External HD from my old Windows machine?

[munckee]

Quick question:

I have an external HD enclosure with my HD from my old windows machine in it. I can view all of the files, etc on my mac. The file structure is a mess, but I can find what I need on it. Unfortunately, I can't write to it from my mac.

Can anyone help me out? Ideally, I'd like to go through and keep certain files from that drive and then be able to use it to back up other stuff off my mac. What do I need to do to the drive to make that happen? Does it have to get reformatted?

 

[grapes911]

Four options:
1. Format it as HFS+ for Mac only and loose all data.
2. Format it as FAT32 for Mac and Windows and loose all data.
3. Copy the data to a windows machine. Format it as FAT32. Copy the data back.
4. Get a windows program like Partition Magic and convert it to FAT32 and don't loose data.

 

[Eraserhead]

As far as I know if it is over 32GB Windows cannot format it as a FAT32 Disk so the best is to copy the data off to your mac (or pc if the hard drive is bigger) and then use the Mac's disk utility (in the utilities folder) to format it as a FAT32 Disk.

 

[grapes911]

As far as I know if it is over 32GB Windows cannot format it as a FAT32 Disk

FAT32 supports up to 2TB. I don't think XP would limit it to 32GB. Actually, I think I formated my 80GB external in Windows. Maybe I'm wrong though. I can't remember.

 

[boneca]

As far as I know if it is over 32GB Windows cannot format it as a FAT32 Disk so the best is to copy the data off to your mac (or pc if the hard drive is bigger) and then use the Mac's disk utility (in the utilities folder) to format it as a FAT32 Disk.

Windows natively won't format drives with more than 32GB as Fat32. You should use 3rd party software to do that.
Your options are:
Symantec Partition Magic
Western Digital tools for WD HDs
Maxtor tools for Maxtor HDs
Seagate tools for Seagate HDs
etc.

best place to find those tools on manufacturer web sites.

good luck

 

[munckee]

All right, I backed up everything I need onto another windows machine. Can I use my mac now to reformat the external as a FAT32 drive? If so, how do I do it?

Thanks guys!

 

[cemorris]

I am not at my Mac right now. But you should be able to go into the disk utility program, find the drive and click on the format/erase tab. It should give you options as to what type of formating you want.

 

[munckee]

Thanks. I pulled up the disk utility, but when I select the drive, it doesn't give me the option as to what type of format to do. The erase button is still active though. Do I need to erase the drive first, and then format it again in a FAT32 format?

 

[jeremy.king]

Four options:
1. Format it as HFS+ for Mac only and loose all data.
2. Format it as FAT32 for Mac and Windows and loose all data.
3. Copy the data to a windows machine. Format it as FAT32. Copy the data back.
4. Get a windows program like Partition Magic and convert it to FAT32 and don't loose data.

lose, not loose

 

[jeremy.king]

Bueller?

Just a quick answer would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html

Select the MS-DOS File System as your Volume Format.

 

[munckee]

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html

Select the MS-DOS File System as your Volume Format.

Thanks...but that doesn't help me. First off, I'm using Panther (should have specified, sorry). Second, as I mentioned above, I can't access that drop-down list of ways to format. It's greyed out. The "erase" button is still active though (although I haven't tried it yet). Hence the reason I was asking if I need to format once by hitting erase, and then going back and formatting again with a FAT32 format (I'm making the assumption that once the drive has been erased, the formatting drop-down menu will be active again).

 

[munckee]

Anyone else know what's up with this?

 

[jeremy.king]

Anyone else know what's up with this?

At this point, since you have a backup, just go ahead and hit erase to see what happens...Then see if you have an option after that is complete.

 

[munckee]

All right, sorry guys but I still don't have this right. I reformatted using the disk utility on my mac, but here's where I'm confused:

In the disk utility, there are two drive labels that pop up on the left hand column; one has a hard drive icon and the other has the removable disk icon. They are formattable separately. I tried formatting the top one with the MS DOS format (the other didn't offer it). That works, but then the second drive gets a hard drive icon and doesn't show up as a usable drive on my mac.

I tried formatting the second drive, but the only choices are mac and UNIX. The mac formatting makes the drive show up on my desktop as a removeable drive, but it doesn' show up in windows when I plug the drive into a PC.

Can anyone tell me how to format which drive icon to make it FAT32 formatted?

 

[jeremy.king]

The reason you can't see it on the PC is because you selected an HFS+ format. This cannot be read on a PC without third party software such as MacDrive.

Not trying to sound blunt or anything, but since we can't see what you are seeing (unless you post screenshots), you may be better off just formatting the thing as FAT32 (NOT NTFS) on your PC...

 

[grapes911]

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html

Select the MS-DOS File System as your Volume Format.

This link gives very specific instructions with screenshots. If you can't follow it there are only 3 possibilities:
1. Something is wrong with your hard drive.
2. Something is wrong with your computer.
3. Something is wrong with your reading skills.

Try it again slowly. I'm sure you'll get it.

 

[munckee]

Look, I'm not a complete moron. My problem is that once the drive has been formatted in MS DOS mode, I can't partition it or format the partition in MS DOS mode. The only place I have the MS DOS formatting choice is under the main drive in the format selection.

If I'm doing something wrong, then its because it isn't specifically covered in those directions.

Otherwise, I don't know if the problem is with my drive, my computer, or the fact that I'm running Panther (as mentioned above). Those instructions are listed for Tiger.

This is the first drive I've tried to format on a mac, so I was looking for a little guidance since this seems that it might be an irregular issue.

 

[jeremy.king]

Look, I'm not a complete moron. My problem is that once the drive has been formatted in MS DOS mode, I can't partition it or format the partition in MS DOS mode. The only place I have the MS DOS formatting choice is under the main drive in the format selection.

If I'm doing something wrong, then its because it isn't specifically covered in those directions.

Otherwise, I don't know if the problem is with my drive, my computer, or the fact that I'm running Panther (as mentioned above). Those instructions are listed for Tiger.

This is the first drive I've tried to format on a mac, so I was looking for a little guidance since this seems that it might be an irregular issue.

edit: sorry didn't see you were running panther.

Have you tried reading the help in disk utility?

Also, using your PC may be the easiest in this case.