formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac

#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac how to
#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac Pc
#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac mac
#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac windows

Local network-If you can connect both computers to the same network, turn file sharing on for both, and you can connect successfully, this is the best method.

#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac mac

Then use the full-sized drive to get your files over to your Mac before letting Time Machine reformat it for backup use.

#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac windows

Full-sized hard disk-You are buying an external drive to use for Time Machine backups anyway, right? Before you start, just format it for Windows as FAT32 the same way you would format a flash drive.

Alternate File Transfer MethodsĪ flash drive isn't the only way to transfer files from a Windows machine to a Mac.

#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac how to

If you also want to bring over photos, videos, and music, you can place them in those folders as well, though you should read later in this chapter about how to get photos and music into iPhoto and iTunes. I recommend putting them all in a 'From Windows' folder in your Documents folder in your user folder. You can then drag and drop documents from there into any folder on your Mac. It should appear as a device on the left side of all of your Finder windows. Wait a few seconds and then disconnect it from the USB slot. Then remove the drive by right-clicking on it in the My Computer window and selecting Eject. If you have too many files to fit on your flash drive at one time, you may have to only copy portions at a time-like photos for one trip, documents for another, music for a third, and so on. In Windows XP, it will look something like Figure 8.1, where you can see the drive as F. Now you should see the drive show up under My Computer on your Windows machine. Go ahead and do that, but realize that any data you may have had stored on the drive before will now be gone. If it is not in a Windows-readable format, you will be asked to reformat it now. It may even already be formatted FAT32 if you just brought it home from the store.Ĭonnect the drive to a USB port on your Windows machine. You can do this in Disk Utility on your Mac, where it is called MS-DOS (FAT) format, but it is probably easier to just reformat the drive on your Windows machine. So, if it needs to be formatted at all, you need to format it as FAT32.

Windows cannot read a Mac-formatted disk, but Macs can read a Windows-formatted one. When you have a flash drive, the first thing you may need to do is format it in such a way so it can be read by both Mac and Windows machines. And they will continue to be handy for bringing files to and from work, sharing between friends, and for bringing files along with you away from your Mac. They can be bought for $10 to $40, depending on the size.

#Formatting a flash drive in windows for a mac Pc

The easy method is to use a small and cheap USB flash drive to copy files from your PC to your Mac. If you plan on keeping your Windows computer around and transferring files between them often, you probably want to put the time in now to figure it out. But networks vary so much and are so complex that it can be rather frustrating.Ĭhapter 13 describes how to network Macs and PCs. You'd think with both Mac and Windows being so mature and advanced that this would be easy. The hard way is to set both machines up on the same network, get both machines to recognize each other, and transfer files.

There are two ways to move files from a Windows computer to a Mac: the hard way and the easy way.

There are many methods for bringing files and information over from your old Windows machine. You can take them with you to your new Mac. You may have old files on your Windows machine-your contact list, calendar events, even your browser bookmarks. If this is your first Mac, but not your first computer, chances are that your old machine runs Windows.