Configuring External hard drive for Mac and PC

[um3k]

Yesterday I bought a Maxtor 750GB firewire/USB external hard drive.

I am taking a video editing course which is using Final Cut Pro on Macs. I'm running Windows XP at home.

I need to use the HDD for backing up video projects at school. I also would like to use it as a general purpose drive at home. It would also be nice to be able to transfer files from home to school and vice versa.

However, I'm having a difficult time figuring out a good way to format the drive. The only file system natively read/write compatible on both OSs is FAT32, which is less than optimal for video work due to its 4GB file size limit. OS X can read NTFS, but can't write it. XP can't even read HFS+.

I need to have this figured out by Friday. I would rather not pay for additional software. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[jeffy]

[Untested! Read only.] Would this freeware be of any help? Please let us know.
HFSExplorer
http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html

[[P]ako]

There is also NTFS-3G (http://www.ntfs-3g.org/) for OS X. But that would mean you will have to mess with the Mac you are using in class. Either way, if the purpose of the drive was to back-up your videos made in class, then format it as HFS+ and once you are done with the class, use a live CD of Ubuntu to mount the HFS drive as to make a copy of the files to your NFTS partition at home. Then, format the external drive as NTFS and copy the files back.

[um3k]

Thanks. I'm wondering if it would be possible to have both a NTFS and a HFS+ partition at the same time? Then, when I'm done with the class, I'd copy the stuff from the HFS+ partition to the NTFS partition on the same drive, and just reformat the HFS+ partition to NTFS. I don't mind having two partitions. Copying stuff to another drive isn't really an option, since all my other drives are pretty much full.

I tried jeffy's suggestion, it worked fine for a mac-only DVD I have. So I think it would probably work for copying the files from the HFS+ partition when the time comes.

[[P]ako]

Yes, you can have both NTFS and HSF+ partitions in the same drive. I wonder whether the order matters. Based on what I know about OSX, I would create first the HFS+ partition.

[um3k]

Thanks, got both partitions set up. Seems to be working fine!

[RunningSkittle]

http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html
:)

[Blue_MiSfit]

Easier to just make the whole stupid thing FAT32, if you don't need files larger than 4GB anyway :) You'll have to format on the Mac, or with 3rd party software on Windows, as Windows' built in disk manager limits FAT32 to 40GB +/- for some obscure reason..


just read your OP :)

MacDrive might be a good option. It's payware, but it's bulletproof and has been an indispensable piece of my arsenal for accepting video from clients who use Macs.

Otherwise, Fuse NTFS on Mac will work, but requires modifying your school computer - which I doubt they're cool with.



~MiSfit