OSX 10.4.11 external drive compatible with windows

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Level 1

8 points

OSX 10.4.11 external drive compatible with windows

Hi - I have a iBookG4 with MacOSX 10.4.11 I would like to a) back up my files to a portable external hard drive and b) shuttle files between the Mac and a Windows laptop. The external hard drives I have seen claim they can do this but then aren't compatible with anything earlier than osx10.5. They say the files are "read only" and that the drive "can not be modified."

Any ideas what external hard drive i can purchase that will work for this?

iBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Sep 28, 2013 12:20 PM

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Answer 1

Aly456 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 28, 2013 12:46 PM in response to Aly456

I already have the following drives: 1) SeaGate backup plus portable drive and 2) firelite smartdisk with firewire

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Answer 2

dalstott

Level 4

2,639 points

Sep 28, 2013 1:10 PM in response to Aly456

If it were me I would partition one external HDD into two parts.

The partition for Mac Backup would be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

The other partition would be MS-DOS (FAT) format for Windows.

You would put/copy the PC stuff on the MS DOS partition so the Windows laptop could read/write it.

Thge compatibility issue is due to the iBook drive needing to be ATA/IDE while most provided after 2004-5 were SATA

While it is more difficult to find ATA/IDE drives they are available and you may need to buy it bare and put it in an enclosure.

http://www.ifixit.com/Mac-Parts/iBook-G4#0-Hard+Drives+PATA+

http://eshop.macsales.com/search/ata+ide

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Answer 3

Aly456 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 28, 2013 1:15 PM in response to dalstott

Thanks! I was trying to reformat the seagate drive to FAT32 through disk utilities, but it seems to be taking a very long time. is this an indication that the drive is just not compatible? there is an option in disk utility that says "partition". would this be a better option than "erase" and setting to MS-DOS?

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Answer 4

dalstott

Level 4

2,639 points

Sep 28, 2013 1:32 PM in response to Aly456

Some reading material.

http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/partition-types.htm

http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilitypart.htm

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/196051en

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