300GB external drive wont read

T

teckoda

Geek Trainee
Hello,

I have a 300GB external SeaGate hard drive, connected to my 24" iMac. Recently i tried to access the drive through MacOS and Mac OS was unable to read it. So i rebooted to Windows and windows kindly offered to format it.

I've tried several recovery tools and i've gotten most of my data back.. which is no longer the problem. I'm still curious as to how it happened, or how i can repair it. Partition type is FAT32.
Any help would be apreciated,

Thanks,
teckoda.

UPDATE: The drive no longer appears now. Windows doesn't see the drive anymore. *sigh*
 
Basicially what is happening is OSX doesnt like Windows formatting and Windows formatting doesnt like OSX formatting. Macs use a HSF filesystem while Windows uses FAT32(Old) and NTFS(new(er)). Considering on what OS you formatted your drive on is what filesystem you are going to have.

Your best bet is to go into Mac, format the drive with HSF; then go back on windows, download an program called MacDrive 6 Its basicially a program that allows windows to read HFS file systems. I use this program for my external hdd and my iPod. Ive been using it for over a year now with no issues at all. Its nice being able to sync my Libraries on my PC and Mac and being able to share files on both systems.

Another thing I should mention is that OSX *can* read NTFS and FAT32, So you could actually just format your drive as NTFS and not have any issues.. Being a primarly mac user though, I perfer to use the formatting on the system that I use more often.
 
Kastang that's a brilliantly clear explanation - I wonder if the drive was formatted for windows by the manufacturer? ....
Could I ask you, regarding Windows formats? - I'm happy with FAT32 at least I'm assuming that's what I get on Win98SE "Format".
Curiously within Windows when the drive is detected I don't get all that old DOS stuff about partitions - it a Format with system files, or just format.
Recently, I was given a NTFS-formatted HDD but I couldn't read it - so I formatted it and now it's OK....was there something I could do to read NTFS - or do I need a newer Windows?
I don't have Partition Magic, but I do have Ubuntu - a bit of a nightmare and something I'm mostly trying to avoid with Formatting and Partitioning also. I have an external-USB connected HDD for my photos (jpeg) and these appear to read/write by both Win98SE and Ubuntu - should this worry me, I wonder?
I've been search ing the Web for info on Formatting/Partitioning so your "Mac-answer" will be added for the final printout...(I don't have a Mac...but it's good to know). I have read that Windows isn't too keen on PM working on HDD's, is there a general workaround....it's slightly spooky that MS is interfering with our work in this way.
 
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