Lacie External Hard drive won't mount in Mac after PC install

[noeltaylor]

Hi, I have a problem:

I switched my Lacie 160G External hard drive from my iMac (running OS X 10.3.9) to view my files on my PC Running Windows XP.

I went to this website and followed the directions:
How to install additional hard drives in XP | KevinDonahue.com

After completing the instructions The PC wanted me to reformat the drive and i didn't want to because i was afraid i would be erasing the data on there. When i tried to plug back into the mac (I've had the Lacie on the mac for about two years up till now) i get a message saying "you have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac Os X can read, please initialize,eject or Ignore"
What did i do?

I didnt think that the instructions i was following would keep the HD from rebooting on the Mac. The Mac doesn't recognize the Lacie HD, no Lacie icon appears on the desktop anymore.

What can i do??

 

[Lexluethar]

I didn't think Mac and PC used the same file system... do they? Honestly I have no idea, but I didn't think they did.

If that is the case then obviously you won't be able to see the files on the hard drive after it has already been formatted using a Mac file system.

Once plugging in the drive if the PC recognizes the drive but can't see that it is a disk drive, then it is using a different file system. At that point you should have just unplugged it and left it at that. Seems what you did is somehow overwrite the file allocation table on the hard drive at some point following that guys directions if the Mac can't see the drive now. Look for some tutorials on repairing a file allocaiton talbe on the Mac.

If you can't then you're SOL. THat tutorial you've posted is just to install a hard drive (external) on an XP machine, not taking an already exhisting drive on a Mac and trying to get the PC to recognize it. This is what i've found...

 

[noeltaylor]

I didn't think Mac and PC used the same file system... do they? Honestly I have no idea, but I didn't think they did.

If that is the case then obviously you won't be able to see the files on the hard drive after it has already been formatted using a Mac file system.

Once plugging in the drive if the PC recognizes the drive but can't see that it is a disk drive, then it is using a different file system. At that point you should have just unplugged it and left it at that. Seems what you did is somehow overwrite the file allocation table on the hard drive at some point following that guys directions if the Mac can't see the drive now. Look for some tutorials on repairing a file allocaiton talbe on the Mac.

If you can't then you're SOL. THat tutorial you've posted is just to install a hard drive (external) on an XP machine, not taking an already exhisting drive on a Mac and trying to get the PC to recognize it. This is what i've found...

Thanks for the info Lex, i'll see about "repairing a file allocaiton table" on the Mac. I really didn't think it was that easy to mess things up.

 

[Lexluethar]

It shouldn't be. But after reading that tutorial it seems that you could have messed up the file allocation table, as the tutorial was telling you to go to disk management and format the drive (since he is assuming it is a new, unformatted drive). If after connecting the drive that has data on it, XP doesn't recognize the drive (recognizes it but just sees it as a mass storage device and doen't see the space on it) then it is a different file format windows doesn't see.

I've read a few places that you can format that drive as FAT32 which Mac can read and XP. Obviously do that after you've pulled your data off of it.

 

[patonb]

Macs, last time i read, should beable to read MS ntfs format.

Maybe once you've saved your files, use the pc to setup the drive, then use it on the Mac.

 

[hikaricloud]

Nope. Macs can read NTFS, but they can't modify/copy anything. To be able to use the drive on both Macs and PCs without having to format it every time, you need it to be FAT32 format.

EDIT: Lex, if you were curious, Macs use something called HFS+ (journaled for boot drives, non journaled for extra volumes) for the partition format.

 

[Lexluethar]

I am curious - thank you

I wasn't sure, so I had to put a disclaimer on my first post, but from what i've read in the past I don't think they have the same file system. And the tutorial they used was for a new drive, not switching from a Mac to a PC - which is why the problem started.

 

[hikaricloud]

Right. But if the OP just formats in FAT32 there should be no problems. I switch between my PC and Macbook all the time with my WD 500gb external no problem.

The only downside is you can't keep files larger than 4gb. :| I had a 6.66gb (haha) .rar that I had to rar again...rar'ing rar file, I LOVE IT.

 

[patonb]

Hmm, I though Macs could write ntfs......... Wow even Linux can now, Macs are so 80's

 

[hikaricloud]

I don't really know why, I just know they can't. Whenever I install windows on my macbook, I make sure to do it FAT32 style, since I can't access the files from the mac side then. NTFS screws it all up.