Photo by Sharon Vaknin/CNET If you need to expand your storage space with an external hard drive and you use both Mac and PC, you'll likely run into a few obstacles. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with Windows and Mac OS may have misled you into thinking you could actually use one hard drive for both computers. You can, but not out of the box. Most external hard drives (HD) are sold in a format called NTFS, which is designed to work with Windows. Macs read and write to a different format, called HFS+. Another format, called FAT32 is compatible with both OS platforms. Here's a look at how the different HD format types function: FAT32 (File Allocation Table) - Natively read/write FAT32 on Windows and Mac OS X.

Amazon.com: partition external hard drive. ELUTENG External Hard Drive Cloner 2.5/3.5 Dual Bay 8TB HDD Dock SATA III USB 3.0 SSD Cloning Compatible for Mac Docking Station Offline Hard Disk Duplicator. $26.99 $ 26 99 Prime. External hard drive formatted in FAT,FAT32, and NTFS.

- Maximum file size: 4GB - Maximum volume size: 2TB NTFS (Windows NT File System) - Natively read/write NTFS on Windows. - Read-only NTFS on Mac OS X - Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and above but has proven instable. - Maximum file size: 16 TB - Maximum volume size: 256TB HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, aka Mac OS Extended) - Natively read/write HFS+ on Mac OS X - Required for Time Machine - Maximum file size: 8 - Maximum volume size: 8EiB Isn't FAT32 the obvious solution? According to the list above, formatting your hard drive to FAT32 so that you can read and write on either OS seems like the obvious solution. The video and directions below will guide you through the process, but before you format your HD to FAT32, beware of these drawbacks. • FAT32 offers no security, unlike NTFS, which allows you to set permissions.

If your HD gets into the wrong hands, that person will be able to access your data. • The max size for any given file stored on a FAT32-formatted HD is 4GB. So, for example, if you want to store a 9GB movie, it will be impossible.

• In general, FAT32 drives are more susceptible to disk errors. • It's not a huge issue, but FAT32 is less efficient at storing files. Its large cluster sizes waste disk space, unlike the other HD storage formats. 2:55 If you've considered these issues and would still like to use FAT32, this video will guide you through the process of formatting your HD to FAT32 using a Windows or Mac PC: OK, what are my alternatives to using FAT32? The good news is, it's not FAT32 or nothing. The alternative solutions do require more tinkering, but if you do not want to risk FAT32's lack of security, choose from one of the following alternatives. Option 1: Format to NTFS, and use NTFS-3G to read/write on Mac.

If you keep your hard drive's out-of-the-box NTFS format for all the reasons FAT32 displeases, there's a workaround that will allow your Mac to read and write files to the drive. Is an open-source program that, when coupled with, will let you use your NTFS drive on your Mac. However, it is an open-source program, so use it at your own risk. Many have vouched for its success, but others complain about bugs.

The commercial solution, which will give you access to support and software updates, is. It's $20, offers Lion support, and you get a five-day trial to try before you buy. Option 2: Format to HFS+, and use HFS Explorer to read/write on PC. Conversely, you can format the HD to HFS+ and use HFSExplorer for Windows to read and write to the Mac-formatted hard drive. To get started, you'll first have to format the hard drive from NTFS to HFS+.

Here's how: Plug your HD into the Mac and open Disk Utility, which can be accessed by searching for it in Spotlight. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. Now go to the Erase tab. In the Volume Format list, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then, click Erase at the bottom to format the drive. Please note that this will complete erase the drive.

Though it is hectic, complicated and tiresome to install MAC OS X on non- Apple hardware, this guidebook provides an easy way out. The foremost thing is to have a VMware Player which is free. Alternatively, VMware Workstation which is paid for may work equally well. Unlock VMware Player for the Mac OS X virtual machine. By default, VMware player cannot run a Mac OS X virtual machine on Windows. We need to patch the player to unlock this capability manually. For that end, we will use the unlocker that the splendid fellows at InsanelyMac have created. We will have to download the following file. If you don't want to purchase VMware Fusion, you can: Use Boot Camp to some other OS. The OS itself should run fine. Use Boot Camp and run vmplayer from the other OS. (Untested since I do not have a OS/X host) Use VirtualBox. VirtualBox can use virtual hard disks in VMware's VMDK format. This patch is essential if you wish to install and use Yosemite, Mountain Lion and Mavericks Mac OS X virtual machines as guest Operating Systems on VMware workstation 12 or 11. Earlier Mac OS X versions like Snow leopard 10.6 and leopard 10.5 can run on VMware desktop virtualization products without this patch. But the latest versions require this patch. VMware may not support the running of OS X under VMware Player/Workstation because running legally virtualizable versions of OS X in a Virtual Machine may only be done when done on Apple-branded hardware and when done while running under OS X!

Any data you want to keep on that drive must be backed up elsewhere first. Now that the hard drive is formatted to HFS+, on your Windows machine to get read and write access to the drive. This is an open-source program, so use it at your own risk. Alternatively, you can opt for paid software like instead. Option 3: Create two partitions on your hard drive to use with each OS, separately.