says the drive doesn't have enough space. Why does this happen?



    Thanks



    I had this problem with an iPod and transferring a 7gb file. It was 'windows' formatted, but I don't know if that meant it was ntfs, fat, etc. I know that FAT32 can't handle individual files more than 4GBs, and by breaking the file down, I solved it. Is the file possibly too big? It might also be corrupted. And the disk itself might have some messed up stuff. Repair the disk in disk utility on your mac.
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  • Reply 2 of 4
    kennywrxkennywrx Posts: 141member
    Thanks, that might have been the prob. I'll have to reformat the HD then... Whats the best option that'll read and write under both mac and windows?
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  • Reply 3 of 4
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KennyWRX View Post


    I have a FAT32 formated external USB HD that I've been using with a Mac for back-up. The other day I tried to plug it in my PC to put additional files on it. There wasn't enough space left, so I started deleting the older data to make space, and even though I deleted sufficient stuff, it still says the drive doesn't have enough space. Why does this happen?



    Thanks



    After you deleted the older data, did you empty the trash? I had the same problem with a USB flash drive. Probably not the same, but you could try emptying the trash and see what happens.
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  • Reply 4 of 4
    smaxsmax Posts: 361member
    FAT32 is the only format that can be read by OSX and Windows without another program. There are some utilities that will allow Windows to read HFS+ partitions, but you'll have to buy them.
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