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Resolved Question

Another ? About Mac External HD

by Sep 26, 2011 6:57AM PDT

I posted here about a Mac to PC external hard drive, and got a recommendation for a drive that I purchased. I have a question before I open it --

It is formatted for Mac, but the target is eventually a PC. The files to be copied are cross-compatible -- jpg, tif, eps, pdf, psf, indd, etc. Desktop publishing, graphics, and web-related files. It says on the box to be recognized by the PC, the drive needs to be formatted for the PC. Can't do it after copying files, so should I re-format to PC before copying? I tried this on a limited scale with a flash drive, but I'm not sure it would work the same with a standard HD. I'd like to have some idea if possible before I open the box.

TIA,
Gail

Discussion is locked

gevans9726 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
7 Posts
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Best Answer

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Sure.
by Forum moderator Sep 26, 2011 7:09AM PDT

Since you can at anytime format it to either Mac or PC this is not something you have to fret about.

Almost all PC's can't read that Apple format unless the owner/user is more adept and knows to look up software to add that feature (or Linux.)
Bob

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Confused
by gevans9726 Sep 26, 2011 8:46AM PDT

I'm a little confused by your answer and would like you to please clarify. Are you saying I *should* format to PC before copying my files?
Thanks.
Gail

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Me too,
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Sep 26, 2011 11:05AM PDT

but I think your course of action, given your requirement to use this on a PC as well, would be to format this drives as NTFS and to download either,

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It can be confusing.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 26, 2011 11:12AM PDT

For example I can get at the files on Apple formatted drives but I can boot my Live CD with an OS that let's me do such things.

Let's hope that discussions allow bringing up the alternatives.
Bob

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Re: Confused
by gevans9726 Sep 26, 2011 12:07PM PDT

I guess I am confused because I have been able to transfer some files using a flash drive (FAT32 format?? -- not sure) without any problems that is normally used on a PC. I was trying to avoid doing it this way because of the volume of data that needs to be transferred. Also, my PC hard drive has limited space.

So if my external is PC formatted, is NTFS a common format? Or do I use a FAT 32 format, or is that just for the flash drives? Is there some reference for formatting drives that tells what the different formats are for? However, this may be TMI for me.

Gail

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Formats
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Sep 26, 2011 11:51PM PDT

FAT32, NTFS and Mac OS X Extended are all common, but not necessarily compatible, formats used with computers.

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Re: Formats
by gevans9726 Sep 27, 2011 6:35AM PDT

Thank you, your explanation clarified it for me.
Gail

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