External HDD problem (Mac and Windows compatibility)

2009-09-17 10:56:27

#1

Benzin: Member; +576|6259

I've got a friend who's brought over her external HDD (a Western Digital). It works fine on her Macbook, but if I plug it into my XP machine (or her boyfriend's), it doesn't work at all. It spins up, lights come on and everything, but Windows does not recognize the new device or go through the process of saying: "New device detected" and such.

Did a Google search and didn't come up with anything. She said when she bought the drive that she never formatted it. Just took it out of the box and started copying data onto it right away. Help?

2009-09-17 12:59:55

#2

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6714|The Twilight Zone

Have you restarted PC a couple of times? Cos WD externals boot when you turn the PC on. WD external is already formatted but file system is FAT32 on default. She should have formatted it and selected NTFS when she got it.

https://www.shrani.si/f/3H/7h/45GTw71U/untitled-1.png

2009-09-18 09:01:30

#3

Benzin: Member; +576|6259

Macs can't read NTFS, Sup. She knows jack diddly about computers anyway (which, one could say, is the reason she owns a Mac). I'll tell her to restart her boyfriend's computer next time she's over at his house with the drive. See if that works ...

2009-09-18 12:39:01

#4

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6842|SE London

Macs can't read NTFS. They use HFS (or UFS or FAT32, but they don't like FAT32). You won't be able to read it.

Usually have a different partition scheme too (GUID not MBR).

Do it over network using SMB, best way.

Last edited by Bertster7 (2009-09-18 12:39:35)

2009-09-18 14:16:07

#5

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6828|NYC / Hamburg

With NTFS-3G macs should be able to read NTFS partitions

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2009-09-18 14:27:00

#6

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6861|132 and Bush

.Sup wrote:
Have you restarted PC a couple of times? Cos WD externals boot when you turn the PC on. WD external is already formatted but file system is FAT32 on default. She should have formatted it and selected NTFS when she got it.

FAT32 should be recognized by both no?

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2009-09-18 14:35:30

#7

Zimmer: Un Moderador; +1,688|7016|Scotland

Kmarion wrote:
.Sup wrote:
Have you restarted PC a couple of times? Cos WD externals boot when you turn the PC on. WD external is already formatted but file system is FAT32 on default. She should have formatted it and selected NTFS when she got it.
FAT32 should be recognized by both no?

Yes.

2009-09-18 14:35:58

#8

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6714|The Twilight Zone

Kmarion wrote:
.Sup wrote:
Have you restarted PC a couple of times? Cos WD externals boot when you turn the PC on. WD external is already formatted but file system is FAT32 on default. She should have formatted it and selected NTFS when she got it.
FAT32 should be recognized by both no?

Yes. Why do you ask?

2009-09-18 14:44:16

#9

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6861|132 and Bush

Maybe I misunderstood the question. I didn't think the fact that it was FAT32 would matter as far as recognition.

I was just listening to a podcast that talked about a similar problem... except he was using a router, which is kind of what bert recommended (network).

----> http://tinypic.com/r/2j3jkzm/4

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2009-09-18 14:48:03

#10

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6714|The Twilight Zone

Kmarion wrote:
Maybe I misunderstood the question. I didn't think the fact that it was FAT32 would matter as far as recognition.

I was just listening to a podcast that talked about a similar problem... except he was using a router, which is kind of what bert recommended.

----> http://tinypic.com/r/2j3jkzm/4

.Sup wrote:
She should have formatted it and selected NTFS when she got it.

The last sentence in my post was merely a recommendation, I don't know why one would prefer FAT32 to NTFS on a large drive but I didn't know Macs don't support NTFS.

2009-09-18 14:50:06

#11

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6861|132 and Bush

.Sup wrote:
I don't know why one would prefer FAT32

Agree, listen to my link. Bert's recommendation of networking it sounds like the best solution to me.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2009-09-18 16:46:52

#12

mcminty: Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.; +879|6982|Sydney, Australia

Pretty much what has already been said.. If it's a WD, I assume she has a My Book which comes formatted as a HFS+ file system.

As stated above, Macs can use NTFS-3G to read and write to NTFS drives. I use it occasionally, and it works fine.

On a PC, you have a few options:
- HFS+ Explorer (free), allows you to essentially copy all the files from an HFS drive to an NTFS drive.
- MacDrive (paid), decent, transparent read/write in windows.

2009-09-19 05:21:49

#13

Benzin: Member; +576|6259

It's not a My Book. Just a 250GB (approx) USB drive. The odd thing is, she was able to view MY external HDD (which is NTFS) over the wireless network workgroup after I set it to be a shared drive. Weird, huh? She could copy files and everything from my drive onto her external.

2009-09-19 12:13:41

#14

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6842|SE London

CapnNismo wrote:
It's not a My Book. Just a 250GB (approx) USB drive. The odd thing is, she was able to view MY external HDD (which is NTFS) over the wireless network workgroup after I set it to be a shared drive. Weird, huh? She could copy files and everything from my drive onto her external.

That's because it's not using NTFS which is a local protocol, it's using the SMB network protocol which the Mac can understand.

BF2S Forums External HDD problem (Mac and Windows compatibility)

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