swansont Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 Last time I bought USB drives for work, we ran into an issue of the file format — they could either be made compatible with the Windows systems or the Mac systems, but not both at the same time. Anybody know if this has changed with the newer era of Windows 7 and Mavericks/Yosemite? Mac options include FAT and exFAT, but whichever one we tried it didn't work. As I recall, whatever we chose could be read on the system we used to format it, but not on the other, even if we chose the same protocol. Any buzzwords I should be looking for in the USB drive specs?
Greg H. Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 Apparently (I've never tried it) but both PCs and MACs can read the FAT32 based file system, so as long as the USB drive is formatted in that fashion, it should just work. I found an article on eHow on it, if you'd like more information. http://www.ehow.com/how_5929724_format-drive-work-mac-pc.html
Sensei Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Interesting subject. By "USB drive" you meant "flash pendrive", or "USB external hard disk"? Can you clarify? Recently I bought new digital camera that has SanDisk SDHC 8 GB memory (cost $8) (there are up to 64 GB but much more expensive). They have also different speeds, between 10 MB/s to even 280 MB/s. Transfer using USB cable from equipment was troublesome (it was refusing to download 1 GB+ files). So I got special USB SD card reader for them (cost $2.7). Like this: You plug SD memory to reader, and whole thing to USB in computer. I just checked it, and it worked either in my Windows (obviously), and also on my Macintosh (you inspired me to check this). It's reported to system as MSDOS (FAT32) file system in Get Info on drive icon. I could read and write files on it. It appears also much faster than normal USB pendrive. My SD memory has 40 MB/s. I normally transfer data using Ethernet between Mac and Windows. Edited January 20, 2015 by Sensei
swansont Posted January 20, 2015 Author Posted January 20, 2015 It has to be an external hard drive. Flash drives are more or less forbidden. I normally transfer data using Ethernet between Mac and Windows. Oh, to live in a world where one could do this.
imatfaal Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 It has to be an external hard drive. Flash drives are more or less forbidden. Oh, to live in a world where one could do this. I suppose introducing the notion of shared cloud storage would get you shot at dawn?
Sensei Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 It has to be an external hard drive. Flash drives are more or less forbidden. Then while searching google for solution you must not use "usb drive" which means "flash pendrive" but explicitly "usb external storage hard disk".. BTW, there are readers connected to USB- you plug normal any SATA hard disk to it, and interface allow communication through USB. I have one such, but never needed to plug it to Mac. Oh, to live in a world where one could do this. They're connected in network since ever. After all either machine must have Internet access.
swansont Posted January 20, 2015 Author Posted January 20, 2015 I suppose introducing the notion of shared cloud storage would get you shot at dawn? Oh, man. The black helicopters are coming! They're connected in network since ever. After all either machine must have Internet access. There are permission issues that conflict with security settings, such that some machines can't talk to each other. Also some machines that can't be hooked up to any kind of outside network.
Strange Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Apparently (I've never tried it) but both PCs and MACs can read the FAT32 based file system, so as long as the USB drive is formatted in that fashion, it should just work. I have done this: as long as you stick to the old-fashioned FAT32 it should work on both. And Linux, I think - which should also be able to use NTFS. (I think I formatted the drive on Windows to use on both. But MacOS should be able to format a FAT32 drive as well.) Edited January 20, 2015 by Strange
swansont Posted January 20, 2015 Author Posted January 20, 2015 I have done this: as long as you stick to the old-fashioned FAT32 it should work on both. And Linux, I think - which should also be able to use NTFS. (I think I formatted the drive on Windows to use on both. But MacOS should be able to format a FAT32 drive as well.) My vague recollection (now jogged by this discussion) is that when we did this years ago, we formatted in FAT32 on a mac and the windows machines didn't recognize it, and nobody could figure out why. And we had some drives before that which simply would not work on a windows machine — would not even mount so that they could be reformatted — and I don't recall the explanation for that. But I have found some that claim to be cross-platform, so I think I'm good to go. 1
Greg H. Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 My vague recollection (now jogged by this discussion) is that when we did this years ago, we formatted in FAT32 on a mac and the windows machines didn't recognize it, and nobody could figure out why. And we had some drives before that which simply would not work on a windows machine — would not even mount so that they could be reformatted — and I don't recall the explanation for that. But I have found some that claim to be cross-platform, so I think I'm good to go. Good luck.
MonDie Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 I'm betting Windows is the problem here. I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to give Windows limitations in what file system types it can work with. I just opened GParted on Ubuntu to see all the types of file systems that it can write: btrfs exfat ex2 ex3 ex4 f2fs fat16 fat32 hfs hfs+ jfs linux-swap lvm2 pv nilfs2 ntfs reiser4 reiserfs ufs xfs cleared unformatted My vague recollection (now jogged by this discussion) is that when we did this years ago, we formatted in FAT32 on a mac and the windows machines didn't recognize it, and nobody could figure out why. And we had some drives before that which simply would not work on a windows machine — would not even mount so that they could be reformatted — and I don't recall the explanation for that. But I have found some that claim to be cross-platform, so I think I'm good to go. Windows, or at least the newer releases, can read fat32. Fat32 is pretty standard, so the file system probably wasn't the problem.
Sensei Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) My vague recollection (now jogged by this discussion) is that when we did this years ago, we formatted in FAT32 on a mac and the windows machines didn't recognize it, and nobody could figure out why. And we had some drives before that which simply would not work on a windows machine would not even mount so that they could be reformatted and I don't recall the explanation for that. But I have found some that claim to be cross-platform, so I think I'm good to go. For such moments you need software that let you see and edit MBR, eventually clear it to null. These drives you're talking about were connected through USB? This way everything is passing through USB drivers, they might introduce issues. If they're normal SATA plugged to interface to USB, they can be unplugged and connected through normal SATA.. I have seen not once on Windows HDD that was working fine when it was connected directly to SATA, but was not visible when it was connected through SATA<->USB interface. Your external hard disks are taking power from computer, from USB, or have external power supply? It's also important order in which device is starting. On some disks I have to first power on from external power supply, so disks are spinning already at full rate, then connect USB to computer. It often doesn't work other way. USB is informing system about plugged device. If device is not ready (disks are not spinning 7200 rpm), then there is no info to inform system, and disk is undetected. In such cases unplugging USB and plugging again might help (as long as power supply is external). I have also seen disks that were not detectable on 1st PC, through same SATA<->USB interface, and detectable on 2nd PC. Or reverse. And this had nothing to do with Macintosh. These PC have different OS version (manufactured by Microsoft), different motherboard (manufactured by Asus and Gigabyte), different drivers (who knows).. Edited January 20, 2015 by Sensei
swansont Posted January 20, 2015 Author Posted January 20, 2015 They were plugged in and powered through the USB, but using a double-headed usb, with the second connector for power only. I never thought about whether the problem was the order of plugging it in; IIRC the drives worked when formatted using each computer, but failed when using the other platform. That happened both ways. Drivers could definitely have been an issue.
Sensei Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 One my disk with many (IIRC >=5 partitions, extended) was recognized instantly when plugged directly to motherboard, but when it was through SATA<->USB, it was taking 10-15 minutes until seeing the all partitions. At first you get impression that it's not working, not mounted. After several minutes, they're starting adding one by one.
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