Time Capsule preformatted with Mac file system??

alra111 · #1 March 2nd, 2008, 07:44 PM

I'm wondering if anyone has been able to verify whether the Time Capsule will be preformatted with the Mac file system (hopefully they are smart enough to do this) or if they will attempt to win Windows customers cover by pre-formatting it to the Windows file system and us Mac users wlll have to re-format it to the Macintosh file system?

I'm hearing the 1 TB is on backorder...

I hope ours (ordered directly from the Apple website) doesn't get delayed too long.

Alra111

eric2006 · #2 March 2nd, 2008, 08:14 PM

For networked drives, it doesn't matter what it is formatted as, the server interprets the data onto it's own format.

alra111 · #3 March 2nd, 2008, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric2006

For networked drives, it doesn't matter what it is formatted as, the server interprets the data onto it's own format.

Nonetheless, the Mac file system is more efficient at storing data...so hopefully it is pre-formatted to the Mac file system.

I just don't want anything Windows-related connected to my Mac...not even a Windows-formatted HD.

Alra111

ElDiabloConCaca · #4 March 4th, 2008, 02:25 PM

More than likely it will be HFS+ format, but if not, it would take all of 30 seconds to make it that way if it came formatted different.

Even if it's not formatted as HFS+, it doesn't look like you have any control over the disk format anyway:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...d_preview.html

From that article, it's just plain "Erase" to format the drive -- doesn't look like it gives you any option as to what format you want it in (it's probably all taken care of by the software on the Time Capsule itself).

I tend to agree with Eric2006 -- it wouldn't really matter what the format is for the most part, since, to your computer, a network drive formatted as NTFS performs and acts identically to a network drive formatted as HFS+. Saying that HFS+ "is more efficient at storing data" is too vague and unsubstantiated to say that HFS+ is a "better" format to have your Time Capsule drive in.

alra111 · #5 March 4th, 2008, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElDiabloConCaca

More than likely it will be HFS+ format, but if not, it would take all of 30 seconds to make it that way if it came formatted different.

Even if it's not formatted as HFS+, it doesn't look like you have any control over the disk format anyway:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...d_preview.html

From that article, it's just plain "Erase" to format the drive -- doesn't look like it gives you any option as to what format you want it in (it's probably all taken care of by the software on the Time Capsule itself).

I tend to agree with Eric2006 -- it wouldn't really matter what the format is for the most part, since, to your computer, a network drive formatted as NTFS performs and acts identically to a network drive formatted as HFS+. Saying that HFS+ "is more efficient at storing data" is too vague and unsubstantiated to say that HFS+ is a "better" format to have your Time Capsule drive in.

Thanks for the info; and if I could ask, can I use this drive for ANYTHING, or only to backup data? I read on engadget I believe it was that it was only for backing up. I posted a question elsewhere on the forum about this.

ElDiabloConCaca · #6 March 4th, 2008, 04:37 PM

Yes, you can use the Time Capsule drive as a NAS as well. You just don't have the option of partitioning the drive or anything like that, I believe, so whatever you put on there as NAS will be intermingled with Time Machine backup folders as well (AFAIK).

eric2006 · #7 March 4th, 2008, 05:09 PM

I was reading a review of it, and it does indeed work as NAS, but they had trouble setting it up with Windows. It's not formatted as a Windows format - NTFS is a Microsoft creation that everyone else is just figuring out how to work with, and FAT has trouble with big chunks of data. If it's not HFS, it's some 'nix format.

icemanjc · #8 March 4th, 2008, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric2006

I was reading a review of it, and it does indeed work as NAS, but they had trouble setting it up with Windows. It's not formatted as a Windows format - NTFS is a Microsoft creation that everyone else is just figuring out how to work with, and FAT has trouble with big chunks of data. If it's not HFS, it's some 'nix format.

That brings up a question for me, how do you format in NTFS in mac? I know you can do it under windows but I don't know how to do it in mac.