intel macs file sharing between partitions

Post by **S@M** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:20 am

I dont have one yet, but work is thinking of getting a few. Anyone able to advise on how easy (or not) it is to file share between the mac and windows environs?

The apple store said Id need to reboot each time, and store on a usb stick, but I heard from somewhere that the mac side will read the win side, but not vica versa...:icon26:

anyone know what the truth is on this, and/or solutions?

Post by **Canis** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:26 pm

The mac can read from windows partitions, depending on the format. I'm not sure which is more compatible: NTFS or FAT, but the mac can see the windows partition. Windows, however, cannot see the mac's HFS+ partition without additional software, so when you're trying copy files between environments, you'll have to use the mac.

Post by **NCG_Mike** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:41 pm

The Mac can read FAT. Make a third partition that's FAT for exchange.

Post by **JulesWinnfield** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:42 pm

Macs can also read NTFS, but can't write.

Post by **S@M** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:17 pm

so if the windows partition is FAT, the mac can read and write to it - is that the view?

Post by **Canis** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:52 pm

Post by **NCG_Mike** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:03 pm

Install Windows with NTFS and make an extra FAT partition to exchange (drive D: or so).

An alternative is a networked diskdrive but you obviously need a decent bandwidth on your LAN. The Mac'd see the disk with Samba and Windows'd think it was a Windows share or something. I've considered this approach as they're handy to use as a file server. A solution for running Windows on one of the virtual machines.

You *might*, and I stress might, be able to get a network disk that knows NFS. That'd be handy as you could put your user account on it for the Mac (NetInfo helps there) and you *might* be able to get Windows to use it in a domain or something.

I've used something similar on NeXTSTEP with NFS home directories on a server. Handy when I moved around the office and logged on as I'd get my regular account setup on any of the NeXT boxes we had.

Post by **Canis** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:52 pm

Or another similar option could be to get an external drive and format it to FAT32 to use likewise.

Post by **NCG_Mike** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:10 pm

Yes, that's a solution. I assume the firewire works on Windows.

Post by **S@M** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 12:03 am

this is fantastic news, we just employed an IT guy - linux background but knows his way around a mac as well, so now hes gonna set up my new macpro laptop

sweet