Can this drive be reformatted to be compatible with Mac? 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?
1326414
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
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.
515166
I use this strictly to do OSX backups using TimeMachine. This drive is formatted for use with Apple computers and is not formatted to be accessed by PCs. I have no idea what you are trying to accomplish, whether it is backing up data using backup tools or just trying to copy files to an external drive that either system can read. Regardless, this is not a good, cost effective, starting point for you. You would need to totally reformat the drive and consider if your PC supports USB 3 because this drive is built to support that higher transfer rate.
305941
Yes, you can store any data on it. If you are going to be using the drive with both Mac and PC, you should consider reformatting it as ExFAT, which is fully compatible with both. It will provide the most flexibility.
305285
It works well on a Mac with the original formatting; I didn't reformat it to HFS+ because I have to use it also with various Unix, Linux and Windows machines, as well as Macs.
1747916
Well, I have a 250GB disk inside, formatted as exFAT. I use at home with my Win7 machine and at work with a MacBook (Mountain Lion) and both systems can read and write with not problems at all. If you are going to use only mac you can format it with Mac OS Extended, if you want both systems to use it then go for exFAT. Short answer: YES, it does support Mac.
1955090
Yes it will. It comes formatted as NTFS which is Windows only but it is very simple to reformat it to FAT32 on your Mac to make it work. Don't spend the extra money on the Mac specific drive. Search youtube for Reformatting a drive from NTFS to FAT32.
135686
in the paper that comes with the drive it directs you to seesupport.wdc.com --> knowledge base article #287The 2TB version I just bought was pre-formatted for NTFS (which Disk Utility recognized just fine...I reformatted for Mac just for the better file system)
1719560
If HFS+ means its Mac formatted, yes it is. And I just checked and I can select it for a time machine backup. I have just switched to SSD as well and this card fits almost flush on my MacBook.
1555711
This drive comes formatted to work with a Mac. You would have to reformat it to work with a PC.
1791661
Yes. I have it formatted Half for my Mac and half for my PC. The Mac can see both partitions, but the PC can only see the NTFS partition.
1841457
You didn't say if the drive was formatted with HPFS or NTFS or FAT32. You also didn't say whether Windows prompted to format the drive when you plugged it in. FAT32 is compatible with both Mac and PC so I would recommend converting to that file system. The only caveat is that the largest file size is 4GB in FAT32. Another thing to check is whether enough power is being provided to the drive through the USB port of what I assume to be a laptop PC. You may need to use a powered USB hub.
23241
Yes, this drive is compatible with the PC and the Mac. (I'm using a Dell PC running Windows XP, and a Mac running Leopard 10.5.) Formatting is not necessary on either computer. The drive works about 30 times faster on the Mac, but that could be because the PC is several years older.
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.
1719563
I believe it was HFS formatted out of the box, but you can always format it any way you want. I have not used it to back up with TM (capacity is pretty small) but I do not know why you could not. It is visible to TM and you can select it as the TM disk. I really like it because it sits almost flush with the side of the MBP and does not get bumped by things or caught on the sleeve when I put it away. So, I basically just leave it in the machine.
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.