# A cross-platform harddrive format?



## ezczfosheezy (Feb 13, 2003)

Okay, so i just purchased a 100gb firewire harddrive. I want to know if there is a partition format I can use such that the same drive will be readable by windows and mac os x. Or do I have to have two separate blocks, one for mac and one for windows?


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## gatorparrots (Feb 13, 2003)

FAT32.


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## Gnomo (Feb 14, 2003)

It kinda depends on what version of windows you are running.  If you are running XP or 2000, you can use either NTFS or FAT32.  If you are running one of the 9X versions then you must use FAT32 (I guess you could use just plain ol' FAT, but that would be retarded).

Also you might want to note that if you place file from your Mac onto a NTFS or FAT32 file structure, you will have these strange .#RES files appear after your Windows box accesses the drive.  I'm not sure what they are, it has been purposed that they are the resource fork to the file.  Anywho, this can really cause problems, because your Mac can forget what to open the files with and I haven't found any way to merge the two files back together, thus they are totally useless.

If I were you, I would connect the firewire drive to the Mac, format it using the Mac file format (sorry can't remember what is is called) and use Windows File Sharring when you need to access files via the PC.


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## Juxel (Feb 17, 2003)

Use Fat32.  You can't read the NTFS on an OS X machine, and if you have to access the hard drive over the network that kind of eliminates the whole point of having a fast firewire drive to transfer and store files.

-Juxel


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## michaelsanford (Feb 18, 2003)

PS I assume .#RES is what results from Jaguar files, because in Puma I get "._filename" files.

Just issue this terminal command in the windows (or non-Mac OS X) volume you want to clean, and it will erase those other files.

I've got this little Sony MicroVault and I _HATE_ those stupid ._$ files, so I erase them regularly; it seems to have no effect on Mac OS's ability to handle the file....

*find . -name ._* -exec rm '{}' ';'*

Replace _._*_ with _.#RES*_ or whatever the prefix is for Jaguar's files.

*NOTE:* If you have any other folders or files of YOUR OWN that start with "._" or ."#RES" they will also be deleted! So, only do this if you're sure you can get away with it without destroying your data...

I wish Apple would release a system patch that would prevent these stupid files from being generated on non-HFS/+ volumes, or at the very least tell us what they are


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## ezczfosheezy (Feb 19, 2003)

I'll give that fat 32 a try. I would like to thank all of you for your help. I've never used a forum like this and I'm quite pleased that everyone was so chill. Thanks again.


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## michaelsanford (Feb 20, 2003)

ezczfosheezy, I know I love this forum


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## masur (Nov 29, 2006)

The trouble with FAT32 is that it does not accept file sizes larger than 4GB.  So you are pretty much dorked if you want to make movies, or do design.

Luckily, in Windows, you can reformat your drive from FAT32 to NTFS without deleting your data.  But this leaves you unable to communicate with your mac.

Are there any other file formats, aside from NTFS, FAT32 or the MAC format which accept files larger than 4GB and can be read by both Macs and PCs?


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## Lt Major Burns (Nov 29, 2006)

Ufs?


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## masur (Nov 29, 2006)

UFS?  Don't know.  Will look into it and see if it is readable by mac and PC (should be) and if it supports very large files (don't know).  Steven Masur


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