Can this drive be reformatted to be compatible with Mac? I have both PC and Mac at home. I am wondering can this drive be formatted via disk utility with one partition HSF+ for time machine and another FAT32 for storage on both PC and Mac?Thanks for any feedback. Can this drive be reformatted to be compatible with Mac? I have both PC and Mac at home. I am wondering can this drive be formatted via disk utility with one partition HSF+ for time machine and... » Read More Can this drive be reformatted to be compatible with Mac? I have both PC and Mac at home. I am wondering can this drive be formatted via disk utility with one partition HSF+ for time machine and another FAT32 for storage on both PC and Mac?Thanks for any feedback. « Show Less
489052
Yes this drive is compatible with a Mac. I plugged it in, opened up Disk Utility, formatted it (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to be exact) and it's working just peachy. I even partitioned it, about half for backups and the other half for other stuff.
489053
Just to throw in my 2 cents here, the Disk Utility reformat mentioned above in Andrew's post is spot-on. The drive so far as been great to use. However, I'm running Mac 10.5.6 and it was immediately recognized when I first plugged it in: it mounted and Time Machine asked if I wanted to use it for backups...I did the reformatting anyway as the apps on board are no use to a Mac owner.BTW, the $99 price was unbelievable!Fingers crossed on reliability,Yikesboy
489054
macs can read and write to pc hards drives but need to be formated in fat32 i think. i have a pc hard drive that is split for time machine and as a backup. my pc hard drives i can read them but cant write since they are in wrong format. but those hard drives if i wanted could be reformatted so i can write to them.
489055
I have the same question but it looks like the drive does not support Mac based on the spec on this page: http://freeagent.seagate.com/en-us/hard-drive/desktop-hard-drive/Free-Agent.html
1036809
I'm not familiar with Mac, but I think the problem is that you can not keep changing the format. I would advise that if it works on one of those, use it for that and purchase a new one for the other. The problem today is that programs and computers update too fast and the older ones become obsolete. Hope that helps.
2108101
Yes, the drive is compatible with a Mac, you'd just have to reformat the drive for the Mac file system, not a big deal to do though.
2167745
I love this drive, but do not own or have used it with a Mac, but I think you made a good decision to use Time Machine, from what I read it looks like a nice system. I am using my Seagate with Linux and do my full backups using REDO backup, and my incremental with either a cp -u command manually or drag & drop from the GUI. Hope this helps.
2210799
Technically, YES, it can be formatted to FAT32, but with the filesize limitations, as well as the cluster size for the filesystem, I must beg the question of WHY format it to FAT32? If you want it to be read/write with Mac/PC, then format exFAT. If you want to install DOS/95/98/ME on it, why? Truly, your best option would be exFAT if NTFS is not suitable for your needs.
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!
2184714
I did not format the drive as it was from an older computer and I needed the files from it. If it was a new drive you may need to format it. Most new ones are formatted to use with a Windows computer. I have a Mac and they pretty much will read anything. If it was a new drive I would format it just to make sure it worked with my computer, Mac or PC.
1913912
@Tony I 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?
2210800
Kimberly, I would like to know more about why you're wanting to format this drive in FAT32. Is it for Mac/PC compatibility? I would also like to know how you're using or planning to use this drive as well. Hopefully you're installing these in a RAID or NAS device of some sort as they are best suited for that purpose. If not, then I would purchase a different drive. If you're still thinking about going with Western Digital, here's a link that explains their color coding and the capabilities of each color drive. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/desktop/ I hope this helps.
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
431532
Yes. If you format the drive to NTFS, the PC will be able to write and read the drive, and the Mac will be able to read it (but not write to it). Your best bet, if you want to be able to read and write on both PC and Mac, format the drive in exFAT (NOT FAT32, since this is an outdated file type).
603727
Can't help with any specific advice as I am using my drive with a Mac, but I can't see why there would be a problem. If you received a drive pre-formatted for a Macintosh, then doubtless, you need to use a Windows program to reformat it. Good Luck!
1602194
You should first use Mac's Disk Utility to reformat the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format for the best efficiency with a Mac before setting up TimeMachine. It is a simple process, and my 3TB version of this drive has been running TimeMachine flawlessly ever since. My 4TB drive is a recent acquisition for external storage, but it too was reformatted before use.
183924
I have three of these...one as a backup for my PC and another that I use as a main drive and a backup drive for my Mac. But if you mean backing up files on your Mac and PC, I have done it before as a network drive but when it comes to moving the drive and plugging it in via USB, somehow the PC didn't read the Mac Files, while Mac was able to read the PC files...but by switching things back in forth, I actually corrupted a drive that way and it had to be formatted. But network drive, I have backed up files from both PC and Mac just fine. I feel it's best to have external backup drives specifically for that computer...one formatted via Mac for the Mac and the other for PC. I have three of these...one as a backup for my PC and another that I use as a main drive and a backup drive for my Mac. But if you mean backing up files on your Mac and PC, I have done it before as a network drive but when it comes to moving the drive and plugging it in via USB, somehow the PC didn't read the Mac Files, while Mac was able to read the PC files...but by switching things back in forth, I actually corrupted a drive that way and it had to be formatted. But network drive, I have backed up files from both PC and Mac just fine. I feel it's best to have external backup drives... » Read More I have three of these...one as a backup for my PC and another that I use as a main drive and a backup drive for my Mac. But if you mean backing up files on your Mac and PC, I have done it before as a network drive but when it comes to moving the drive and plugging it in via USB, somehow the PC didn't read the Mac Files, while Mac was able to read the PC files...but by switching things back in forth, I actually corrupted a drive that way and it had to be formatted. But network drive, I have backed up files from both PC and Mac just fine. I feel it's best to have external backup drives specifically for that computer...one formatted via Mac for the Mac and the other for PC. « Show Less
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..
1370072
"Can I use it for switching back and forth between a Mac and a PC without reformatting?" - Only if you reformat with a filesystem that is compatible with both OSX and Windows."If so, does this remove the option to use Time Machine?" - Yes and no. Time Machine requires HFS+ filesystem, and Windows cannot read/write to HFS+. However, it is possible to partition the disk and have part of the disk using NTFS and the other part using HFS+.
183921
I have three of these...one as a backup for my PC and another that I use as a main drive and a backup drive for my Mac. But if you mean backing up files on your Mac and PC, I have done it before as a network drive but when it comes to moving the drive and plugging it in via USB, somehow the PC didn't read the Mac Files, while Mac was able to read the PC files...but by switching things back in forth, I actually corrupted a drive that way and it had to be formatted. But network drive, I have backed up files from both PC and Mac just fine. I feel it's best to have external backup drives specifically for that computer...one formatted via Mac for the Mac and the other for PC.