Re-Formatting HardDrive (Windows -> Mac)

[tupper]

Hey POTN,

Just wondering what is the easiest method to re format a Seagate harddrive from the windows format (NTFS) to Mac format?

Possibly without erasing it, but they could be an option if needed.

Thanks.

[Pete]

Why do you need to do that? The Mac should be able to read and write NTFS (at least my one does).

[tupper]

Why do you need to do that? The Mac should be able to read and write NTFS (at least my one does).

Mine doesn't seem to want to, under Sharing Permissions it says read only :(

[Pete]

What Mac and OS have you got?

[tupper]

iMac, OS X 10.5.5

[Pete]

And this is a USB external drive you're attaching?

[tupper]

And this is a USB external drive you're attaching?

Yes, FreeAgent Drive.

[Pete]

Ah yeah. I see.

Try this

http://lifehacker.com/software/mac/how-to-mount-any-filesystem-in-mac-os-x-with-macfuse-229345.php

[Pete]

Actually,

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23729/macfuse

is a better link

[tupper]

Lucky, i already have MacFUSE, I'll let you know if its successful, thank you!

[Pete]

You will also need the NTFS plugin for it (as long as you have MacFuse 2.0)

Grab it here

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

That should allow you read/write access to the NTFS drive.

[Mark]

IMO you really should format as HFS+, that will wipe the data, but it is faster as HFS+ than NTFS in mac, seriously....

Just back the data up to another drive, open up disk utility (search on spotlight) and click on the drive, go to erase tab, then choose "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" give it a name, click erase and you're done.... Atleast that is what I would do....

[Pete]

Reformatting as HFS will trash the drive as far as sharing data with Windows PCs is involved.

At least with the MacFuse option, the drive remains useable for both platforms.

[Mark]

Reformatting as HFS will trash the drive as far as sharing data with Windows PCs is involved.

At least with the MacFuse option, the drive remains useable for both platforms.

Yes, yes it would, The problem with macfuse is that it is not native and slows down performance a fair bit, if need to share between mac and pc and don't need files over 4gb format it as fat-32 it is faster than ntfs on mac.....

I have all my drives as HFS+, but of course all my computers are mac, and if I have to share with PC's I use my thumb drives which are FAT-32 (doesn't happen very often though!)

[sOid]

IMO you really should format as HFS+, that will wipe the data, but it is faster as HFS+ than NTFS in mac, seriously....

Just back the data up to another drive, open up disk utility (search on spotlight) and click on the drive, go to erase tab, then choose "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" give it a name, click erase and you're done.... Atleast that is what I would do....

I agree. HFS+ on a mac is way more reliable than an option to write to NTFS. More chance on dataloss etc.

Just copy the files on your external hdd to another external hdd (fat), format your original to hfs+ and copy the files to it.

Easy :)

[tupper]

Have to say I ended up opting to pendulum's advise. As the macFUSE was complicated and I will not be using the hard drive with windows as it is also being used for Time Machine.
Thanks both of you for your time!

[Pete]

No problem. I didn't know if you intended to keep it readable by woth Windows and Mac.

FYI, all I did to get mine working (reading/writing) NTFS was to installed MacFuse and then install the g-NTFS plugin. I didn't need to do any weird terminal scripting that one of the web-pages was talking about.