Tech/Computer guys!

MikeBMikeB
in Help Wanted!
Hey guys! Hopefully someone can help me out with this.



I bought a Toshiba 1 TB external hard drive this weekend to back up the files on both me and my mom's computers. I have a late 2008 MacBook running OS X 10.5.8 and my mom has a newer HP running Windows 7.



When I plugged the HD into my Mac, it read just fine, and the backup of my files went smooth. When I went to back up my mom's files, I couldn't get the device to show up when trying to run the back up software for her computer. The box for the HD says it should be compatible with both PC and Mac, but something isn't right here. Do I need to reformat the drive to read on a PC?



Any idea what the issue could be here? A long shot I know, but worth a try.a

Comments

  • removed04092017removed04092017
    It doesn't recognize it? Try different ports. It should recognize it. I hope you formatted it with NTFS and not some Apple-specific format that Windows won't read. Or else you'll have to format and transfer again.
  • MikeBMikeB
    I tried both of the USB ports on my mom's computer. I can get it to come up in the "Devices" tab, but when I attempt to run the back up on my mom's computer and select a destination for the back up, it won't come up at all So it's recognizing it, it just won't allow me to select it for back up.
  • removed04092017removed04092017
    Go to your computers IO devices list (In the start menu, click COMPUTER) and it should be there. Just transfer your files.
  • y2rossy2ross
    check how it is formated. if it is formated as mac os extended (journaled) it will only work on mac, it should be formated to MS-DOS (FAT) for both

    http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/22/format-drive-mac-pc-compatible/
  • removed04092017removed04092017
    Ouch, just read online and you basically have to use fat32 it seems. Is it true Macs won't write to NTSF drives? That's crappy.
  • ulasamosaulasamosa

    Originally posted by: 3GenGames



    Ouch, just read online and you basically have to use fat32 it seems. Is it true Macs won't write to NTSF drives? That's crappy.





    correct.  They can read NTFS but not write/edit.  If you format the drive in FAT32 or exFAT i think, then you could use it on both units.
  • GameBoyScottyGameBoyScotty
    the only bummer, is that Win OS have a 4GB transfer limit on FAT32. Meaning, if you have a .zip, .rar, .iso, .nrg......file larger than 4GB, it won't transfer. My best advice to you, is if it's a 1TB HDD....and you don't have anything on it you can't re-backup...reformat it, and partition it...500GB Fat32 (for MAC) and 500GB NTFS (for Win). Then it will be split in half, and can be read by both OS without problems.
  • takeshitakeshi
    http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com



    really a shame osx doesn't by default support ntfs, and vice versa for windows and hfs
  • daillestdaillest
    You could also partition it in 2 and use one partition for Mac & the other Windows
  • removed04092017removed04092017

    Originally posted by: GameBoyScotty



    the only bummer, is that Win OS have a 4GB transfer limit on FAT32. Meaning, if you have a .zip, .rar, .iso, .nrg......file larger than 4GB, it won't transfer. My best advice to you, is if it's a 1TB HDD....and you don't have anything on it you can't re-backup...reformat it, and partition it...500GB Fat32 (for MAC) and 500GB NTFS (for Win). Then it will be split in half, and can be read by both OS without problems.



    FAT32 should work perfectly fine for the Mac, as it says online that the Mac file system only allows up to 2GB files anyway. It is just one step below Fat32 on basically everything else. No worries about over stepping any fat lines. Tell us if fat32 works. If not, I don't really have an idea of what to try.



    ETA: Basically a reply to below: Just googled and...well, the plus version there is. Sorry, didn't know they had a new version. Oh well.
  • takeshitakeshi
    the mac fs supports larger than 2gb, fat32 doesnt
  • MikeBMikeB
    Thanks for all the help guys! I think I'll try to partition the drive tonight when I get home from work, so I'll let you guys know how it works out. I'm pretty awful when it comes to this stuff, so I certainly appreciate all of the replies!
  • bennybtlbennybtl
    "the mac fs supports larger than 2gb, fat32 doesnt"



    That's actually not true, I have a 2TB external drive formatted as FAT32 for cross platform access.



  • RetroHackerRetroHacker

    Originally posted by: bennybtl



    "the mac fs supports larger than 2gb, fat32 doesnt"



    That's actually not true, I have a 2TB external drive formatted as FAT32 for cross platform access.

     



    He was referring to the single file size limit on FAT32. The limit is 4GB. You cannot have a single file on a FAT32 partition that is larger than 4GB. On the original HFS file system on the Macintosh, you could not have a single file larger than 2GB. HFS+ (introduced with MacOS 8, I think) removes this limitation. Modern Macintosh computers are going to be using the extended, journaled version of HFS+.



    Either way, long and the short of it - the two currently used file systems by Windows and MacOS (NTFS and HFS+ respectively) are proprietary and have very poor cross platform support. FAT32 remains a reliable "middle ground" that both operating systems support fully.



    -Ian
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