I am trying to reformat a 500 GB USB HDD to one FAT32 partition so that I can use it on a Mac and a PC. I have seen many references to using the disk utitilty and creating a partition in MS-DOS format, but my computer does not have that option. The only four options I have are Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Unix and Free Partition. Am I missing something here?
View 7 RepliesI am using this guide to get a new HD into my PS3: [URL:...] It says that the HD I back my PS3 up to needs to be formatted to FAT32. I have an external HD that I use with my mac, its partitioned into 4 parts. I have one partition which I don't use which I want to back my PS3 onto. In Disk Utility I select that partition and I only get 4 option under the Erase tab, 4 different Mac OS Extended options.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI'm using an external drive through FireWire 400 on my MacBook Pro with 10.5.5. It's a 320GB with 22GB in "free space" and the rest formatted with HFS+ (used as a Time Machine backup drive). I want to setup that 22GB as a FAT32 partition to be writable in both Windows and Mac. Normally, it sounds like I'm supposed to use Disk Utility on Mac and just choose MS-DOS(FAT). Unfortunately, that choice is not presented. I can choose four different Mac-based file systems, but not FAT. Why doesn't that show up as a choice? I've tried leaving it as free space and using a PC to format it. I've tried formatting it as a Mac-based drive and using the PC to format. I've even tried installing MacDrive on the PC and using that to format it as FAT32.
View 3 Replies View Relatedi'd like to format my lacie external hard drive with two partitions:
1. HFS+ partition as a bootable clone of my internal drive
2. FAT32 partition readable by any windows (and mac) machine
i'm creating my partitions with disk utility, but i hit a snag when choosing a partition scheme...apparently i cannot choose a different scheme for each partition.
so when i format the drive with GUID, the FAT32 partition is not even recognized by windows XP. but when i format the drive with master boot record (MBR), the HFS+ partition is not bootable...
I have a 1/3 full external drive that is currently formatted for MAC OS External.
I want to partition the drive in half and use the 2nd partition for Windows FAT32.
However, when I try to do this with Disk Utility it does not give me the FAT32 option.
What is the best way to make a FAT32 partition on a MacBook's internal hard drive? (I plan to use it to share files between OS X and Windows.) I did some research on this, and some people say to use Disk Utility, however, the only disk format available for me is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and there are no FAT32 or FAT or MS-DOS options. Perhaps those options were taken out since then(?). One other person said to create the partition using Windows, which I think would work, but I'm a little worried about that because I've read that editing partitions outside of OS X can prevent Boot Camp from seeing the partitions.
I'm thinking that my best bet would be using Windows to shrink its own partition, then turning the resulting unformatted space into a FAT32 partition. Since I'm not touching the OS X partition I'm hoping there wouldn't be any problems. I just wanted to confirm whether or not that would work and/or what a better method would be.
I have a Mini 2.26 Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 1067 DDR3 RAM and a 160 GB HDD. I'm pasting the system profiler specs:
Macintosh HD:
Capacity:125.49 GB (125,493,575,680 bytes)
Available:101.22 GB (101,216,739,328 bytes)
Writable:Yes
File System:Journaled HFS+
BSD Name:disk0s2
Mount Point:/
BootCamp:
Capacity:34.2 GB (34,202,451,968 bytes)
Available:13.77 GB (13,774,503,936 bytes)
Writable:Yes
File System:MS-DOS FAT32
BSD Name:disk0s3
Mount Point:/Volumes/BOOTCAMP
The partition "Bootcamp" can be seen from OSX, but when I restart and use the option button to select an OS, it just hangs up on a white screen and never loads the choices. Booting without the option button defaults to OSX. I have also tried to repair the disk in disk utility. I can definitely wipe the partition and reload XP, but I'd love an alternative. I've backed up the XP partition on a different HDD, so I'm ready to go. As this is my work rig, I have to get this resolved correctly.
So here the deal. I have a single hard drive in my MacBook Pro. Its made up into 2 partitions (one for os x and the other for data). I want to make the OS X partition into 2 separate partitions (so I'll have a total of 3) without erasing any data. I want to use that new partition to install windows. When I select the OS X partition, and set it to format at NTFS, it says the size cannot support the filesystem (25GB in this case). What size does it have to be then? Or should I format as FAT32?
I know FAT32 has a 4GB file size limit so I don't want to do that because I want to install some games on the Windows partition. How should I go about doing this?
I noticed in disc utility that under the erase tab it has the option to format a drive to fat32. If I create a windows partition using bootcamp and then go into disk utility and erase to fat32 will this allow a boot into the xp drive? My xp disc keeps restarting before it gives me the opportunity to format the drive to either a ntfs or a fat so I need a way around this?
View 4 Replies View Relatedi have a 500GB HDD which has two 250GB partitions, one which is working for time machine, and another one for storage, that one for storage is NTFS, so i can just read but not write files, which is very annoying.
