Time Machine makes my External HD not recgonizeable in PC

[Twe Foju]

so i just bought a new Western Digital External Hard Disk

everything is fine, i tried it on my PC, it worked and then i tried to plug it in my MBP and it worked ( but then when i plugged my HDD, Time machine asked if i want to make it the back up drive for time machine ) and said i need to erase the whole HDD, since it's new, and i thought its fine, since nothing is inside, then i click erase, and when i tried to copy the stuffs i download from my PC with the same HDD, my PC 1st detect my HDD, but then nothing else

the icon is not coming out in "My Computers"

so the question is, does making a Hard Disk the backup drive Time Machine means re-formatting it to be only read-able by MAC?

because its over, my PC cant detect anything again from my new HDD

 

[tyr2]

Time Machine will reformat the drive as HFS+. Windows can't read this so the drive won't show up. If you need to also read it from Windows there's a program called 'MacDrive' that you can buy that will enable this.

 

[mojohanna]

you could always partition the drive into two drives. One large enough for your TM backups and leave the other formatted for your PC. Then you get the best of both without buying additional software.

You can do this thru disc utility under applications/utilities on your mac.

 

[Twe Foju]

^
ok so basically i have to reformat it on MAC before plug it in my PC?

what's the best outcome to partition it into?

FAT or NTSC? ( for the windows partition )

 

[mojohanna]

Sorry, I am not very well versed on the windows formats and which one might be better for your situation. Maybe someone with more windows experience can answer the question.
My initial guess would be to use FAT as I think that is the most common standard format, but if you are outside the US, I may be incorrect.

How big is your main drive and how big is your back up drive? For example, I have a 80 gig main drive and a 250gig BU. I partitioned the backup to 100gigs and let TM use that partition while I had the other 130 gigs or so for some additional space. However, I later changed it so that the entire bu drive is being used by TM.

If you can decide exactly what will work best for you when it comes to space, you won't have to re-do things like I did.

 

[Twe Foju]

well basically i need to buy a new HD again' since it cannot be reformatted by any means

i have a 160 gig main hard disk ( 80 remaining )

and my external is 160 aswell, so if i want to make the partitioning 60gig for windows and 100 for MAC

since i will be saving the most of my work into the external

i will try again later with the partitioning

oh, and here's the thing, when you partitioning the HD, will it delete the original files stored on the HD?

like there are some .exe programs installed inside the HD when i first bought, like the Western Digital Sync Data and stuffs

 

[mojohanna]

Yes, when you partition, you will erase data that is already on the drive.

However, I don't think you need a new drive. There should not be any reason why you cannot reformat the drive. On your mac, under utilities, when you partition the drive you have a choice to format with at least 3-4 different formats, if I remember correctly.

Also, keep in mind that macs can read fat 32 but windows can't read HFS. However, time machine may only work on HFS formatted drives or partitions.

Check the specs on Apples page to be sure.

good luck.

 

[ChemiosMurphy]

Beware.... FAT32 cannot work with files greater than 4 GB....

 

[Andrmgic]

Beware.... FAT32 cannot work with files greater than 2 GB....

Larger than 4gb. Anything less than that is fine.

 

[brokenlighter]

Partition it in two.


One partition NTFS for windows..

One partition HFS+ for Mac...


Thats it.

There are a jillion ways to partition your drive, Windows or mac.

 

[Consultant]

Yes, when you partition, you will erase data that is already on the drive.

However, I don't think you need a new drive. There should not be any reason why you cannot reformat the drive. On your mac, under utilities, when you partition the drive you have a choice to format with at least 3-4 different formats, if I remember correctly.

Also, keep in mind that macs can read fat 32 but windows can't read HFS. However, time machine may only work on HFS formatted drives or partitions.

Check the specs on Apples page to be sure.

good luck.

Leopard can non-destructively partition disks. But it has to be formatted for Mac already.

 

[mojohanna]

Leopard can non-destructively partition disks. But it has to be formatted for Mac already.

Thanks, I was not completely sure as I increased the existing partition on my leopard HD. I did notice that it didn't erase anything when I increased the partition however, I was unsure if this would be different than partitioning from the start.