Will a External HDD work? I have a WD 1TB external hdd in which i have most of my stuff, i heard from someone that the hdd formatted for PC's or windows laptops dont work for MAC and it needs to be formatted again in another file system format, is that...
1890677
You should be able to access most files that have a common app (Mac and PC) - the challenge will be saving any updates. Typically PC formatted external drives are FAT32, which will convert to the MAC, but not able to be write enabled back. The exception will be music and photos, they should be available for iTunes and iPhoto imports.
1042055
yes, it should i just bought one 2 days ago and it's awesome, i've got an old school mac g4 running 10.5 with two external drives connected via firewire (with all my vid's on them) and the WD box was able to connect to the computer without needing to do any kind of setup on the box. you just have to make sure your file sharing is turned on, on ur mac(durr). the only reason i say that it "SHOULD" is that my entire house is setup with gigabit, ie no wireless... so it should work so long as the WD box connects to the network that your computer is on. i'm just not sure how fast everything would be over wireless.
577671
I, too, have a Mac and a Windows. I've ended up having separate hard drives for each. Most of my data--years and years of documents and images--are on my Windows computer. I got the Mac because I needed a laptop and didn't want to get Vista. My experience is that I can plug the Windows hard drive to the Mac and it will recognize and read just about everything. The PC, on the other hand, will not recognize the drive from the Mac (at best) or will have a blue-screen tantrum (at worst--so far).
1042056
Thank you so much for your response! You also answered my next question as to whether or not it would recognize external HDDs connected to the Mac.Have you experimented connecting external drives to the WD TV Live Plus directly through the USB? If so are you able to transfer files wirelessly from your Mac to the external drive?It's a shame the WD TV Live Plus doesn't have built in wireless like the Apple TV.
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It really depends on the file format, Windows and Mac have never been known to play well together, so the answer is yes the drive will function on either system, but the files you wish to transfer may turn out to be the problem.
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Tabitha. I am not certain because I do not normally use MACs. However....note the tech specs on Amazon.com. It says "Preformatted for PCs, easily reformatted for Macs" What this PROBABLY means is the drive is NTFS formatted (Microsoft proprietary formatted) so will work plug and play with PCs running Microsoft operating systems. Which is why I can just plug it into a USB port and begin using it. For a MAC user you will probably have to format it (to HFS) for your specific MAC operating system. It should be fairly straight-forward. The manufacturer gives directions for this here: http://www.hgst.com/support/faqs/how-format-my-drive-mac-only-hfsHope this helps.Tim Tabitha. I am not certain because I do not normally use MACs. However....note the tech specs on Amazon.com. It says "Preformatted for PCs, easily reformatted for Macs" What this PROBABLY means is the drive is NTFS formatted (Microsoft proprietary formatted) so will work plug and play with PCs running Microsoft operating systems. Which is why I can just plug it into a USB port and begin using it. For a MAC user you will probably have to format it (to HFS) for your specific MAC operating system. It should be fairly straight-forward. The manufacturer gives directions for this here:... » Read More Tabitha. I am not certain because I do not normally use MACs. However....note the tech specs on Amazon.com. It says "Preformatted for PCs, easily reformatted for Macs" What this PROBABLY means is the drive is NTFS formatted (Microsoft proprietary formatted) so will work plug and play with PCs running Microsoft operating systems. Which is why I can just plug it into a USB port and begin using it. For a MAC user you will probably have to format it (to HFS) for your specific MAC operating system. It should be fairly straight-forward. The manufacturer gives directions for this here: http://www.hgst.com/support/faqs/how-format-my-drive-mac-only-hfsHope this helps.Tim « Show Less
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The drive is supported, it comes formatted in fat32. You can reformat to mac only or exFat if you want. USB 3 is not supported on macs (yet, you'll need a new mac), but the drive works just fine.I have 2, use them both on mac's and pc's with no issues. Great drive, really fast even on usb2.
1872199
Windows does not read Mac formatted dis as far as I know. I have an external floppy drive that I use with Windows 7 Pro for my wives use in the law office. There is nothing in the specs that says that it will allow Windows to read Mac formatted disc. Sorry
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.
1029923
Yes. It's blank. Usually installation of an OS (operating system like Windows, Linux, OSx) will format the drive. Different OS's may use different format parameters so the drive will work in many different computers and OS's.
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.
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.
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.
8086
Generally, YUP.Specifically, If your external drive works plugged into the laptop usb 3 port, It will work plugged into the hub which is then plugged into your usb 3 port on your laptop. I have 7 - 3tb seagate externals plugged in via a plugable hub into a pci-usb3 2-port extension on an old dell laptop running win 7 home premium. The second slot on the pci has a Seagate 3 TB plugged in directly. I get no vairance in speeds or performance from either slot/device. The 4TB should work as well.
1750954
G-Drive comes set-up for Mac. Can be used for Windows but you are instructed to go to www.g-technology.com/windows for instructions on how to do so. My opinion if you need a portable drive for a Windows laptop go with something like a HP SimpleSave portable that uses usb and works like a flash drive for backing up.
2136758
Yes, but accessing the data will depend on how the drive is formatted. I think (you'll have to check) the drive comes formatted in NTSF. For use with both PC and Mac, you'll have to re-format the drive in something like FAT 23. Both Mac and PC should recognize the drive, but FAT 23 has file size limitations.
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!