Are drivers needed when using the Shuffle as a thumb-drive?

:-) · February 3, 2005 11:15PM

Hi

I think I read on these boards somewhere that a driver is needed to use the thumb-drive function with a PC, can anyone please clarify?

I haven't been able to find anything by googling or searching Apples support pages...

I'll be buying the shuffle to use in part as a thumb-drive with some lab PCs that I'm not allowed to install software on, so it's kind of a deal-breaker.

Thanks,

:-)

Edit: found the other thread that mentions this link (it's 6 or 7 posts down...)

maccrazy · February 4, 2005 5:04PM

Quote:

Originally posted by :-)

Hi

I think I read on these boards somewhere that a driver is needed to use the thumb-drive function with a PC, can anyone please clarify?

I haven't been able to find anything by googling or searching Apples support pages...

I'll be buying the shuffle to use in part as a thumb-drive with some lab PCs that I'm not allowed to install software on, so it's kind of a deal-breaker.

Thanks,

:-)

Edit: found the other thread that mentions this link (it's 6 or 7 posts down...)

I've asked Apple technical support on the phone he did have a difficult to understand accent but appeared to understand me. He said it did work plug-and-play. I also asked an apple store (run by CanComUK) and they said it would work as well. I'm going to test my one (well my girlfriends) and will confirm

telomar · February 4, 2005 8:13PM

Given my regular iPod worked PnP I'd be surprised if the shuffle didn't. Furthermore no where is it mentioned anywhere in the instructions that drivers need to be installed. It is just acting as a USB drive, which windows should have generic drivers installed for.

:-) · February 4, 2005 8:17PM

Thank you guys

I just got worried when I read the other post, I'll probably order one anyways, 'cause it's convenient for the gym, then I guess I'll see if it works with the lab PC eventually.

:-)

g_warren · February 13, 2005 11:30AM

Quote:

Originally posted by :-)

Thank you guys

I just got worried when I read the other post, I'll probably order one anyways, 'cause it's convenient for the gym, then I guess I'll see if it works with the lab PC eventually.

:-)

Tried this out today to bring a file home from uni on my shuffle. The uni PCs don't have iTunes or anything, but it just loaded up as a drive and I dropped a few words files into the root. Easy peasy, no software needed.

maccrazy · February 13, 2005 1:38PM

Quote:

Originally posted by G_Warren

Tried this out today to bring a file home from uni on my shuffle. The uni PCs don't have iTunes or anything, but it just loaded up as a drive and I dropped a few words files into the root. Easy peasy, no software needed.

This should be the same as the iPods. Apparently none of them need drivers.

a_greer · February 13, 2005 5:20PM

All modern OSes (win 2k or newer, OSX, and most up to date Linux distros) have what is called "generic USB mass storage drivers" that recognise and mount them, to utilize features other than data storage, you will need a driver, but just to swap data, the universal drivers should work, Apple has been good about universal standards as of late.

I dont know for sure, but I would think that a driver (or iTunes 4.7.1->) is needed to charge the unit.

:-) · February 15, 2005 12:36PM

Well I guess that pretty much settles it... it's off to get a shuffle

now I only need a place that has them in stock

\

thanks

:-)

rolandg · February 15, 2005 1:18PM

Where did you initialize your Shuffle? On a PC or on a Mac?

I can imagine that the rumors about drivers originate from people that installed their Shuffle on a Mac first thus formating it HFS which Windows can neither read nor write without HFS-drivers.

I have never seen a Shuffle in person, but I'd be interested if the storage portion can be formated a different file system (e.g. FAT) than the music portion.

Can an iPod be format to FAT(32) on a Mac and initialized via iTunes so it can be used on PCs as well?

g_warren · February 15, 2005 5:15PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RolandG

Where did you initialize your Shuffle? On a PC or on a Mac?

I can imagine that the rumors about drivers originate from people that installed their Shuffle on a Mac first thus formating it HFS which Windows can neither read nor write without HFS-drivers.

I have never seen a Shuffle in person, but I'd be interested if the storage portion can be formated a different file system (e.g. FAT) than the music portion.

Can an iPod be format to FAT(32) on a Mac and initialized via iTunes so it can be used on PCs as well?

I have never formatted my shuffle - left it as Apple standard, and used it only on my iBook. When I plugged it into a PC (after first turning the file storage option on using iTunes on my mac), it loaded as a drive straight away. If you leave it in standard format which it ships in, it will work fine on Windows with no need for iTunes etc - it loaded as a drive containing folders including my music shown in folders.

maccrazy · February 15, 2005 5:18PM

Quote:

Originally posted by G_Warren

I have never formatted my shuffle - left it as Apple standard, and used it only on my iBook. When I plugged it into a PC (after first turning the file storage option on using iTunes on my mac), it loaded as a drive straight away. If you leave it in standard format which it ships in, it will work fine on Windows with no need for iTunes etc - it loaded as a drive containing folders including my music shown in folders.

cool - that's good to know, different from the iPods then

rolandg · February 15, 2005 6:37PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MacCrazy

cool - that's good to know, different from the iPods then

Indeed! G_Warren, would you check with disk utility which file system the shuffle utilizes?

cake · February 15, 2005 8:20PM

MS-DOS ? Hmmmm!

chucker · February 15, 2005 8:22PM

Some Core Data details are available at http://developer.apple.com/macosx/tiger/ .

nguyenhm16 · February 17, 2005 6:34AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cake

MS-DOS ? Hmmmm!

Yeah, these are formatted FAT32 from the factory. Makes it easy for Mac and Win compatibility out-of-the-box. That's why there were all the complaints when it first came out about not being able to use certain characters (that were legal in HFS+ but not FAT32) in filenames when using is as a USB thumbdrive.

rolandg · February 17, 2005 8:58AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nguyenhm16

Yeah, these are formatted FAT32 from the factory. Makes it easy for Mac and Win compatibility out-of-the-box. That's why there were all the complaints when it first came out about not being able to use certain characters (that were legal in HFS+ but not FAT32) in filenames when using is as a USB thumbdrive.

Were there? Never heard of them (the complaints, that is).

By the way, are files names that relevant? Isn't there an additional ID3-title-tag? How does iTunes name the files on import (from CD)?

Are there any other disadvantages in using FAT as opposed to HFS on an iPod?

I wonder if all new iPods will be FAT formated by default, would save me a lot of hassle.

Are drivers needed when using the Shuffle as a thumb-drive?

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