Western Digital My Book™ Premium Edition on Mac?

[HOUSCOUS]

Hello folks. I have been using it on my PC without any problem. Today I want to use it on my Macbook pro, but the mac keeps telling me that it's not modified so couldn't transfer any files on it. Anyone has clue?

[marcus]

PC?......that's your problem I believe

[HOUSCOUS]

What exactly is the problem? It says will work on both PC and Mac.

[marcus]

Check this site: http://www.tomrafteryit.net/western-...tion-ii-sucks/

I know I had to reformat an 120g External that I had been using on a PC to work on my Mac G5. Since then I just use it with my Mac only.

[HOUSCOUS]

So it couldn't work on both PC and Mac at the same time? Boy it sucks.

[LWimages]

It might have been formatted as NTFS, which the Mac can't use.
Here's what you'd do:
1. Back everything up on that drive onto your PC,
2. Attach it to your MBP, and format it with FAT32
3. Then you can use it in both places.

#2 is because you can't really format a large size disk with FAT32 in XP or above. Don't know why that is.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by louis24x7

It might have been formatted as NTFS, which the Mac can't use.
Here's what you'd do:
1. Back everything up on that drive onto your PC,
2. Attach it to your MBP, and format it with FAT32
3. Then you can use it in both places.

#2 is because you can't really format a large size disk with FAT32 in XP or above. Don't know why that is.

This is the most likely scenario for you.

The reason FAT32 isn't preferred for Windows XP is because Microsoft wants it that way. See this paragraph of the Wikki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Al...on_Table#FAT32 for more details.

[nyphotopro]

Watch out for the 4GB file size limitation in FAT32! No individual file can exceed (2^32)-1Kb, or 3.99GB.

NTFS is not supported natively in the MacOS for read/write. It is natively supported for read only in OS X 10.4.1 and greater. This has to do with the extensive security possibilities in Windows Server products using Active Directory/Domain Services.

When I say "natively," I mean that Apple doesn't build in anything but read-only NTFS support in OS X 10.4.1 and above. There are kernel extensions (MacFUSE and AdmitMac, for instance) that allow full NTFS compatibility within OS X 10.4.1 and above.

it would simply be easier for you to backup your drive as described above by another poster, reinitialize your drive and either simply use the physical drive as is or create a sparse disk image (a disk image that expands on the fly, among other characteristics) and add files to it. You can also backup your entire hard drive or just your home directory/folder (or even individual files) to a disk image file.

The one very important thing to remember is that, even if you clone your entire hard drive to the WD drive you're talking about, you can't boot off of that clone in the event of an emergency. All Macs (PowerMacs with either Motorola G5, G4 or G3) or Intel-based, CANNOT boot off anything other than a Firewire drive (FW400 or 800.)

Hope this helps.

[LWimages]

Originally Posted by nyphotopro

The one very important thing to remember is that, even if you clone your entire hard drive to the WD drive you're talking about, you can't boot off of that clone in the event of an emergency. All Macs (PowerMacs with either Motorola G5, G4 or G3) or Intel-based, CANNOT boot off anything other than a Firewire drive (FW400 or 800.)

Hope this helps.

That's news to me.
I have been able to boot my MacBook Pro off my external USB drives (including iPod).
Though I just upgraded to Leopard, and I haven't tested that.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...usb-drive.html

[Tim-in-TX]

I had problems with MyBook on my PC while it was formatted as NTFS. In the middle of transferring files, the PC would "lose contact" with the External HD. That is, I would get a message that the PC could not find the device. So I reformatted to Fat32 with 3 partitions. That seemed to do the trick. To reformat to Fat32 on a PC you will need an application from the WD web site. GO to http://support.wdc.com/download/downloadxml.asp and look under the "Lighted Combo/USB/Firewire" section for the External USB/Firewire Fat32 Formatting Utility. I am pretty sure that is the correct one.
The drive can be used by both the PC and the Mac, but just not at the same time. I have to unplug the drive from the PC and then plug it into the Mac if I want to move files to it from the Mac.
All was well with the drive until recently when I lost all data on one of the partitions. Lucky for me, I actually remember to back them up fairly recently! It has been on okay drive overall, but I think I will try another brand next time.

[nyphotopro]

Louis:

I'm glad you haven't had any problems with booting off your USB drives. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. However, as the link you provided correctly states, USB booting, regardless of the partition table used (which depends on whether you have a PowerMac or a MacPro), Apple does not officially support booting from USB devices. And, as an Apple-trained engineer, despite the fact that i know most tricks in the book, I provide Apple-recommended "best-practice" advice and support only. I only USE (not recommend) the tricks-of-the-trade when desperate situations call for desperate measures. I can't get into trouble (in practice or with the "mothership" (Apple)) that way.

Matt

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Originally Posted by louis24x7

That's news to me.
I have been able to boot my MacBook Pro off my external USB drives (including iPod).
Though I just upgraded to Leopard, and I haven't tested that.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...usb-drive.html

[LWimages]

Yes, you are correct. Apple does not support it officially.
And I should clarify that I don't do this often, in fact - only once or twice, to see if it worked in case of a problem so I can get access to my data. Like the other night after I upgraded to Leopard and getting a blue screen.