Mac to PC memory stick problem

Question

Level 1

0 points

Mac to PC memory stick problem

I am having an "issue" with a memory stick I have loaded some files to for transfer to a PC.

I have a friend with a pc who sent me a memory stick with some tiff files to which I was to do some work. My imac and ibook managed to download OK and I completed the work, erased the stick and reloaded the finished tiffs.

I have just recieved an email saying that his pc is telling him the stick is blank.

I looked at Disk Utility and sure enough it formats to Mac OS, vatious and also Unix, the help app says I can format for MS DOS from the drop down menu, there is no such option in my menu.

So, is there a way of erasing without formating, another route for erasing and downloading to the stick or an option to get the aforementioned MS DOS format drop down..

Many thanks

Gari

G3 ibook/OS10.2.7, G3 imac/OS10.3.9 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Mar 5, 2007 12:41 PM

Reply

Answer 1

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Mar 5, 2007 1:30 PM in response to garri

gar-imac:

You did not need to reformat the drive. You could have selected all the files, and dragged them to the Trash. Even erasing could have been done without altering the format.

So, what's next? If you want to drive to be readable by both systems select the Manufacturer ID or the drive, go the Partition menu and select the disk format you want. (You are creating a single partition volume). Then click partition.

Please do not hesitate to post back should you have further questions or comments.

Good luck.

cornelius

Reply

Answer 2

garri Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 5, 2007 2:24 PM in response to garri

Hi Cornelius, thanks for the reply. I tried erasing bye dragging the files to the trash, though it showed the stick empty when the folder was open on the desktop, it would not load stating that there was no capacity left.

I have looked at formatting but I have no option to format for MS DOS, I can only partition with a HD selected, the USB Memory will only allow: first aid, erase, restore.

Thanks
Gari

Reply

Answer 3

garri Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 5, 2007 2:50 PM in response to garri

Hello again Cornelius, apologies for the previous post. I have just gone back and had another go, I can get the partition to work(I was hilighting the drive icon only!!) the only format other than a mac one is free space, does this mean it is not system specific, thats how I would inerpret it, but I guess I have proved I am a little hard of understanding eh?!

Thanks

Gari

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 6, 2007 9:18 AM in response to garri

Excuse me for jumping in, but if you haven't already found this:

To reformat the drive for MS-DOS: 1) insert the memory stick into a USB port, 2) Open Disk Utility and select the device icon for your memory stick, 3) Select the Erase Tab, then MS-DOS from the Volume Format drop down menu. (This works in 10.3.9, at least.)

For future information, after you've moved files to the trash you must empty the trash to reclaim the space - that's why you got the 'no space remaining' error.

Good luck

srb

Reply

Answer 5

garri Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 6, 2007 1:16 PM in response to garri

Steven, thanks for the reply, when I go to the erase tab and format for MSDOS, do I have to complete the erase for the format to happen, as it were?

Thanks for the trash thing, that makes sense. As I said earlier, hard of understanding..Middle age and senile (it would seem) 🙂

Gari

G3 ibook/OS10.2.7, G3 imac/OS10.3.9 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

G3 ibook/OS10.2.7, G3 imac/OS10.3.9 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Reply

Answer 6

Mar 6, 2007 3:11 PM in response to garri

If I'm understanding you correctly, then yes, I stopped too soon. You'll still need to click the Erase button (lower right corner of the Disk Utility window). Before you do that, you can also choose to set a couple of options by clicking the Options button, if you want.

Here's what the OSX Help utility has to say:

Formatting a Windows (MS-DOS) disk

You can use Disk Utility to format an entire disk in Windows (MS-DOS) format, but you cannot format a single disk partition in Windows format.

WARNING: To prepare a disk in Windows format, you must erase the entire disk. Be sure to copy all the information on that disk before you erase it.

1. Open Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and select the disk you want to format.
2. Click Erase and choose MS-DOS File System from the Volume Format pop-up menu.
3. Type a name for the disk.
4. Click Erase, then click Erase again.

(The second Erase refers to a drop down menu warning you that everything on the disk is about to be destroyed.)

srb

Reply

Answer 7

garri Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 9, 2007 1:15 PM in response to garri

Thanks Steven, sorted. I had no idea that the trash needed emptying directly, one of those times when its obvious when you know what to do, the stick came with no instructions and I had not used one before.
Thanks again
Gari

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 9, 2007 3:07 PM in response to garri

Glad it's fixed.

srb

Reply