PC to Mac Transfer: I was wondering if I get this hard drive and save everything to it on my PC and then plug it into my Mac, will I have to reformat it?
322990
If you found out an answer to this problem let me know. I am trying to use it on a windows, from a mac, and it wont even read it.
1153733
Yes it does work. Apparently, all of my computers were Mac. But, I have to tell you that this item does not appear to be a high quality one, although it get the job done. Also, when you use the connector, if it feels too lose, it meants that you did not connect it properly. Just a tip! Happy hard drive upgrade!!
1778365
yes, unless one is a mac..then no. you will have to re format the hard drive after using it for a mac.
1339934
@TonyI believe you could. You'd have to create two partitions on the drive, one formatted in HFS+ (for Mac) and the other in NTFS (for Windows). I have never done any such thing but it might be worth a try. Of course, as these drives have come so far down in price, why not just buy two, one for Mac and the other for Windows?
577669
Hi Shiki, This is very helpful. Is it easy to partition the drive? I just ordered this so I don't have the drive yet, but when it comes I'd like to back up both my Mac and PC... Do you know where to find information on how to partition? Thank you!
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.
1861523
I believe you can format it for PC even though it was designed for mac. I have 350 of it designated as a mac partition and 50 of it designated as a PC partition, just in case I have to store something from a PC. You can check the LaCie website for more information.
2023142
My use of this drive has been exclusively on the Mac. However, I did not use any of the back-up software or formatting provided on the drive. It was necessary to use the Mac disk utility to reformat the drive. Then it worked with Apple's Time Machine.
1803946
Once you plug in the USB cable your Mac should recognize the drive immediately and you can just use disk utilities to reformat the drive to Mac format. Remember if you reformat it to Mac format. A PC may not be able to read the contents of the drive
2079170
Yes. Just need to format it in a format thats appropriate for Windows. Like exFAT. There are some formats that will be read/write for both Mac/Window. These will be most versatile
2248706
The file systems are different. You would need a 3rd party program to accomplish both. If you plug the drive into a PC and save files, MAC will not be able to read it. You can reformat it to MAC or PC. Hope this info answers your question.
1668237
I have this exact hard drive - purchased it this weekend. It needs to be formatted FAT 32. It works perfectly with my Mac and PC.
2186784
It comes formatted for PC (NTFS), but like most hard drives, it can be formatted with the Disk Utility on a Mac to HFS+. First link from Bing gives a good walk through of how to format it: http://www.ehow.com/how_2063795_format-hard-drive-mac-os.html Hope that helps!
1555711
This drive comes formatted to work with a Mac. You would have to reformat it to work with a PC.
1259172
I talked about this in my review, actually, as my hd didn't come with the driver.. You have to install the driver in order for it to work on the mac unless you want time machine to reformat it for you (but then it won't work on a PC). There's also this link..http://blog.nolar.info/ntfs-3g-in-mac-os-x-lion-10-7-with-read-write-support/Hope that helps..
1538000
This drive is compatible with Mac OSX 10.8, so I imagine there are no problems with somewhat earlier releases of OSX like what you have. I always do my own drive reformatting/partitioning since drives arrive from the factory in Apple Partition Map/APM partitioning (because it's compatible with the old PowerPC based Macs), but I prefer the GUID Partition table/GPT partitioning scheme because it's what's required to boot from an Intel-based Mac (all Macs for the last several years). All of these can be easily changed with the "Disk Utility" software that comes with every Mac. You can reformat, repartition, etc. In any case, even if you don't repartition or reformat it should work just fine with your Mac
2202175
Here is a quick tutorial for reformatting this drive to work on a Mac. Very easy and helpfulhttp://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/291/#exfatmac