The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Backup Mac to a Windows formatted external HD

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by M@lew, Nov 26, 2006.

  1. M@lew

    M@lew Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    38
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I want to backup my Macbook to my external harddrive up it's formatted in Windows. Is there a way I can back up my Mac to it? Or do I need another location?
     
    M@lew, Nov 26, 2006
    #1
  2. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    You need to format your external to FAT32, and not have any single file greater than 4GB. Those are the only requirements. Once you've done that, you can read and write to and from the drive in both Operating Systems.
     
    Budding, Nov 26, 2006
    #2
  3. M@lew

    M@lew Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    38
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    So what would be the best program for this then? I had a look at Super Duper and I don't think it will let be backup to a windows formatted drive.
     
    M@lew, Nov 26, 2006
    #3
  4. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Partition Magic in my opion. But it is not a free program. If you have no data on your external at the moment, just format it in Windows or OS X with the built in format apps.
     
    Budding, Nov 26, 2006
    #4
  5. hollownail

    hollownail Individual 11

    Reputations:
    374
    Messages:
    2,916
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I believe iBackup and Super Duper allow you to back them up to FAT 32 external drives.
    Remember make sure it's FAT32 not NTFS. If it is NTFS, then you can only read the drive, not write it.
    To format the drive, you can use the built in Disk Utility program.
     
    hollownail, Nov 26, 2006
    #5
  6. M@lew

    M@lew Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    38
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It says that I need to use disc utility to erase the HD and select Mac OS Extended as the format.

    "SEA_DISC is formatted as MS-DOS FAT32, which cannot properly host HFS+ files along with all their attributes, resources and ownership.

    To use SEA_DISC with SuperDuper!, use Disk Utility to erase it, selecting "Mac OS Extended" or "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as the format."
     
    M@lew, Nov 27, 2006
    #6
  7. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    I'm thinking that you are getting that error because you have a file which is larger than 4GB, or has a name that is longer than 255 bits.
     
    Budding, Nov 27, 2006
    #7