MacBook Pro :: Formatting External Hard Drive / Using Fat Or Fat32?
Jan 24, 2010
I 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.
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Jan 19, 2008
I have an external hard drive that I was previously using on PC, having attempted to use it on a Mac, it will not write to it. I've found that I have to format to FAT32, which I think i can just about manage (yes, im a girl) but my concern is, if i format through the MAC, will i then lose what's on the hard disk as the tab says 'erase'? I have a lot of images on the hard disk so am a little petrified! Any advice for this really basic question would be appreciated!
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Jun 5, 2012
what are the disadvantages of formatting an external drive as FAT32?
Info:
MacBook Pro
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May 16, 2012
Ive recently purchased a new external hard drive. I plan to use it on both Apple and Windows OS.Â
I was told that if I do, then i could corrupt the files/data that I will be accessing on both computers.Â
Is there a "universal" format for an external drive which would prevent/avoid this kind of thing happening ? How should i format it or which format should i use so that i can use the drive both OS ?
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), Mac OS X (10.7)
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Nov 2, 2010
i'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...
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Apr 8, 2010
got a real basic question to ask and you're gonna think im an idiot for asking...I just bought a 320gb western digital elements hard drive and want to reformat it so that its compatible for both mac and pc's. i intend to format it as NTFS-3G as it would allow me to use it on the 2 platforms without having the 4GB file size restriction that fat32 has, anyway.....
when I go to reformat my external hard drive in disk utility, I see my external hard drive to the left, and there's a "sub" hard drive as a child of the external hd listed uppermost. just wandering which one of the two do i select before going to Erase>Windows NT filesystem (NTFS-3G)>erase? Do I select the uppermost drive and erase that or the lower one? or both
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Jun 9, 2012
How to convert NTFS external hard drive to FAT32 without loosing data?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Seagate Agent GoFlex 1.5TB
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Jul 27, 2010
I just got my new Seagate 640gb external hard drive and am in the process of formatting it on my MBP. However, I am not sure which format to do? My main use for the hard drive is for transferring media files back and forth between my MBP and PC using just one partition on the drive. I already know I'm not supposed to pick 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' because I believe that is to use it as a boot drive. So should I pick 'Mac OS Extended' or maybe 'Free Space'?
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Jan 29, 2010
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.
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Dec 26, 2009
if i can partition my Windows NFTS External Hard Drive. I do not want to format it because i have some important files and programs on my External Hard drive, But I also want to use it for Time Machine Backup. I was wondering if it was possible to Not format my Hard drive, Partition it, And then format the 2nd partition to Mac, and use it for time machine. I am using Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8
The Capacity of the EHD is 55.9GB
Available: 37.1GB
Used: 18.8GB
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Mar 18, 2012
I have an external hard drive which I first used with my pc. It is formatted for NTFS. Now with my new MBP, I want to back up data, and I am having no luck. The external hard drive is a Verbatim brand, 500GB. On their website FAT32 download dosnt work! I have tried disk utility with no luck. What am I missing?
Info:
MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Dec 27, 2010
I bought a WD My Book Essential to do Time Machine backups. It is formatted for a PC but I was told I need to format for my IMac before I can use it. How do I do that? Is it a complicated process? I have only been using a Mac for about a year now and am still learning about them.
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Jun 26, 2009
Can I use time machine to back up my data without formatting the external hard drive .. If not please let me know if there is a way to back up to hard drive without using time machine.. Thank you
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Nov 27, 2009
I have an external hard drive that I use to watch movies on a Nintendo Wii and some of the movie files are over 7GB, which means when I format the drive to FAT32 I cannot copy the larger files. What are my options for getting around this problem? I have VMware fusion but I cannot easily see my external drive in XP. Is it possible to format the drive in XP and then transfer everything via VMware on XP?
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Feb 15, 2012
i am trying to format my hard drive to work through my tv or ps3, and it wont work unless i reformat my Hard Drive to a FAT32 format. ca FAT32 be used for a time machine back up? (OS X Lion)
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Nov 14, 2009
For some reason, my USB stick is no longer read on Windows machines. They say it must be formatted. It is formatted as FAT32 and my Mac can read and write to it fine. I seem to recall this happening around when Snow Leopard was released - instead of deleting all the data, I'd usually just re-format it. Is Snow Leopard's partitioning and formatting for FAT32 changed? This is really irritating as it pretty much renders my USB drive useless. As I said, works fine on my Mac (haven't been able to try any other Macs).
