can this be formatted to use with both a PC and MAC, I have MAC at home and PC at work.
1985364
Hi Stephen. All my systems are Mac. Therefore I have not tried using a PC format.
1985365
Yes it can. Look it up online, (even before you get it) and you can figure it out. Basically using a PC format the drive to FAT or exFAT file system. This can be read on Mac and PC. I did this. Had a Mac, it broke and I switched to a PC, used this to transfer my backed up files afer formatting it correctly. I also have since used it to transfer docs between other's Mac's and my PC. Works great.
514988
Yes but once you use it for Mac then it's only for Mac and if you want to use it on windows you have to formatt all over. Works both Mac and windows. If you use it on windows then u can read files on Mac but can't write on it.
577668
Yes, you could format it as a NTFS or FAT32. Mac (as well as Windows obviously) supports both.
953783
I think the question is does the drive come preformated for Mac or PC or do you have to format it for either OS and setup two partitions if you want to use it across platforms.
1955084
Yes! It will certainly work with a Mac. Macs can read "PC" format or you can easily use the Mac's Disc Utility to quickly reformat it in Mac Journaled format if you desire the superior performance that it provides. I don't know of any mass storage (i.e.: hard drive, usb drive) that does not work equally well on a Mac.
1640290
The information I read said it can be used between PC and Mac computers without reformatting.
457650
I specifically purchased to back up my MacBook. I am unsure if you can reformat it to use it with a PC.
543721
Yes. Your Mac will ask how you want to format the drive. You choose the format that works best in your environment.
1668239
why does it have it be formatted if the software is supposed to work for both mac and pc ?
735342
No reformatting necessary as the hard drive ships in FAT32 format, which is instantly compatible with a Mac. If there is /any/ chance that you will be hooking into a Mac and a PC at some point, I'd highly recommend leaving the formatting as is (of course you can wipe the drive and then reformat it in MSDOS format through Disk Utility). You cannot easily write to a Windows (i.e., NTFS) drive but you can read it on a Mac. Have no idea as to whether a Windows machine can read/write something that is Mac formatted, however.
1998884
If you mean both Mac & Windows compatible, Yes. I use it with my iMac at home and everything works as expected.
82211
I don't know about from a PC, but from a Mac, you can't do anything special! That's my big disappointment with this product - it's advertised as Mac-compatible but it is only for the most basic functions.
298147
With the built in utilities on Windows or Mac, you can easily format this drive to whatever you like. OS X for Mac or NTFS for Windows. Unfortunately, those can only be read by their respective operating systems. If I remember correctly, FAT32 can be read by either O/S, but it has some limitations like 4GB maximum file sizes. There is a driver by Paragon (I think it costs $20 if you want to do it legally) that allows Mac to read your NTFS drives or vice versa. This would be another option if you need your drive to operate with both O/Ss. BTW, all drives have this limitation, and all drives can be formatted. As they love to charge more for MAC stuff (presumably because MAC people think they are cool, sometimes are ignorant, but don't care about cost), I would always recommend buying a PC drive and reformatting it to MAC if necessary.
468000
Also, PC iTunes can stream to numerous units simultaneously as well as Macs. I swap the audio back and forth from my Mac to the PC, depending on whose computer I'm wishing to use.
2027329
It sure can and it is the first thing I do when I got my new drive. Remember that a OSX formatted drive can only be read by a Mac. (FAT32 can be read by both Mac and PC, so I always keep one or two drives formatted FAT32, the rest are formatted OSX journaled
83038
I'm a Mac user not Windows. However, I believe it does not matter what system you are running as long as it's formatted correctly.
134559
Yes, You may have to format to work. The one I bought was exFAT. exFAT is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6.5 or newer, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.