Are all USBs equal?
Posted by: BigH47 on 01 August 2007
Does the MAC use USBs?
Could data saved from a PC on to an external H/D be read by a MAC?
Howard
Could data saved from a PC on to an external H/D be read by a MAC?
Howard
Posted on: 01 August 2007 by Ian G.
yes and yes (sort of).
AFAIK MACs can read FAT32 partitions but not NTFS partitions ('cos MS keep that spec secret).
Join us in MACland - it's nice in here.
Ian
AFAIK MACs can read FAT32 partitions but not NTFS partitions ('cos MS keep that spec secret).
Join us in MACland - it's nice in here.
Ian
Posted on: 01 August 2007 by Chris Kelly
Howard
Come on over, the water's lovely!
Macs have USB2. They invented Firewire. Microsoft Office formats can be saved and read on both Macs and Windows. The learning curve is minimal and it is extremely rare for MacOS to freeze or crash.
Come on over, the water's lovely!
Macs have USB2. They invented Firewire. Microsoft Office formats can be saved and read on both Macs and Windows. The learning curve is minimal and it is extremely rare for MacOS to freeze or crash.
Posted on: 01 August 2007 by Guido Fawkes
Mac OS X 10.4.1 and higher can mount Windows NTFS disks in read-only mode. So a Mac can read any file on a Windoze disk, but not write to it.
As Ian says the Mac can work with disks that are in Microsoft FAT or FAT32 format. This is the safest bet if security is no issue. You can't boot OS X from a FAT or FAT 32 disk, as far as I know. But, you wouldn't want to - I'd always use HFS+ for system and other important disks.
It is possible to transform a disk with Windoze NTFS disk into a Mac disk with HFS+ format using disk utility, but I don't think Windoze can read HDS+.
More details here
As Ian says the Mac can work with disks that are in Microsoft FAT or FAT32 format. This is the safest bet if security is no issue. You can't boot OS X from a FAT or FAT 32 disk, as far as I know. But, you wouldn't want to - I'd always use HFS+ for system and other important disks.
It is possible to transform a disk with Windoze NTFS disk into a Mac disk with HFS+ format using disk utility, but I don't think Windoze can read HDS+.
More details here
Posted on: 01 August 2007 by garyi
ROTF is right macs can read but not write NFTS and windows cannot read or write Mac Extended.
Both can read FAT32, the mac will happily format a disk as FAT so for instance if you are using a USB memory stick just format it as FAT32 and you are set.
Both can read FAT32, the mac will happily format a disk as FAT so for instance if you are using a USB memory stick just format it as FAT32 and you are set.
Posted on: 01 August 2007 by BigH47
OK see. What I was getting at was if I had backed up pictures,music etc on an external H/D with a PC and I later bought a MAC could that data be read by the MAC. I think that must be a yes then.
Thanks again.
PC is back home with 1.2 Meg of ram very few programmes and no space on the C: drive.I can't even load the SP2 disc. Needless to say when we went to PC world the tech who was doing my machine had left.He seems to have saved loads of data on my f: [extra]drive and then put it all back on the desk top result no space on C:
I think this not going to be the work of a moment.
Off to Thruxton tomorrow for my Ferrari day (60th birthday present) that should take my mind off computers.
Howard
Thanks again.
PC is back home with 1.2 Meg of ram very few programmes and no space on the C: drive.I can't even load the SP2 disc. Needless to say when we went to PC world the tech who was doing my machine had left.He seems to have saved loads of data on my f: [extra]drive and then put it all back on the desk top result no space on C:
I think this not going to be the work of a moment.
Off to Thruxton tomorrow for my Ferrari day (60th birthday present) that should take my mind off computers.
Howard