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format USB drive for PC>Mac

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Robert Strom

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I read through the threads that a search pulled up. I just want to clarify that if i want to x-fer files from a PC to a Mac using a USB flash drive, I need to format the drive as FAT32.

Some of the posts are old and were recommending FAT or FAT 16, but I think it was because FAT32 wasn't introduced until large HD's became common.

I understand to not use NTSF or the Mac cannot read the drive? yes?

TIA, Rob
--
http://www.streamlinestudio.com
 
My Kingston USB flash drives are formatted FAT32 and work fine transferring files from PC to MAC.
--
travelfotografer said:
To Err is Human, To really foul things up you need a computer.
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I have a FAT32 flash and a FAT flash and they both work on my sister's Mac (leopard).
 
I'm not sure about the older PowerPC macs and you didn't mention which mac model, but NTFS is read only on Intel macs. If you have to read/write on NTFS then there are 3rd party solutions available like: http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/2008/08/ntfs-3g-12812.html

and Paragon Software's NTFS for Mac OSX.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

I have never used any of the above mentioned software.
Robert Strom said:
I understand to not use NTSF or the Mac cannot read the drive? yes?
Click to expand...
--
Never buy version 1.0 of anything.
 
I have PCs and half-way through changing to Mac. All my PC drives, internal and external are NTFS.

My MacPro sees ALL my USB external drives that are formatted to NTFS, and can read and write to them. It allso connects quite happily across my internal mini-network to my PC hard drives and happily read/writes to them.
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LesP
 
Windows) my external drives to FAT 32. That means they will work with anything out there. I have Leopard and Tiger Macs at home as well as XP and Vista machines. All of my external drives work with everything. I often back up my Macs and PCs to the same drive.
 
This may not apply to you if you do not intend using iMovie (with projects stored on an external drive) for example, but it will not work correctly with FAT 32 or similar.
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KiwiBee
 
Well...

FAT32 would be one way to approach it.

But, it's got some limitations that you may not like. For example, you'll have a maximum file size of 4GB, which may make it unsuitable for storage of disk image backups, larger video files, etc. (since you can't have a file size over 4GB using FAT32).

I'd be inclined to use NTFS instead.

There is an open source file driver (NTFS-3G) available that's already used by most Linux distros, but available for multiple platforms including OS X.

So, you could install this NTFS file driver on your Mac and use an NTFS formatted external drive with both your Windows and Mac machines. You'll find a link to the Open Source NTFS-3G on this page:

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/2010/01/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x-2010116.html

Tuxera also has a commercial version (named NTFS for Mac versus NTFS-3G) available. You can find a link to the a trial version of the latest stable release on this page:

http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/

--
JimC
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http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield
 
NTFS-3G needs MacFuse in order to work. There is also Paragon Software's NTFS for Mac OS X, another commercial software.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

System requirements (for MacFuse):
  • Mac OS X 10.4/10.5/10.6 (10.6 requires that you do not use the 64-bit kernel), running on an Intel or PowerPC computer.
Could be a problem if the user chose to install Snow Leopard as a 64 bit OS.
Jim Cockfield said:
Well...

FAT32 would be one way to approach it.

But, it's got some limitations that you may not like. For example, you'll have a maximum file size of 4GB, which may make it unsuitable for storage of disk image backups, larger video files, etc. (since you can't have a file size over 4GB using FAT32).

I'd be inclined to use NTFS instead.

There is an open source file driver (NTFS-3G) available that's already used by most Linux distros, but available for multiple platforms including OS X.

So, you could install this NTFS file driver on your Mac and use an NTFS formatted external drive with both your Windows and Mac machines. You'll find a link to the Open Source NTFS-3G on this page:

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/2010/01/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x-2010116.html

Tuxera also has a commercial version (named NTFS for Mac versus NTFS-3G) available. You can find a link to the a trial version of the latest stable release on this page:

http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/

--
JimC
------
http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield
Click to expand...
--
Never buy version 1.0 of anything.
 
It looks like there are unofficial 64 bit packages for MacFuse you can install now.

Here's a page discussing it:

http://adavidchan.com/macfuse-on-snow-leopard-64-bit-mode

Here's a direct download link to a .dmg file for it:

http://static.caurea.org/MacFUSE/MacFUSE-2.1.7.dmg

I'm not a Mac user, but I've used the open source NTFS-3G under FUSE in Linux since the early NTFS-3G beta versions with no problems reading or writing to NTFS partitions, using it with both 32 bit and 64 bit kernels.

I keep my PCs setup in multi-boot configs (with windows and more than one linux distro installed), and NTFS-3G lets me easily read and write to the same NTFS partitions that I use with Windows. Ditto for external drives. I format them as NTFS so that I can do things like create larger disk image and partition image files for backup purposes (since FAT32 is limited to a max file size of 4GB), and I've never had any corruption issues using NTFS-3G.

It does look like the Paragon solution may work without going to the trouble of installing a 64 bit version of FUSE to use with NTFS-3G if you wanted to use the 64 bit kernel with Snow Leopard. So, that would be a plus for Mac users that are not comfortable with unofficial ports.

But, personally, if I were a Mac user, I'd just go with the Open Source version of NTFS-3G and save the $39, especially since the NTFS-3G open source code is in use by a lot of Linux users (it's been preinstalled in most Linux distros for several years now, since it's first stable release in Feb. 2007), so it's a well tested solution.

--
JimC
------
http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield
 
Jim Cockfield said:
It looks like there are unofficial 64 bit packages for MacFuse you can install now.

Here's a page discussing it:

http://adavidchan.com/macfuse-on-snow-leopard-64-bit-mode

Here's a direct download link to a .dmg file for it:

http://static.caurea.org/MacFUSE/MacFUSE-2.1.7.dmg
Click to expand...
In addition to the thread above discussing MacFUSE compiled for 64 bit kernels working fine, here's another forum thread I found with a quick google search, specifically discussing using NTFS-3G with the 64 bit version of MacFUSE I linked to on 64 Bit Snow Leopard:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=203739

Basically, it looks like the primary developer just hasn't maintained MacFUSE in a while, and it's just never been compiled for the 64 Bit kernel (which is what someone else did and posted a link to a .dmg file for it).

--
JimC
------
http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield
 
Snow Leopard already provides the capability to read and write NTFS althought it is not enabled by default.

Here's the developer's site:
http://whine.fr/sl-ntfs/

--
Never buy version 1.0 of anything.
 
I recently gave some jpeg photos on a Kingston USB drive (FAT32 format) to a colleague and he opened them on his Mac with no problem.
--
MrScary said:
Photographers feel guilty that all they do for a living is press a button. - Andy Warhol
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