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Create an HFS+/NTFS/FAT32 external drive
Authored by: Brooklynshot on Sep 09, '08 11:48:33AM

This hint did not work for me... mostly problems in terminal - failure to format error. I tried it straight from disk utility too and still it did not work - disk utility kept locking up during the format process. BUT I DID FIND A SOLUTION! At least one that worked for me.

I was using a 150 GB external HD and wanted one 80 GB HFS partition (to use for Time Machine), one 30 GB FAT32 Partition (to share between PC and Mac) and one 35 GB NTFS Partition (for PC files large than 4 GB).

I pluged in my external drive to a PC (I was loged in as an administrator) and turned the drive on to let Win XP regognize the drive. I used the Windows XP Disk Management tool in the Computer management program (Start>control panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management) and located the drive.

Right click the drive and choose create partition... follow the wizard and create Primary partitions. Any partition over 32 GB will default to NTFS but that's ok. Assign a drive letter and name to each. I called the 80 GB partition "HFS Volume" and formatted it NTFS (you will reformat it later but the name helps keep it straight as to what you will do with it later). I created another partition - a 30 GB partition (after... or to the right of the 80 GB one) named "FAT Volume" and formatted it as FAT32. Lastly I created a 35 GB partition named "NTFS Volume" and formatted it as NTFS. I did this on a PC first since Mac will recognize PC partitions but PC sometimes (or always) won't recognize Mac partitions.

Next take the drive to your Mac. Plug it in and turn it on. All 3 volumes should mount and be visible. Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and open Disk Utility.
Locate your drive. Click on the volume you previously named "HFS Volume" that is actually formatted as NTFS. With your "HFS Volume" highlighted, click "Erase". Follow the instructions and reformat this Partition "HFS Volume" as Mac OSX Extended (Journaled). I chose not to zero out or do multiple overrights in the "secuity tab". Rename the Volume as "HFS Volume" again. Follow all the instructions and prompts and wait for the formatting to finish. You are done!

You should now have 1 external hard drive with 3 volumes: one HFS, one FAT32 and one NTFS. All done with no special software. The drive should be usable in both Mac and PC. Just remember: Mac and PC can both read and write to FAT32. Mac can read NTFS but not write to NTFS. PC can read and write to NTFS. Mac can read and write to HFS and you can use HFS for your Time Machine back ups and mac only type files. PC can do absolutely nothing with HFS - no read no write.

If you have any problems using the drive on PC... but you shouldn't...try switching the order of the partitions with the HFS partition in the middle.



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