How to format Mac external drive for PC at DVinfo.net

Jeff Harper · October 13th, 2012, 10:51 PM

A customer has given me an external drive to place his raw video footage on, but he runs a Mac. My computer cannot see the drive, how do I format the drive to work on both? My girlfriend has a Macbook Pro on which I can format the drive.

Chris Barcellos · October 14th, 2012, 12:09 AM

Get MacDrive. They do have trial version that will install on your PC and allow you to read and write to Mac Disks.

MacDrive

Frank Glencairn · October 14th, 2012, 03:55 AM

You can format a drive to ExFAT which Mac and PC read without problems.

File Allocation Table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerald Webb · October 14th, 2012, 04:26 AM

hey Jeff,
A Mac can read NTFS drives just fine, but it can't write to them.
Any Mac user working with video would normally have Tuxura installed which allows writing to NTFS drives.
Macdrive and Paragon HFS are well known to have issues on occasion with losing whole hard drives worth of data :( Use with caution.
You can format a Mac HFS drive in Windows by-
Open a Command window,
Type in "Diskpart" enter,
List disk, enter
Select disk 0 (being the number of the Mac disk) enter,
Clean all, enter,
Let it run for about a min or so, it is just writing zeros. After about a min it has destroyed the GUID partition table and you can type Control C to exit Diskpart.
Sometimes you need to power down the drive b4 Windows will see it.
You now can Initialize the disk and format it whatever you want, via-
Computer,(right click), Manage, Disk Management.
If editing in Final Cut he will just need the whole folder structure of the cam files like they come off the card.
It wont matter if the drive is NTFS or ExFat, Final Cut will copy the files to the event folder and make optimized copies anyway.
If he's using Premiere he would just edit from the drive or copy them over. Each there own.

Jeff Harper · October 14th, 2012, 08:47 AM

Thanks everyone, and for the detailed response, Gerald.

Chris, I download macdrive. in this case seems the perfect solution. I've got the files written to the drive, problem solved. The customer, a groom, will be very happy.

I'm uninstalling macdrive immediately after using it.

October 13th, 2012, 10:51 PM	#1
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	How to format Mac external drive for PC A customer has given me an external drive to place his raw video footage on, but he runs a Mac. My computer cannot see the drive, how do I format the drive to work on both? My girlfriend has a Macbook Pro on which I can format the drive.

October 14th, 2012, 12:09 AM	#2
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Re: How to format Mac external drive for PC Get MacDrive. They do have trial version that will install on your PC and allow you to read and write to Mac Disks. MacDrive __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

October 14th, 2012, 03:55 AM	#3
Frank Glencairn Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Germany Posts: 176	Re: How to format Mac external drive for PC You can format a drive to ExFAT which Mac and PC read without problems. File Allocation Table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

October 14th, 2012, 04:26 AM	#4
Gerald Webb Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Central Coast Australia Posts: 1,046	Re: How to format Mac external drive for PC hey Jeff, A Mac can read NTFS drives just fine, but it can't write to them. Any Mac user working with video would normally have Tuxura installed which allows writing to NTFS drives. Macdrive and Paragon HFS are well known to have issues on occasion with losing whole hard drives worth of data :( Use with caution. You can format a Mac HFS drive in Windows by- Open a Command window, Type in "Diskpart" enter, List disk, enter Select disk 0 (being the number of the Mac disk) enter, Clean all, enter, Let it run for about a min or so, it is just writing zeros. After about a min it has destroyed the GUID partition table and you can type Control C to exit Diskpart. Sometimes you need to power down the drive b4 Windows will see it. You now can Initialize the disk and format it whatever you want, via- Computer,(right click), Manage, Disk Management. If editing in Final Cut he will just need the whole folder structure of the cam files like they come off the card. It wont matter if the drive is NTFS or ExFat, Final Cut will copy the files to the event folder and make optimized copies anyway. If he's using Premiere he would just edit from the drive or copy them over. Each there own. __________________ http://vimeo.com/livewebvideo

October 14th, 2012, 08:47 AM	#5
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: How to format Mac external drive for PC Thanks everyone, and for the detailed response, Gerald. Chris, I download macdrive. in this case seems the perfect solution. I've got the files written to the drive, problem solved. The customer, a groom, will be very happy. I'm uninstalling macdrive immediately after using it.