Swapping external drives between Windows and Mac - Page 2

befuddled · August 8th, 2016, 02:22 AM

And of course, you backed up your drive.
;-)

befuddled · August 8th, 2016, 02:41 AM

NTFS is highly recommended for large drives. It's much more reliable and secure than FAT, especially when one has many thousands of files stored on the drive. Having said that, I'll add that I've used exFAT drives between both Windows and OS X with no problems. If, however, you wish to keep the drive in NTFS format, consider either Paragon's NTFS for Mac or Tuxera's NTFS for Mac. I've used Paragon and it worked perfectly for me.

**Decadence** · January 14th, 2017, 08:45 PM

late update:

Whatever boot sector the Mac was looking for was toast.. so a reformat was necessary. I got the files off the drive an onto a Windows 7 laptop.

I chose FAT32 as it's readable across platforms. A word to anyone wanting to use Windows (esp. earlier) to format something bigger than 32GB-- don't. This drive was 250GB, and it would have taken days if it worked at all. A third party (free) utility called Verbatim FAT32 Tool took care of the job in minutes.

After the reformat, it took a little more than a day to get 150GB put back onto the disk. Plugged it into the MacBook, it found the drive, and all is well.

For the moment. After I get done paying for Christmas, I'm looking at a drive specifically for the Mac.. and then will copy drive to drive and save the FAT32 as the backup.

Thanks again for the input.

**Name-Hunter** · January 15th, 2017, 05:07 PM

It's always a happy ending when data is not lost.

There are no Mac drives.
All hard drive mechanisms are generic and will work equally well formatted for Mac or Windows.
The differences show up when the drive is external.
External drives are made up of
•a generic drive mechanism
•a case and
•a 'bridge board'

The bridge board is where the Mac specific connections can be found.
Mac specific bridge board connections would be Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt included in addition to the universal USB connector, eSata and sometimes ethernet.

Like any other machine there are good and bad external drives.
Good and bad cases, drive mechanisms and bridge boards.

My favorite US company for external hard drives is
Other World Computing

I currently manage 8 OWC Mercury Elite Pros; some that I have had for 10 years; and I have never had a failure.

January 14th, 2017, 08:45 PM	#13
Decadence *the thrill of it all* Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Depths of Debauchery Posts: 11,189 Thanks: 159,930 Thanked 213,222 Times in 11,239 Posts	late update: Whatever boot sector the Mac was looking for was toast.. so a reformat was necessary. I got the files off the drive an onto a Windows 7 laptop. I chose FAT32 as it's readable across platforms. A word to anyone wanting to use Windows (esp. earlier) to format something bigger than 32GB-- don't. This drive was 250GB, and it would have taken days if it worked at all. A third party (free) utility called Verbatim FAT32 Tool took care of the job in minutes. After the reformat, it took a little more than a day to get 150GB put back onto the disk. Plugged it into the MacBook, it found the drive, and all is well. For the moment. After I get done paying for Christmas, I'm looking at a drive specifically for the Mac.. and then will copy drive to drive and save the FAT32 as the backup. Thanks again for the input. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

January 15th, 2017, 05:07 PM	#14
Name-Hunter Moderator Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: USA Posts: 8,852 Thanks: 33,191 Thanked 250,906 Times in 8,776 Posts	It's always a happy ending when data is not lost. There are no Mac drives. All hard drive mechanisms are generic and will work equally well formatted for Mac or Windows. The differences show up when the drive is external. External drives are made up of •a generic drive mechanism •a case and •a 'bridge board' The bridge board is where the Mac specific connections can be found. Mac specific bridge board connections would be Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt included in addition to the universal USB connector, eSata and sometimes ethernet. Like any other machine there are good and bad external drives. Good and bad cases, drive mechanisms and bridge boards. My favorite US company for external hard drives is Other World Computing I currently manage 8 OWC Mercury Elite Pros; some that I have had for 10 years; and I have never had a failure. __________________ *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* It's just a pretty picture without an ID

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August 8th, 2016, 02:22 AM	#11
befuddled Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Roaming the Cosmos in search of life-filled planets to consume. Posts: 170 Thanks: 608 Thanked 1,076 Times in 168 Posts	And of course, you backed up your drive. ;-)

August 8th, 2016, 02:41 AM	#12
befuddled Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Roaming the Cosmos in search of life-filled planets to consume. Posts: 170 Thanks: 608 Thanked 1,076 Times in 168 Posts	NTFS is highly recommended for large drives. It's much more reliable and secure than FAT, especially when one has many thousands of files stored on the drive. Having said that, I'll add that I've used exFAT drives between both Windows and OS X with no problems. If, however, you wish to keep the drive in NTFS format, consider either Paragon's NTFS for Mac or Tuxera's NTFS for Mac. I've used Paragon and it worked perfectly for me.