Portable External, both OS?

[stewartlittle]

Hi everyone, quick question. If I were to get an portable external hard drive, that is formated for mac (wd passport studio) if i want it to work under bootcamp xp, do i need to format it. Am i able to use the same drive to transfer files from on side of the partition to the other. Thanks

 

[r.j.s]

Work as in save files to it or boot from it? I dont think you can boot from it, but if you format it Fat32 you will be able to save files from both OS X and XP.

 

[stewartlittle]

Basically I just want to be able to transfer files from one OS to the other. So like transfer a JPEG. I will also be backing up files from both sides.

 

[r.j.s]

Then just format it as Fat32. As far as backup, you can do that, but you wont be able to use time machine with it formatted like that.

 

[stewartlittle]

Does time machine backup everything from both sides of the partition?

 

[r.j.s]

You mean OS X and Bootcamp, no, just OS X.

 

[stewartlittle]

So it might make sense to get two externals, one formated to store files from both, and one for time machine.

 

[r.j.s]

That might be best - I have a 500GB dedicated to TM, and several little external HDs for files.

 

[stewartlittle]

Thanks Robert for your help.