External Hard Drive Question
I plan to transport all my data from my Windows PC XP to a new iMac this Christmas, mainly using an External Hard Drive. I just want to check a few things though.
Once I have copied+pasted all I wanted from my Windows PC onto the External Hard Drive, I simply plug it into the iMac, and copy it into there, right? Or is there more to it?
I've heard the External Hard Drive might ask for FAT32 or NTSF. My PC has NTFS (at least, I think it does), so I guess I should format to that right?
The second part of this, is once I've done all this, I can make it usable for Time Machine? I'm guessing I'll have to reformat it, but that isn't a problem (as far as I know). If it forces to use FAT32 though, doesn't that mean I could only use 32GB though?
Finally, once I have got Time Machine working, is it possible for me to connect it to my PC without losing the Mac data, yet being able to put Windows PC files on there?
Side note, this was the External Hard Drive I was going to get: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...nplm=TM691ZM/A
Thanks.
Once I have copied+pasted all I wanted from my Windows PC onto the External Hard Drive, I simply plug it into the iMac, and copy it into there, right? Or is there more to it?
I've heard the External Hard Drive might ask for FAT32 or NTSF. My PC has NTFS (at least, I think it does), so I guess I should format to that right?
The second part of this, is once I've done all this, I can make it usable for Time Machine? I'm guessing I'll have to reformat it, but that isn't a problem (as far as I know). If it forces to use FAT32 though, doesn't that mean I could only use 32GB though?
Finally, once I have got Time Machine working, is it possible for me to connect it to my PC without losing the Mac data, yet being able to put Windows PC files on there?
Side note, this was the External Hard Drive I was going to get: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...nplm=TM691ZM/A
Thanks.
Comments
I plan to transport all my data from my Windows PC XP to a new iMac this Christmas, mainly using an External Hard Drive. I just want to check a few things though.
Once I have copied+pasted all I wanted from my Windows PC onto the External Hard Drive, I simply plug it into the iMac, and copy it into there, right? Or is there more to it?
I've heard the External Hard Drive might ask for FAT32 or NTSF. My PC has NTFS (at least, I think it does), so I guess I should format to that right?
No, format it as FAT32, since it's the most interchangable, but do this on the Mac. Windows can't format FAT32 discs in anything larger than 32 GB volumes, but it can read and write to larger ones.
The second part of this, is once I've done all this, I can make it usable for Time Machine? I'm guessing I'll have to reformat it, but that isn't a problem (as far as I know). If it forces to use FAT32 though, doesn't that mean I could only use 32GB though?
Read above.
Finally, once I have got Time Machine working, is it possible for me to connect it to my PC without losing the Mac data, yet being able to put Windows PC files on there?
Unfortunately, it would be difficult and inadvisable. Time Machine requires an HFS partition to use Time Machine, and Windows is incapable of even addressing HFS partitions unless you use third-party software. If your drive is large enough, partition it into two pieces, one HFS volume that is equal to your internal HD capacity, and the second as a FAT32 volume that contains the rest of the available space. Use the HFS volume for Time Machine, and the FAT32 for other files, both from the Mac and PC. FAT32 is readable and writable by both OS X and Windows.
- Plug the External Hard Drive to the Mac, format it to FAT32.
- Plug to Windows, copy the files I want (music, etc) to the External Hard Drive. Paste to Mac.
- Once done, Format the External Hard Drive again, this time to HFS for Time Machine.
- If I want, I should partition the drive during the previous step, say 480GB in HFS for Time Machine, leaving enough memory (say, 20GB) in FAT32 incase I want to transfer some files from Windows to my Mac in the future.
I'm supposing I'll have to reinstall all my programs, which will be a hassle to say at least.