Laptop Hard Drives

[raGe93]

If i were to just get an external hard drive for a pc would it also be compatible with a macbook or normal laptop?

 

[RebateMonger]

You'd need to format the external disk with a format that both Macs and PCs understand. One in-common format is FAT32, which has a maximum file size limit of 4 GB and tends to have logical errors more often than the PC NTFS format.

There are other possible formats if you are willing to run special software on either the PC or Mac. You may want to consult the Apple Forum on this site about your formatting options.

 

[Fallingwater]

Do Macs not read the NTFS format at all? Heck, even Linux supports NTFS properly out-of-the-box nowadays... FAT32 tends to become slow and super-fragmented on large filesystems, as it was never meant to be used on partitions larger than 32 gigs.

 

[corkyg]

Macs with OSX and Bootcamp installed can read NTFS, but not write to it. It can read and write FAT32.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1656

That's just the way it is (by design.)

 

[GFORCE100]

Format it is FAT32 and you'll be fine. Be sure to get a USB 3.0 compliant model as they're just starting to appear and it makes perfect sense to do so. PQI has released some elegant 2.5 inch titanium finish models that seem like a good bet (currently up to 640GB).