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General discussion

External Hard drive for both Mac AND PC not 1 or the other

Jan 28, 2011 4:17AM PST

I have a PC right now that is the family computer. My personal computer is going to be a Mac. The family computer is brand new and I don't want to put my iTunes on the family computer because I don't want to slow it down and I want all of my files to come with me when I get my computer.

I NEED a Mac AND PC compatible external hard drive that does not require reformatting when I make the grand move from one computer to the other. The FreeAgent? GoFlex? Desk External Drive claims to be compatible with both Mac and PC but also says "*Reformatting to HFS+ required to use backup software for Mac or Time Machine? software". I have no idea what that means so an explanation would be appreciated.

Any one know of an external hard drive that can do what I want?
Could someone also explain what "Reformatting to HFS+ required to use backup software for Mac or Time Machine? software" means? Thanks!

Here is the link to the Seagate External hard drive that claims to be supreme: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/external-hard-drive/desktop-hard-drive/#tTabContentOverview

Discussion is locked

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Re: external drive
Jan 28, 2011 4:25AM PST

If you partition and format it to FAT32, both Windows and Mac will be able to read and write it. But, as the message you quote, says, you can't use it for Time Machine software on the Mac then. You'll need another disk if you want that.

Kees

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Sorry, two fast.
Jan 28, 2011 4:28AM PST

Quite likely, you can make two partitions on it, one in FAT32 that can be accessed by both Windows and Mac for file sharing, one in HFS+ that can only be used by the Mac. On a 1 TB drive, you could make, for example a partition of 400 GB and one of 600 GB. Might be enough for what you plan to do with it.

Kees

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Turns to brick wall, hits accelerator!
Jan 28, 2011 4:32AM PST

"I don't want to put my iTunes on the family computer because I don't want to slow it down and I want all of my files to come with me when I get my computer."

This continues to be the first step where folk later post ---> " I have all my files on my external HDD and now my computers can't read it. What happened? "

-> Moderators and members know the first question is why not get them from your backup.

EXTERNAL DRIVES ARE NOT RELIABLE ENOUGH for you to trust them.

In parting I'd just put the volume as NTFS since today's Apple machines can read and write to such.
Bob