Can i just reformat that partition without loosing my time machine files? I already copied the Storage files to my internal HDD, also which is the best format? I want to be able to read/write stuff both on PC and Mac
Is there a way to copy my Time Machine files to my computer, reformat that partition too to FAT32 and pass them back?
I set up a triple-boot system on my MBP (Early 2008) with OS X SL, ubuntu 9.10 and Windows 7 Home Premium. I have a 500GB Hard Drive, and allocated 100 GB for Mac OS X, 60 GB for Windows 7, 40 GB for ubuntu, and the remainder I formatted as FAT32 for storage to share between the three operating systems (to hold iTunes and iPhoto libraries, movies, etc).
I use rEFIt as my bootloader, and all three operating systems happily load whenever I choose them to. The problem lies with the FAT32 storage partition. OS X recognizes it quite nicely and I use it regularly. Windows and ubuntu, however, do not mount it. What's more, Windows Disk Manager identifies the space as unallocated space.
I formated a new 1.5TB WD hard drive, using the eSATA cable - in the FAT32 format so I can use it on my PC as well. (It was formatted on the MAC)
I was working on the Hard Drive via eSATA and the express card. Then the Hard Drive was accidentally unplugged. Subsequently, my MacBook Pro didn't like that and gave the warning message to properly eject ... too late! I restarted the MAC and it still won't recognize it - I've tried eSATA, USB, firewire- and nothing. The hard drive was all 3 connections. So, I tested the HD on a friend's MacBook Pro and the hard drive is recognized without any hesitation and it works fine. So, there is nothing wrong with the Hard Drive - its my MacBook that won't recognize it.
The HD won't even show up in disk utility of my MAC. I've restarted many many times and I've tried every port available.
So, I am in the process of attempting to partition my disc so that I can boot windows XP.
Know that I am in no way even a capable mac user, so I might be a bit slow... sorry.
During the partitioning process, using boot camp, I get a message saying that I need to reformat my disc so that it is a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) disc. So, I go to my Disc Utility, and it says it already is a Mac OS extended bla bla bal. So, my question is
Why will it not let me partition, and do I really need to reformat my everthing eventhough it already is in the format it wants to be in?
I'm unable to find out how I can create a primary partition on a USB stick using OS X (I could just go to my Windows or Linux machine and do it there, but it just annoys the hell out of me that I haven't been able to figure out how to do it on my Mac so far).
I want to make one partition of the USB stick bootable (to keep a Windows 7 installation CD image on it) and use the rest of the USB stick for a data partition, but while the Disk utility allows me to generate two paritions, I can't find a setting that allows me to specify that one of them is primary.
I have a macbook pro with an external harddrive formatted to MS-DOS FAT32 and want it to accept files bigger then 4gb (ie. HD Movies). Is there a way to change the individual movie files to be accepted by the Harddrive or do I have to reformat the harddrive completely?
If I do have to reformat my harddrive what format should i do so?
I want my external harddrive to be able to work on Windows and MacOS as well as accept files of any size (ie. over 4gb at least)
I am a student at the University of Miami and i need to run MatLab on my computer. They have the MatLab software available to me but only for Windows. They told me that they can install Windows for me but its going to take a week. IM NOT WILLING TO GIVE MY MACBOOK UP FOR A WEEK!!!! Specially becaus ei need it for school(and to browse this site lol). So i was wondering how much it would cost me$$$ to install Windows, is it available for free download? Is it complicated to Install? and if it simple enough can somebody give me a simple step by step?
View 5 Replies View RelatedI just recently install window 7 32 bit via bootcamp. The process went well and i m able to start window 7. However, i notice that on my computer in window 7. There is a bootcamp partition and a macintosh partition as well. I am able to access the macintosh partition and see all the files, apps that is in my mac os. The question is that can the macintosh partition be infected by virus or somehow changes some setting???? If so, how can i disable it so that it wont appear and not get infected by virus?????
I know that window can read the mac partition on bootcamp but not write. I am not sure how this work so can someone help explain how this work??? Will the mac partition be infected virus or damage and change anything setting that related to mac os????
I just ordered my MBP and I will be installing Vista for my course work.
I have opted for the 500GB hard drive, which I plan to divide equally between Leopard and Vista.
I was wondering if it is possible to create another partition (or two) within this Vista installation (e.g. C:, D:, E:, etc...).
For those not in the know, a restore partition is essentially a partition (sometimes hidden) that contains an OS installer. It's quite common on Windows Machines. I'd love to be able to have a bootable OS X Installer on my MacBook Air's SSD� Just so I have the flexibility of reinstalling, or booting from the 'install disk' wherever i please, regardless of whether I have the MBA Superdrive with me.
I would think that the solution is basically making an image of the OS X 10.6 installer. Partitioning the MBA SSD, restoring the OS X 10.6 installer onto the smaller 'Restore Partition'. Potentially even calling the smaller partition ".Mac OS X Restore", as the period at the beginning of the volume name will stop it from appearing on the finder desktop.
I was using my external hard drive with my mac and its formatted in the MAC HF(something like that) file system. I would like to format that external hard drive such that the file system is either NTFS or FAT32 so that I can use it on my windows partition running on boot camp. I am asking this question since I am planning to get a new HD for my mac and use the old one with windows.
