External Hard drives Mac OS and Windows

You need to format the drive or a partition on it as MS-DOS from the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. This format has a file size limit of 4GB; if you need to use a single drive to transport larger files between the OSes, install the NTFS-3G drivers on the Mac and use NTFS, or MacDrive on the PC and use Mac OS Extended.

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It's not really the drive hardware but how it is formatted. Flash drives usually work because they are formatted as FAT32, which is readable and writeable by both Mac OS X and Windows. It is not an ideal format for larger storage devices because it is not as efficient as NTFS (on Windows) or Mac OS Extended (aka HFS+ on Mac OS X). Also, FAT32 has a limitation on files size of something like 4GB.

However, if you want a drive that is useable on both Macs and Windows PCs, you have to use FAT32, called +MS-DOS (FAT)+ in Disk Utility. Macs can read NTFS but not write it.

To format a drive that way on a Mac, run Disk Utility. Select the drive in the sidebar (select the DRIVE and not the volume indented under the drive). Go to the Erase tab. For format, select +MS-DOS (FAT)+. This will obviously erase anything that is currently on the drive.

Also, since most Windows PC do not have FireWire, you should get a USB 2.0 drive. Any standard external hard drive, in terms of hardware, should work with Mac OS X and Windows.

As the others said, Macs can read NTFS but not write it and Windows (except without special software) can't use HFS+. FAT32 serves both worlds.

However, if you partition a disk on the Mac (even with a 1-partition scheme) make sure you create a MS-DOS compatible partition scheme (there's an option in Disk util somewhere to partition with MS-DOS vs. GPUID table).

With an MS-DOS type table, you can create two partitions, one NTFS for Windows, one HFS+ for the Mac and even a third with FAT32 to exchange data between the two.

Just to clarify, the 4GB file size limit is for each file. It is not a 4GB limit on the total space used by all of your files. Video files and disk image files can readily exceed 4GB for a single file, but that limit is pretty high for most other needs (even these days). 🙂

If you reformat that flash drive to use +Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)+, it will probably work. But then, you would not be able to use it on the Windows PC (until you reformatted it again).

then probably the best option although more expensive will be to buy an ethernet drive and connect to my router.

Or maybe you can do a direct transfer from PC to Mac or Mac to PC over wired Ethernet, and put the extra storage drive on the Mac or PC, formatted to be optimal for the respective connected OS. If your PC has gigabit Ethernet (and your router is has gigabit ports), it should be fairly fast. Make sure the cables are rated Cat-5e or better.

Wow another Power Mac 8100 user who added a G3 card to it.

Still a machine that is set up and runs fine, for using my old Mac OS 9 programs. I bought mine used after it was already a few years old, but it was used as my primary Mac longer than any other machine before or since. It stayed relevant for a long long time.

I don't understand why do you talk so much about a simple issue.

the answer is clear and simple.

1. Format external drive to NTFS
2. Install Paragon NTFS 6 or 7 - that will make your mac to write on NTFS system drives.
3. Enjoy.

Never liked installing a third-party kernel extensions for something as important as the file system.

Since the person asked for the way to save files both on mac and windows, there is no other way. That's is the client's decision. I can't see a problem in it. As far as I know Paragon NTFS works good.