Discussion on:

The right way to format Windows disks using a Mac

In this week's post I demonstrate how to use a Mac to format large Windows disks with FAT32.

Apple machines are showing up in more Windows-only environments now that dual-booting and installing Windows in a virtual machine are viable ways to run mission critical applications.

Bill Detwiler has given a good overview of using VMWare on a Mac over in the IT Dojo. The discussion thread accompanying his post has some good tips for those considering installing Windows on a Mac.

Virtualizing Windows is one way techs are supporting both platforms, using compatible disk formats is another. Do you have any suggestions for making sure Macs and Windows PCs play nicely together?

Excellent tip! I ran into this once before, but had a Windows machine and just reformatted the external disk using that. This will save time and headaches for sure

Yes, FAT32 is a common format for MOST macs, yet a free easy download of NTFS-3G allows the MAC to read and write NTFS very easily.
The FAT32 file format has too many limitations for today's files which may exceed the 4GB limit imposed on FAT32 file sizes.
The download link is:
http://superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/catacombae/NTFS-3G_2009.4.4-catacombae.dmg

A much better "RIGHT WAY"

Also it is much better to FIX one MAC than to fix all PC NTFS drives that may connect to it.

Just because FAT32 is a "NATIVE" MAC filesystem, does not mean you should use it. The same goes for that special MS Vista FileSystem --- exFAT --- which nothing can use except Vista.

However, I do stand corrected, when you are formatting drives, especially USB ones for use in a NON-PC environment such as your PlayStation or Samsung TV and other devices that use the FAT32. My point is made ONLY for exchanging files between a MAC and a PC.



Bob

that if you have an HD that you are using to cary files to many different Macs and PCs, FAT32 is still the best format because you don't have administrative privileges on any of these Macs and they don't have NFS-3G installed on them.

I stay with FAT32 and just make sure not to violate the file size limitation.

I agree with you!

You must use the tools you have that work within the constraints you are confronted with.

It is of course the constraints that our life is guided by and we do not always have the best tools available because of those constraints.

Bob

...and it is a useful tool. I wanted the focus of this article, though, to be on the built-in tools in Mac OS and not 3rd-party software.

I also wanted to avoid an argument about the merits of various file systems. You're right, there are limitations to FAT32, but NTFS has liabilities as well. Use the right FS for your application, I should think.

Thanks for your feedback!

Thanks! A useful and easy to follow article.