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    (MAC) How to share files with Windows XP? and other disk question

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by wobble987, Oct 1, 2006.

  1. wobble987

    wobble987 Notebook Virtuoso

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    hi,

    i have a new macbook and was wondering;

    would it be possible to constantly share file with windows with my (FAT32) external harddrive without complication? (e.g. operating system creates its own little bookmark, causing an error/problem)

    would mac built-in defragementation work with FAT32 formated disk?

    is it possible for MAC to format a disk with FAT32? is there a disk size limit? if so, how much?
    if i buy a 80, 100, 120, or 160GB external Hard drive, would it came formated in FAT32?

    How good is the built-in file defrag? do i need to buy third party file defragmentation program? any good one for mac-intel version (universal app)?

    thanks
     
    wobble987, Oct 1, 2006
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  2. xbandaidx

    xbandaidx Notebook Deity

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    OS X's built in defragmentation is all done on the fly as the computer is running, far as I know it only works on the native OS X HFS+ filesystem. As for the Mac formatting a Fat32, I think it'd just be faster to use a windows machine for that task. I use an external drive thats formatted at Fat32, and none of my machines have any problems with it.
     
    xbandaidx, Oct 1, 2006
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  3. ajfink

    ajfink Notebook Deity

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    If you're planning on buying a drive and an external enclosure and putting the two together yourself, it will not come formatted. If you order an actual external drive, I'm not sure if it will come formatted or not. If not, just find a friend with a PC and have them formatted as bandaid suggested. It will probably be faster.
     
    ajfink, Oct 1, 2006
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  4. wobble987

    wobble987 Notebook Virtuoso

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    eeerr... i want to buy an "actual" portable external hard drive... unfortunately Windows XP cannot format a drive larger than 32GB, to force us to use NTFS, i have a "mains-powered" external harddrive, it has 80GB, windows XP can only format it as NTFS...
     
    wobble987, Oct 1, 2006
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  5. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    If you are only using this on your own computers, you could do what I did. Mine is formatted HFS+, and I use MacDrive 6 on my PC. Of course since it is a program that most won't have, it won't work if you need to use it on other computers.
     
    cashmonee, Oct 1, 2006
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