Partioning My Book for Mac 2TB for Mac OSX and Windows 7

[MyBookNewbie]

Hi there,

I just bought the My Book for Mac 2TB thinking that it was just another external hard drive. 

What I need to do now is to partition the MBfM 2TB to 1TB for Time Machine / Mac OSX and the remaining 1TB for Windows. I just need the Windows partition so that i can store all my Movies and Series from my Windows PC and be able to extract them to be viewed or shared. 

1. How do i partition the MBfM?

2. i have already backed up my iMac and my MB Pro files to it. Will all of it be erased in the process? 

3. Is there a way to create the 1TB partition for Windows without affecting the other half?

4. I've read that  FAT32 has limitations in file size, will the 1TB be formatted as NTFS automatically?

Hope someone out there is able to shed light on this as the only solution I can think of right now is to buy another External Hard Drive which I don't really need at the moment.

Thank you.

[Gabthemonster]

Hi there,

Find the answers to your questions below:

1. How do i partition the MBfM?

A: I've included a link with instructions on how to partition the drive:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3865/session/L3RpbWUvMTMwMjk2MjM5My9zaWQvM2VuVHhEcms...

2. i have already backed up my iMac and my MB Pro files to it. Will all of it be erased in the process? 

A: All the files will be erased. Therefore, you need to have a backup of the files prior partitioning.

3. Is there a way to create the 1TB partition for Windows without affecting the other half?

It is possible, but you will need to use a software like ''Partition Manager'' and I don't recommend to use those kind of programs. ''You may loose your data''.

4. I've read that  FAT32 has limitations in file size, will the 1TB be formatted as NTFS automatically?

You will need to use a Windows computer to format the drive to NTFS and yes Windows will format the unit automatically to NTFS.

What I recommend you to use is the Apple's NTFS-3G software. If you install that app on your Mac computer, you will be able to use the drive on both Windows and Mac without reformatting. See the link below:

Note: And there's not limitation. Transfer what you want.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ntfs3g.html

[ThePizzaMatrix]

Hi there, I have posted this before but this is going to give you some light  if you want any drive to work on the 2 systems:

*NTFS is the best format for Windows but it's read-only on Macs;

*The best File System (format) for Macs is HFS+, but it will only work on Macs and nothing else;

*You can format a drive as FAT32, which would allow it to work on BOTH Windows and Mac, but it won't do automatic backups, won't take files larger than 4GB and will have a high risk of data corruption;

*You can format it as exFAT, but only works on Macs 10.6.5+ and PCs running Vista SP1 or later, but does not have any of the drawbacks as FAT32, so you can do automatic backups on both systems (Then again, it needs updated computers to use that configuration);

*You can have a drive as NTFS to allow to work on any PC and then install on your Mac a free app from the Apple website called NTFS-3G, which allows your Mac to fully use (read and write) to NTFS and also do automatic backups with no restrictions on both systems, but since it is done using the NTFS-3G software, this configuration will only work on YOUR Mac and the others will only read from the drive (But they won't be able to add files).

*You can have the drive as HFS+ to allow you to use it on any Mac and then install on Windows a program called  HFSExplorer (Free), which allows you to read (see and copy out) drives formatted for Mac (But not write, so you can't add files) or you can install MacDrive (NOT free), which is a software able to allow full HFS+ integration (Read and write) on a PC, meaning that it is the exact opposite to NTFS-3G. However the same rules apply, only PCs with this software will see drives formatted for Macs.

[MyBookNewbie]

Thank you. Will try it out.

[Gabthemonster]

I think it was the samething I said. Maybe a duplicate is better.

Hahahahaha...

[MyBookNewbie]

if I install and use the Apple NTFS + 3G, i don't have to reformat the External Hard Drive correct? Would it enable me to simply connect it to a PC and copy files into it and later move the EHD to a Mac and be able to read the files? I just use my PC for downloading stuff. Everything else in the house is Mac based. I just want to use the drive as a storage for my downloaded files and Mac backups.

[Joe_S]

That is correct, You would not need to reformat drive If you have more than one Mac you would need the NTFSG-3G on each  one.

[MyBookNewbie · Accepted solution]

Thanks Guys! Appreciate the help. 

[Gabthemonster]

Np.