View 10 Replies View RelatedSimply looking for an application, preferably free, that will allow me to write to my NTFS external HD. I had this external as FAT32 before which was not problematic until I started downloading 720 and 1080 .mkv movies that were larger than 4gb. So I reformatted to NTFS which will accept files larger than 4gb but realized that OSX don't be got the ability to write to NTFS.
View 6 Replies View RelatedProbably about 10 years ago I was a big techie with DOS and all that, and now I seem to have forgotten how to do anything!
Two questions.
i) My iMac, which I bought last year has run out of HDD space. What can I do to extend it? I really can't work out what I have filled it up with as I have only
8.5gb in my applications folder
4.7gb in the systems folder
9.1 GB in the libary
40.18GB in the users bit (of which 32gb is music on iTunes)
Other than the standard applications I have a DOS emulator, Office and Spore.
But apparently I have used 200gb?!?!? I can't find where this disk space is being used up. Any ideas on what I can check to clear this out? I put a partition in to possibly install windows, how do I check that's been removed correctly?
Also if I plug in a USB drive to extend the memory how can I get the mac running as if this was actually the normal drive for this computer?
And question ii)
I have a PS3 which I want to back up my info on, but its on a FAT32 format. Can I format a USB HDD in FAT32 using my Mac?
i am trying to format a brand new 120 GB hard drive via an external USB 2.0 enclosure. About 25 minutes ago, I selected the "erase" option and slected the Mac OS Extended (Journal) Volume format. For the last 25 minutes, disk utility has been saying that it's creating a partition map. It's doing nothing.
I have reason to believe my enclosure may be faulty. (I had a similar problem on an old hard disk and thought that the problem was with the disk; now I know.) I need to know: How do I disconnect/eject the hard disk without damaging it? The eject option in Disk Utility is grayed out. If I attempt to quit Disk Utility I get a warning telling me I could leave my disk inoperable.
So I have a Macbook Pro (15 inch, ~late 2011, 10.7.4) with a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition. I need to run a software for work that is only compatable with Snow Leopard, so I was thinking about trying to create an additional partition that has Snow Leopard, for a total of 3 partitions: Lion, Snow Leopard and Windows 7. However, when I went in to create the 3rd partition, I came across the following warning:This disk appears to be paritioned for Boot Camp. Changing the partition map may make this disk unbootable using Windows. I did a quick search online but didn't really get any clear cut answers on what could happen. Is what I want possible without wrecking my Windows partition?
View 7 Replies View RelatedI want to create a Windows partition to load Windows 7. But the Bootcamp assistant returns a dialog box saying I must update my boot ROM firmware before using the setup assistant. This happened AFTER I installed Yosemite 10.10.1. I previously had Windows successfully installed when I was running Mavericks.
In clicking the SMC firmware icon in Launchpad I get another message saying "An unexpected error occurred (28). Your firmware cannot be updated."
Info:
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 20" iMac, 250GB H/D, 512Mb RAM.
I'm going to buy my first Macbook this weekend and I'm trying to get myself ready so that I don't have to waste precious playing time on stuff like this I have an external hard drive filled with music, videos and files. I would like to keep using my drive on my mac to access my files and save backups etc. The hard drive is in NTFS format and from what I understand the mac will be able to read but not write to it - which isn't what I want. Ideally I don't want to lose the content on the drive, but if I have to I could slowly copy it all onto dvds. If possible I also want the drive to be compatible with Windows so I can plug it into parents/friends/uni's computers and still be able to view/add content on rare occasions. What format should the drive be and how do I do that? (I think I can manage to do it once someone points me in the right direction)
View 1 Replies View RelatedI just bout this Western Digital External Hard drive, Passport SE. Anyways, I formatted it to MS-DOS (FAT) so I can use on mac and/or windows. One of the other main reasons I bought it was so I could use it to watch videos on my Xbox 360.
Now I've seen tutorials online with windows how to re-format it to FAT32 so it works properly on xbox 360 but cannot figure it out on mac? On some of the tutorials they use certain programs to do it, is there something like that for mac I can download? Is fat32 and fat the same? I know there has to be a way for me to be able to format it to FAT32 using mac.
what are the disadvantages of formatting an external drive as FAT32?
Info:
MacBook Pro
creating and then removing a Win7 partition, restoring the initial single-OSX partition layout does not have any impact on my OSX installation, right? There should be no risk for my OSX installation, but I want to have your confirmation before proceeding with the installation of Win7 on my MBP.
View 11 Replies View RelatedThis question concerns the new mid-2011 27" iMac I haven't used yet The internal HD's size is 1TB. Before I start using it, I'd like to:
1. resize the exiting partition (containing Mac OS X Lion) in order to make it smaller (about 100GB)
2. create a new partition in the remaining space. I would use as a data repository (like an external Thunderbolt hard disk).
Info:iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), mid-2011 27" iMac
