copying to widows formatted drive

[twix]

Anyone had issues with coping files over to a windows formated FW400 Firelite Drive? When the drive is formatted as a MacOS the files copy over fine. If I format it for Windows (Using apples Disk Utility) it gets 4 minutes into and slows to a crawl.

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by twix

Anyone had issues with coping files over to a windows formated FW400 Firelite Drive? When the drive is formatted as a MacOS the files copy over fine. If I format it for Windows (Using apples Disk Utility) it gets 4 minutes into and slows to a crawl.

Hi,

If all you are doing with this drive is copying files back and forth from mac to pc then format the drive to fat32. if you want to use the drive actively with Pro Tools for writing or reading files, then you have to purchase mac drive for the PC.

Chris

[twix]

Sorry didn't mention it but I am referring to the drive being formatted as a FAT32. I am copying the files from my mac to the drive. As a FAT32 formatted drive, when I try to copy the files to it, it basically slows to a stop after a few minutes. When the drive is Mac formatted, copying is fine.

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by twix

Sorry didn't mention it but I am referring to the drive being formatted as a FAT32. I am copying the files from my mac to the drive. As a FAT32 formatted drive, when I try to copy the files to it, it basically slows to a stop after a few minutes. When the drive is Mac formatted, copying is fine.

I think i have had better success when formating the drive from the pc!

Chris

[drenkrom]

Exactly as Chris said: you sould format the drive from the PC. Also, Mac OS natively locks you into FAT32, which is retarded beyond comprehension as no one in their right mind has used that file system seriously since the release of windoze XP. using MacFUSE, though, it's possible to use any FUSE (File-system in USErspace) in Mac OS. The particular driver you'd probably want is the NTFS-3G (http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/). Installing this driver and formatting your hard drive in NTFS format from the PC yields very smooth transfers here. As a bonus, you can also transfer files over 4GB.

I'm personally generally a little wary of installing third-party system extension on a revenue-generating PT rig, so if you have another smaller Mac around, I'd use that. I have no experience about the (in)stability of PT and MacFUSE on the same system, though it has never caused any hiccups on any of our FCP or support machines.

An option worth exploring if you do a lot of Mac/PC transfers.