I am intending to buy a large (ca. 200 Gb) external hard disk and need
it to be capable of transferring files *from* a PC (Windows XP) *to* a
Mac (G4, OS 9.2.2) (though not from Mac to PC). I know from experience
that this is possible. What I don't know - being, I'm afraid, a complete
ignoramus in such matters - whether this is possible as a matter of
course with all IDE drives using a USB connection or with only some
kinds of drives or whether some special formatting is required.

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.
TIA -
Fergus Lalor

In article <ferguslalor-F30991.19124819092004@news.indigo.ie>,
"F.J. Lalor" <ferguslalor@eircom.net> wrote:

> I am intending to buy a large (ca. 200 Gb) external hard disk and need
> it to be capable of transferring files *from* a PC (Windows XP) *to* a
> Mac (G4, OS 9.2.2) (though not from Mac to PC). I know from experience
> that this is possible. What I don't know - being, I'm afraid, a complete
> ignoramus in such matters - whether this is possible as a matter of
> course with all IDE drives using a USB connection or with only some
> kinds of drives or whether some special formatting is required.
>
> Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.
> TIA -
> Fergus Lalor

Macs include software that enables them to read PC-formatted media,
formatted in FAT32 format.

So if you set up your hard disk on your Windows XP system (it will limit
FAT32 paritions to 32 GB, so you will need to use multiple partitions),
you SHOULD be able to access it on obth systems.

Note that you need to check the hardware connections on both your Mac
and your PC. Most Macs from the past few years have USB 1.1 and Firewire
connections-- very recent Macs have USB 2.0 and Firewire connections. I
believe the G4 PowerMacs (if that's what you have) have USB 1.1 and
Firewire.

Few PCs come with Firewire adapters (though a minority do)... most
recent PCs have USB 2.0 adapters; older ones have USB 1.1.

Most external hard drives are simply normal IDE drives in an external
case that includes either USB 2.0 or Firewire connectors or both...

There are a couple of things to be aware of:

-- You can connect a USB 2.0 device to a USB 1.1 port, but it will
transfer data at USB 1.1 speeds... this will work, but will be SLOW.
Avoid it if possible.

-- If you have a desktop PC, you may find it relatively cheapest to add
a Firewire adapter. This way, with an external Firewire hard drive, you
can transfer data at high speeds on both your PC and Mac.

-- USB 2.0 claims data transfer rates somewhat higher than Firewire (480
Mb/sec vs 400 Mb/sec). Don't believe it. In the real world, Firewire is
more efficient that USB 2.0.

-- Despite what I've said above, things may not go as planned... for
instance, I bought an ACOMData external drive (Firewire + USB 2.0)...
the company claimed that it should work as I described-- that formatted
as a FAT32 drive, it should be usable with both Windows and Macs. My
experience was that it worked only intermittently on the Mac when
formatted that way. (Others have reported the same experience), but
worked fine formatted as a Mac drive. (Of course, then, it wasn't
readable on the Windows system without 3rd-party software).

Best of luck!

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