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Feb 15, 2011
I have an external multimedia disk currently formated in NTFS microsoft format. I'd like to be able to copy content to it from my Mac and a PC so I thought to format it in FAT 32. can anyone tell me if there is a size limit to FAT32. what are the major limitations of FAT 32 vs NTFS
Information:
MACBOOK
Mac OS X (10.5.4)
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Jul 25, 2009
I'm selling my old white Macbook so I can purchase the new Unibody one. I wasn't sure how exactly to "wipe" my old hard drive on Mac. Do I have to install the OS all over again? Did my Macbook come with the disc so I could do this? If not, is there a way to wipe everything without formatting the hard drive?
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Mar 12, 2012
My MacBook Pro won't recognize my portable hard drive, so I can't format it.
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Apr 9, 2012
I'm selling my Macbook Pro and the buyer said when formatting my harddrive, I don't need to reinstall the OS (10.6.8) because he is going to install 10.7 on it. This is good news for me because I don't have the OS installation disk anymore. I read somewhere that it could be possible to format my hard drive using another Mac (my roommate has a Macbook so that works) but I can't seem to find exact instructions.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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May 7, 2012
I asked about running Snow Leopard on my mac after a hard drive fail. I'm having issues with formatting a new hard drive in my mac. I have a 2007 black macbook and I'm trying to run a 160gb SATA seagate hard drive. After replacing this hard drive, I booted my mac up from cd, ran through setup fine until I got to the 'select a drive to install to' - the point where my hard drive should be visible. Nothing there at all. Nothing to click on in the box. My question is, is there a process I need to undertake to format the hard drive or is this an indicator of a much bigger problem?
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Jun 9, 2012
My hard drive died last week on my MacBook and I failed to back up anything forever the last couple of months. Anyway, I took it to the genius bar and they confirmed its death, and showed me how to replace it. I decided to go ahead and do so on my own, and also upgraded the memory while I was in there. I also decided to upgrade to lion since my DVD drive was giving me trouble and it'd be easier to use the USB - and yes the computer meets the requirements for Lion.The problem is that when I try to boot up to format the HD, I only get a black screen. No disk utility when holding option, nothing. What am I doing wrong?
Info:
MacBook (13-inch Mid 2007)
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Apr 14, 2012
I have two external hard disks, one formatted as FAT32 and another formatted as NTFS .Both cannot be seen in Finder when plug in. Only another one formatted MAC OS extended can. how to dispay my drive in the Finder (I don't want to reformat it as I have lot of contents and need to be read in my window computer.)Im running Mac OS 10.7.3 on my iMAC
Info:iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Jun 28, 2009
I have a USB harddrive and am wondering whether I can repartition it from MS-DOS(FAT32) to a format that will hold my video files from iMovie.
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Dec 26, 2007
I think I'm going to format my hard drive to delete everything from it and start fresh with leopard. I already have leopard installed, but I think I should just format my hard drive (after backing up what I truly need like my music and other files) and then just install leopard.
Question, I have read that I go to disk utility to do this (format and install leopard), is this correct? If so, what else do I need to know before I do this?
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Jun 14, 2012
How I synchronize again devices after formating harddrive?
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Aug 3, 2009
I was installing windows XP to my macbook pro and accidentally formated the hard drive to a FAT32, now when I go to start-up the computer all I get is the grey screen. I have tried holding the "C" key when booting with OS/X disc but nothing happens.
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Feb 27, 2009
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)
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Jan 14, 2010
I was repartitioning my hard drive in Boot Camp prior to installing windows xp, but changed my mind after I had chosen to partition in fat32 and did not complete the process. Now my hard drive sees itself as partitioned and I cannot use Boot Camp to install Windows XP. When I try using Boot Camp again, I get the message :
"the startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition. Backup the Disk and use Disk Utility to fromat as Mac Os..... Restore your info to the disc and try using Boot Camp again...."
My question is: is it even possible to reformat the hard drive from fat32 to nfts? I am new to MAC switching from Windows and wanted to install an embroidery software.
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Dec 29, 2008
While using my MacBook to access an external drive which is formatted Fat32, I attempted to slightly alter the name of a file with a particularly long file name. Once I changed the name, the file extension was cropped, and the file became inaccessible. Now I can see that the file is there (with no extension at the end of the name), but if I click on it or highlight it, it just disappears, and when visible, in place of the file icon there is just a dashed line box. The file is also visible with Terminal, but if I try to take any action Terminal reports that there is "no such file or directory."
I tried DiskUtility, DiskWarrior and File Buddy but apparently they don't work too well with the Fat32 format. I also tried repairing permissions, restarting the computer, disconnecting and reconnecting the hard drive, and also rebuilding the desktop (?) using alt-command on startup...all to no avail. It's clear what happened: I screwed up - I should have reformatted the drive before I put any files on it, right? But now, I just want my file back. I know it's there. I can see it, and I'm afraid to alter the drive in any way until I can access this file.
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