Original Message 1/10                 Date: 30-Dec-07  @  03:04 PM   -   Bachup Dr Ives

Musineer Productions

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Does anyone use an external drive to backup files from both Mac & PC?

If so, what do you use and what format? Any problems?

I've decided to get a backup drive. I want to be able to use it for both Mac and Windows files. I don't think I'll need to connect it to a network, just plug in (Firewire and USB), backup, unplug. No OS or ringtone/email/footmassage options. Along with the usual gaggle of audio files, I'll be backing-up typical office stuff too.

I've noticed that some drives specify formatting. I've read that Macs only read and write on Fat32, not NTFS (which they only read), and that Windows can read (and write?) the Mac (HFS+). However, this PC is formatted to NTFS yet I can exchange files with the Macs without problem (and R&W those files either way).

So far, I'm tempted to go for a FAT32 formatted disk, but dimly recall something about file name length being restricted. Is there any sense in that? I can't understand why it should be so. What's the advantage to NTFS for this backup purpose?

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Message 2/10                 Date: 31-Dec-07  @  03:06 PM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

k

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fat32 i'd say, try formatting it in windows xp disk manager, and thern see what the mac makes of it before using it. there is some mac utilitiy for this also apparently, but i aint a mac guy so cant say anything about it

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I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!

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Message 3/10                 Date: 04-Jan-08  @  02:58 PM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

dARKSTATe

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Windows can only read HFS+ formatted discs using a third party app like MacDrive or Transmac.

FAT32 has maximum file size restrictions (4GB limit) and can only be formatted above 32Gb using a third party (free) app like FAT32 format (just google it)

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Message 4/10                 Date: 05-Jan-08  @  07:12 PM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

Musineer Productions

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Cheers for the replies.

I've tried to self-educate on this with some appropriate googling, but with so many experts 'out there' I'm getting a lot of conflicting opinions, and so I thought I'd try asking someone who already does what I want to. The majority seem to suggest FAT32. As I haven't got any files over 4GB I'm not going to worry about that restriction, and partitions of 32GB may well prove suitable for backup purposes.

What I don't understand is how the missus has been able to 'temporarily' (so she said) store her MAC files on my Win PC NTFS drive for the past year or more. There's all sorts of stuff from web design files to photos, which she's able to work on using this PC or by transferring them back to the MAC. I've half a mind to just buy a couple of standard NTFS 250GB drives and install them in an old PC that I'd only switch on to backup or retrieve. This seems to bypass all the problems I'm reading about.

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Message 5/10                 Date: 05-Jan-08  @  08:09 PM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

k

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well large sata internal drives are so cheap now it's mebbe a good idea if you have sata

wopping great 1/5 TB FW external drives are pretty cheap now too, always dabs or whoever is doing a deal on one or 2 different ones

depends if you have sata or f/w I guess.

___________________________________

I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!

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Message 6/10                 Date: 15-Jan-08  @  02:31 AM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

Musineer Productions

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Well, I bought a My Book. 500MB. It said it was good for both OS, but it turns out it's only good for Mac OS 10.3 and above without a reformat. Naturally, I've got 10.2. Blart.

I plugged it in and all the software loaded quickly and easily. Now this NVidea motherboard is supposed to have USB 1 & 2 (4 of each). No F/W on the PC. Sadly, I've discovered that my USB2 is functioning as a USB1. Much blart. 26 hours to backup just the files (30GB or so). The first couple of % suggested a time of 4 hours, which seemed bearable. Silly me. I've now got to work out how to engage the USB2 and hope it's a lot, lot quicker.

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Message 7/10                 Date: 15-Jan-08  @  07:17 AM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

rags .aka. welder

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Have you checked the BIOS?

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Message 8/10                 Date: 15-Jan-08  @  11:59 AM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

k

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servicepack added? (to enable usb2)

___________________________________

I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!

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Message 9/10                 Date: 15-Jan-08  @  02:58 PM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

Musineer Productions

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BIOS:
No. I've looked at it, but utterly lack the knowledge to understand if this is the right place to install the USB2 software (and I'm aware that 'install' and 'software' probably aren't the right terms -- but I hope you get the gist). I found a yellow flag in the device manager, inserted a disk that came with the board (I found it after a thorough search) and updated driver. The yellow flags have gone but all USB ports are now 'standard'. The booklet states that 4 of the ports can be USB2, but doesn't say how to achieve this. I'm a bit wary of fiddling with the BIOS as I understand it's easy to arse things up completely. I've used it for boot order of the disks but little else.

I've a weird thing going on with the disk drive that might also be a BIOS problem. I can't install anything, though I can use the drive to read files and play CDs. When I try to install from a disk I get a message about Kernel32, and reading a bit about that has me very nervous. I've tried some Reg editors, but again, it's hard to decide which ones are useful and which are dodgy. If I plug a CD into a USB port, I can install programs without a problem. Maybe it's a disk drive problem, but reading forums would suggest otherwise.

SP pack:
Would that be those SP1 & 2 things? Is SP2 okay for audio use PCs? I haven't installed them. I thought the only advantage (for audio purposes) was recording at phenomenal Hz rates. As I don't go over 44.1 I didn't see it as an issue. This PC is hardly ever connected t'Internet. DT is one of the few sites I visit with it (I use the MACs for surfing). Recently, I have started using it more. I suppose I should get those packs.

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Message 10/10                 Date: 15-Jan-08  @  03:46 PM   -   RE: Bachup Dr Ives

k

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you cant get usb2 without it on XP - best bet if you own a winxp cd already is to use that to create what is called a 'slipstreamed' service-pack-2 windows installation cd disk... look it up in google.

when done, you have a fully slipstreamed sp2 cd which can also be run from inside windows desktop and it will fix any windows file problems and leave your pc fully restored with everything as it was before (choose update installation) - a slipstreamed disk run as an update is also a good way to sort out windows issues if some spyware or virus etc has to be removed and then that has corrupted or removed critical windows files

also it is a stable install and if run from scratch installs a full-on SP2 version of windows XP

i think sp1 will give you usb2 tho, so no need for a full addition of sp2, but if it is done using that slipstreamed method, then actualy, adding sp2 is quite painless and results in a stable final windows.

if you decide to only add sp1, then download the full network administrator's version and install that rather than the setup-over-the-web-from MS=website version

___________________________________

I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!

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