You have two main options here, the tried and true method is to have the disk formatted as FAT32. The windows default is called NTFS which is what you have at the moment. FAT32 is what ipods generally use so that both macs and windows can write to them, you will need to put all the data back on again after formatting.
The second option is the new kid on the block, macfuse - http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/ This is a 3rd party application that will allow your mac to be able to properly, or better, handle NTFS and various other disk systems. because its 3rd party you could argue its not as "safe" to use, but its quite mature now, I've not had a problem with it, but I don't use it regularly enough to be an accurate gague to its reliability. There are also some paid for programs that I can't think of the names of... I think macfuse has mostly surpassed them now. Toby On 16 February 2011 09:24, David Ransom <[email protected]> wrote: > My boss has a portable hard drive which has been formatted on a PC. He has > used it for backing up from the PC but would like to also use it on a Mac > (without reformatting if possible!). > > When trying to use the drive on a Mac it is read only. Is this because it > is PC formatted? Can anyone point me to a web page (possibly on the Apple > website) that discusses formatting options. > > Thanks, > > David > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Sussex Mac User Group" group. > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB.
