“For use with two computers? I see that this is PC and Mac compatible. I use both -- would I be able to use it to back up both (one manually [the PC], one with Time Machine [the Mac])? Or would I have to format it for just one kind of machine? And I'm assuming 2TB would be enough for both; is that not true? Thanks!”
Answer This Question
1-9 of 9 Answers
You can partisan the drive and format for NTFS on one partisan and HFS+J on the other. Or keep it at 2TB format with EXFAT it will work on both. I format with NTFS and run 'NTFS for MAC' on my apple. I need the 2TB due to large video editing needs. The drive works on both computers.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.it will work with both if you format it properly i had to do the same for my portable hard drive as a i also have a MAC and a PC
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.You should be able to make a partition for each then format each partition to accomplish your goal. The 2TB should be enough assuming your data isn't larger than 2TB
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.If you're going to use it for both PC and Mac, you need to format it to eXFAT. Mac OSX isn't capable of writing to NTFS partitions, and FAT32 partitions won't cover the full 2TB of this drive.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I recommend using the Mac 'Disk Utility' app and for format options do "ExFat" this will allow you to move the drive from Mac, PCs, and SmartTVs. Hope this helps.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.You don't have to reformat for the Apple if you go from PC. I have personal experience.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Time machine needs its own drive to work. So yes and no to your question. Yes you can use one drive for backing up both systems. You'll have to partition the drive so it shows up as two drives. One exclusively for Time Machine and the other as a standard drive. I did this for a while. The catch if I remember right is that both partitions have to be Mac formatted. This means that the PC can't read the drive without an extra program like MacDrive. This worked for me but was very convoluted and led to issues and corrupted backups. In the end of the day the drives are fairly cheap. You're better off with a drive for each system in my opinion. Now they can work within their native drive formatting. Now if you only want a data drive, or do backups on the Mac with something other than a Time Machine, then format the drive ExFat and you can go between Mac and PC no problem. I format all my data drives this way so I can move files between any system.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.You would have to add a partition to the drive to have half formatted for MAc and half for pc.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.You can use it for both but you need to format the drive as a FAT32 drive for it to be usable on a Mac and a PC or you need to have an NTFS driver on your Mac. FAT32 has a max file size of 4 GB so if you're not backing up individual files that are greater than 4 GB, that'll work fine. If you're working in big video files, you're better off getting two separate drives and formatting one for a Mac and one for a PC. As far as whether 2 TB is enough space for your backups, so long as both computers you want to back up have less than 2 TBs of data on them combined, you'll be fine.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.