Stenton
Level 1 (5 points)
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Q: Server newbie - external hard drive format?

Hi,

 

I'm in the process of setting up a small business network for my company. I have 3 client machines (imac, windows & macbook pro) and I've just got a mac mini with 8GB external Lacie 2 big thunderbolt drive. The aim is to have all 3 client machines running mail, calendars & contacts centrally (so I don't have to keep forwarding emails to the windows user). Also all the company's files will be on the lacie drive so that we can all work on them.  We have this currently on a diskstation but we need something with a bit more power - hence the upgrade to the macmini.

The lacie is currently 8GB RAID 0.  I'm thinking of keeping it like that for speed and having regular backups to the diskstation. Thoughts? Also, for the file storage I need to format the drive into FAT, don't I?

Thanks for the help!

OS X Server

Posted on Jun 4, 2015 12:28 AM

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Stenton

Q: Server newbie - external hard drive format?

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  • by nick101,

    nick101 nick101 Jun 4, 2015 7:23 AM in response to Stenton
    Level 5 (5,108 points)
    Jun 4, 2015 7:23 AM in response to Stenton

    If you want both Macs and Windows PCs to be able to use the same disk, it'll have to be FAT32 formatted. If I remember correctly, FAT32 imposes a 2GB limit for any individual file, which is an issue in some applications. There are 3rd party utilities (for Mac that handle NTFS and for Windows that handle HFS) if that's a problem.

  • by Niel,

    Niel Niel Jun 4, 2015 7:27 AM in response to Stenton
    Level 10 (313,350 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 4, 2015 7:27 AM in response to Stenton

    If you’re going to be leaving the drive connected to the server and making it available through File Sharing, format it as Mac OS Extended; the copy of Mac OS X on the server will itself act as the utility needed for Windows to read and write the drive.

     

    If it matters, the limit for files on a FAT32 volume is one byte less than 4GB, and exFAT is another option.

     

    (128310)