can i use the same external hard drive for both mac and pc

I mention all this because although less desirable than a bootable clone, a non-bootable clone is the only option for a PPC Mac if you also want the drive to have a FAT32 partition that Windows can read natively. So in the event of a crash, you could boot from the install disk, run Disk Utility from there, erase the internal HD, and then use the non-bootable clone volume as the source for the restore, with the internal HD as destination. The OS install disc has a copy of Disk Utility on it, and Disk Utility has a 'Restore' tab which essentially acts similarly to the cloning software listed above. However even if a clone cannot be booted, it can still restore your system.

Second, a bootable clone is testable - you can tell in advance whether it is good by simply booting from it and making sure it works OK.

It's convenient and easy for that bootable 'somewhere' to be the clone volume itself. With a PPC Mac you can still create a clone which can fully restore the HD in the event of a crash, but the clone will not be bootable.Ī bootable clone is always more desirable, for two reasons: First, in the event of disaster you always need to boot from 'somewhere' and then run a program that will copy the clone back to the internal HD. If one wants to have a native Windows-readable volume together on the same drive with a complete Mac clone, the whole situation gets somewhat complicated. With a bootable clone you just start up from the backup drive and clone back everything. Some people just back up data files but if you have problems you have to reinstall all your operating system and all your applications. Making a copy of your computer which is capable of actually starting the computer requires special copying procedures. *A bootable clone is an exact copy of your drive which is capable of booting your computer. You can still drag groups of files to the drive if all you want is data backup, but this can be tedious and tricky under OSX. However, the one-click backup utilities can't use FAT for cloning. However, this means the external has to be formatted for a Mac and can't be used at all by a PC (well, not easily).Īs mentioned in another post, FAT32 can be used easily by a PC, and Macs aren't too bad at using it (I have had a few small problems on occasion). Ideal for the Mac is when you can use a utility to clone* (make a 100% bootable backup copy) to an external drive. Unfortunately it's hard to have your cake and eat it when it comes to PC plus Mac drives.

Unfortunately your link to the drive didn't get entered fully and doesn't work.

Can i use the same external hard drive for both mac and pc