drive for mac/windows

[bluesmap]

i need to write data onto a 500gb drive, from my mac. i want to be able to read the data on both mac and pc but it is not important that the pc have ability to write on the drive, its a plus if it can write.

what file format would i format the drive? i know i cant write onto ntfs from my mac but i have about 500gb of data on my mac that needs to go onto an external drive.

do i use fat32?

 

[Red Falcon]

As long as none of the files are over 4GB in size, you can use FAT32.
If not, I would suggest setting up the 500GB drive in a SMB/CIFS or NFS share, then copy the files.

 

[bluesmap]

there will be no limitations to the drive, as in the 500gb will not suddenly become 32gb?

there are no files over 4gb, so the fat32 may be best

 

[drescherjm]

500 GB will work fine. The limit is 2TB. In the past windows prevented you from formatting a fat32 partition to 32 GB or something like that however that was easily circumvented by formatting outside of windows (3rd party utility or linux).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32

 

[mwroobel]

As long as the mac is running at least Snow Leopard and the PC is running at least XP SP2, ExFAT would be an even better choice, as it removes the limitations of FAT32.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT

 

[drescherjm]

The second disadvantage here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT#Disadvantages

would be a showstopper for me.