My Passport MAC to PC

I have a 500GB passport formatted for MAC and I need to be able to use it for PCs as well. can someone please give me detailed instructions how to format it so it works for both and still be able to read and write files from multiple computers. (i.e. i need to be able to share files between computers MAC and PC).  I’m not that computer savy so please, as detailed as possible. Thank you! 

Formatt the drive NTFS for Windows. Then download NTFS-3G http://mac-free.com/download/NTFS-3G.html and install in Mac. Then drive should work on both. You could also format to FAT32 but the max file size is 4 gig.

Joe

Hey there, To get around this format limitation you have two options, either format the drive FAT32 (MS DOS FAT on the Mac) or download a third party application on the Mac called NTFS 3G that will allow you to use a drive on Mac even if is formatted for Windows, there is some information I used from WD web site below that might be useful for you.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/291/session/L2F2LzEvc25vLzEvdGltZS8xMzE3NzQ4NzQ0L3NpZC84bzUzMUtGaw%3D%3D

Formatt the drive NTFS for Windows <— what does that mean? how do i do that? My Passport is already formatted for a Mac. Also, with the FAT32 max file size, does that mean each file can’t be bigger than 4GB? Thanks for your help! 

Yes 4 gig is the biggest file that FAT32 will handle. I don’t know much about Macs. It will probably be easiest to format to NTFS on Windows. Look at the link in above post about that will help on the partitioning.

Joe

Ok, maybe i’m not understanding, but i’m still a bit confused. My Passport is already formatted for Macs. From what i’m understanding the NTFS is made to make Passports that are formatted for PCs useable on Macs. I don’t need that. I need something that i can download on a PC to make my Passport work on a PC. Is there a NTFS program that i can download on a PC to format it? Or is the FAT32 program made so i can download it on a PC to format my Passport to be PC useable? I hope i’m being clear, if not i’m sorry. Like I said, computers aren’t my thing. Thanks for your help again. 

It’s a bit confusing what you want.

1 The drive is now formatted for Mac?

2 Do you want to use the drive on both Mac and Windows?

3 NTFS is for Windows and is read only on Mac Mac format is unusable on Windows unless you buy software

4 To reformat use Windows PC and this link should help http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/291/session/L2F2LzEvc25vLzEvdGltZS8xMzE3NzQ4NzQ0L3NpZC84bzUzMUtGaw%3D%3D

5 After formatting NTFS download NTFS-3G  http://mac-free.com/download/NTFS-3G.html on Mac to use drive on Mac

Joe