External Hard drive fomatting

Hi all,

I'm streamlining my storage.

I'm adding an additional 500gb internal HD to my Macbook Pro. When I'm in the field, I'll import my images directly onto this-using Lightroom.

I'll use Lightroom's "back up on import" option to add these images to an additional external hard drive as well.

When I get home, I'll need to export the images onto my home computer (currently a PC running 7). I think the best way will be to export as catalog, as this will transfer any edits that I may have made. To do this, I plan to transfer this catalog onto another external HD and then import this onto the home machine.

OK my question is what format I should use on the "transfer" HD. FAT32 will work with both Mac and Windows, but it is conceivable that I may fall foul of the file size limit. Certainly in the future with every likelihood that I will be transferring video files as well, this is the case. I note that there are apps like macfuse that would allow me to use NTFS with my mac drives-does anyone have any experience of using these, or any alternative means of achieving the transfer?

All ideas welcome

Adam

Up until the video file issue I would have said Fat32 - this is what I use and it works fine for me so far.

Fat32 seems to allow up to 4GB files (minus 1 byte but who is counting) which is a heck of a lot of video isn't it ?

Paul C

Agreed, FAT32 would be easiest but for the video problem.

What OS is your MacBookPro? I think the most current version of MacOS can both read and write NTFS, but I could be mistaken. (It's been able to read (only) NTFS for a couple versions now).

Since it's a new drive with nothing to lose yet, simple enough to test NTFS and see if the Mac can write to it, then you're set.

Otherwise you might need to break your video files into smaller chunks to fit into FAT32's requirements.

Hi all

My MBP is running Snow Leopard, and doesn't seem to recognise NTFS!

Thanks for the ideas-I'm going to play with Paragon (here) and see what happens!

Best

Adam

Odd. I know for a fact they used to be able to NTFS, but read-only. I've done it before. I haven't gotten around to upgrading to Snow Leopard yet, though, I wonder if they dropped support?

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/11/19/ntfs-on-your-mac-two-ways/

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/...n-mac-os-x.html

http://techqa.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/can...to-ntfs-drives/

Looks like Paragon might be the best way to go, based on these articles.

We did this for someone. Format it on the Mac using disk utility. Can't remember which one, but format the drive in a Windows format. It will then be readable on both.

We did this for someone. Format it on the Mac using disk utility. Can't remember which one, but format the drive in a Windows format. It will then be readable on both.

This is the way to do it. However the key word is readable. You'll need to do all writing and deleting with a Windows machine.

Thanks for all the feedback.

I do need to be able to read and write on both machines. I would like to be able to load big files if needed.

I've got the 64 bit trial version of Paragon which so far seems very good.

I'll keep you updated with my results!

Adam