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  1. #1
    DF VIP Member steiff1's Avatar
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    Help best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    Guys

    can you recommend the best compatible hard drive for use with both Mac and windows?

    i've had a google search and there isnt anything specific, just modes of formatting.

  2. #2
    DF Moderator EvilBoB's Avatar
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    Default Re: best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    Don't understand the question. If you install OSX and then run bootcamp to install Windows you should be good to go. Basically what I think you should be asking is "what is the best hard drive?" - not really a set answer for that.Get yourself a nice SSD for speed ;-)
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  3. #3
    DF VIP Member steiff1's Avatar
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    Default Re: best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    see, now I'm lost.

    I just want one, tha I can plug in to a mac and PC. I dont think there is such a thing though is there!

  4. #4
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    Default Re: best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    You need an external drive that plugs into a Mac and Windows that both can read?
    It's easier to get a Mac to understand an NTFS partition than to get a PC to understand a HFS (Mac partition) - lookup HFSExplorer.

    Both will read FAT32, but file sizes are limited to below 4Gb.

    If your after a drive to format, I suggest WD Black everytime. More money than the other variants (Blue or Green), but are a lot more reliable.

    Thanks to DejaVu

    steiff1 (1st September 2014)  


  5. #5
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    Default Re: best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    If your thinking external drive.
    I got a seagate backup plus 4tb for £150 from Argos.
    I had it initially set for mac only then downloaded a tiny update to my windows work laptop and HP server to read it and it hasn't missed a beat since


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Thanks to jaygo

    steiff1 (1st September 2014)  


  6. #6
    DF Moderator EvilBoB's Avatar
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    Default Re: best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    Another option would be something like the WD MyBook which has an ethernet port on it. Plug it into your broadband router and any device on the network can use it. It's a bit slower than a USB drive but is easier to manage (As long as you don't want to leave your network that is). I use one at home and it's a great compromise imo. Use it to store video and music.
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    steiff1 (1st September 2014)  


  7. #7
    DF Probation eXOBeX's Avatar
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    Default Re: best mac & pc compatible hard drive?

    If you want an external USB2 or USB3 drive that can work on both systems, you can format it as exFAT, or partition it as two partitions, one FAT32 and the other exFAT.

    Older versions of Windows and OSX won't know what to do with an exFAT partition, but if you put the following on the FAT32 partition you'll be able to widen support for the exFAT partition alongside it, by installing the files as needed:-
    KB955704 for XP
    Service Pack 3 for XP (possibly needed by the above as it requires at least SP2)
    Service Pack 1 for Vista
    Combo Update 10.6.5 for Snow Leopard

    Whether you split the drive 50/50, keeping exFAT for >4GB files and FAT32 for everything else, or have a FAT32 "stub" of a few gigabytes just to hold the above files and exFAT for everything else, is up to you. Windows 7 should be able to format both partitions correctly in DOS, using format /fs:fat32 and format /fs:exfat accordingly, and both Windows and OSX should be happy to read and write to it.

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