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Partition USB Thumb Drive for Mac and Windows

Hi everyone,


I have a shiny new massive Samsung 128 GB USB Flash drive for which I was hoping to partition as follows:


1.) Time Machine Backup (OS X Extended Journaled Format)

2.) Windows 7 Boot Disk (FAT 32)

3.) Windows 7 System Image Backup (FAT 32)

4.) General storage accessible by both Mac OS and Windows 7 (FAT 32)


I partitioned the drive as above using Mac OS Disk Utility. When booted in OS X, I can see all the partitions and even save a time machine backup. When booted in Windows 7, however, none of the partitions are visible and I am asked to format the drive and Windows does not recognize even the FAT32 formatted partitions. Any ideas on how to accomplish my objective? Thanks!

Sajid

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Mar 19, 2017 7:23 AM

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Posted on Mar 19, 2017 8:03 AM

Windows cannot read the partition map of a Mac formatted drive so it will never see the FAT32 partitions.

Time Machine is an incremental backup system. The recommended size is 1.5 to 3 times the size of the drive that's being backed up. Not how much is currently on it. If you just want to back up what's on your drive now, you could use something other than Time Machine and format the entire USB as FAT32.

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Question marked as Best reply

Mar 19, 2017 8:03 AM in response to Sajid Ansari

Windows cannot read the partition map of a Mac formatted drive so it will never see the FAT32 partitions.

Time Machine is an incremental backup system. The recommended size is 1.5 to 3 times the size of the drive that's being backed up. Not how much is currently on it. If you just want to back up what's on your drive now, you could use something other than Time Machine and format the entire USB as FAT32.

Mar 19, 2017 7:43 AM in response to dialabrain

Regarding item 1: I have three partitions in Windows format (FAT32) and those are not recognized by windows. There should be a way for windows formatted partitions to be accessible by windows - just need to know how.


Regarding item 2: My backup size is only 30 GB and I only care about backing up the last week or so, not looking to backup to the beggining of all time. All my files, photos, music, etc. are on iCloud so no reason to back those up locally.


Regarding item 3: In my case, it's either backing up to the flash drive, external HD, or a NAS and I've experienced that the flash drive is fastest and best when both backing up and recovering.


Anyway, I am looking forward to a helpful answer to my question.

Mar 19, 2017 8:07 AM in response to dialabrain

Thank you. Is there an application that you can suggest to backup my system other than time machine and that can be restorable in a similar manner? Seems like I might just need to get different flash drives all together.


One thing that I am thinking is that boot camp drivers do allow the Windows to see a Mac OS formatted drive. I had removed those drivers some time ago for trouble shooting and never put them back so wondering if it's possible for windows to see a Mac formatted partion map once those drivers are back. I'll take a crack at and see what happens.

Mar 19, 2017 8:18 AM in response to Sajid Ansari

You're welcome. I don't use any other backup software other than Time Machine. There is software such as Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! but I don't know that they will back up to a Windows formatted drive. Your best bet is to use an external HD for Time Machine backups, even a portable one will do. And flash drives formatted as FAT32 that can be used on both a Mac and Windows.

Partition USB Thumb Drive for Mac and Windows

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