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lasvideo
lasvideo
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Procedure for reformatting raid drives currently formated for mac TO pc format

Jun 1, 2012 7:21 AM

Im researching the process of how to take external raid array drives that are currently formatted for the mac system and and converting the drives to a format that can be used with a pc. I was informed by an expert that there is a simple process, but never got the details.

895 Views   11 Replies   Latest reply: lasvideo, Jun 1, 2012 8:15 AM
 
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  • Jeff Bellune
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    1. Jeff Bellune,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:25 AM   in reply to lasvideo
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    Here's the simplest way:

     

    MacDrive

     

    Jeff

     
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  • lasvideo
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    2. lasvideo,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:30 AM   in reply to Jeff Bellune
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    Jeff, Im not sure I am being clear. I am replacing my Mac Pro with a PC. I want to completely reformat the external raid array for use with the PC.

     
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  • Harm Millaard
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    3. Harm Millaard,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:31 AM   in reply to lasvideo
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    I have absolutely no idea what the performance penalty is of using Jeff's suggestion of MacDrive, but normally one would reformat from Windows with NTFS and thus lose all data currently on the raid. But, about the same as with editors, FCP uses ProRes and Adobe uses native format. Well here the choice is similar, either use MacDrive (similar to ProRes) or use NTFS (similar to native).

     
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  • lasvideo
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    4. lasvideo,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:37 AM   in reply to Harm Millaard
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    I think Eric B. once mentioned in conversation that there was a very easy way to reformat the mac formatted drives to pc (NTFS) while they weere still connected to the mac. So they would be ready for use when "plugged" in to the PC. I may have misinterpreted him, but this was my understanding.

     
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  • Harm Millaard
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    5. Harm Millaard,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:46 AM   in reply to lasvideo
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    You could try the Convert command to convert the volume to NTFS. Maybe that is what Eric had in mind, but I have never tried it with a MAC volume, only to convert FAT32 to NTFS.

     
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  • Bill Gehrke
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    6. Bill Gehrke,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:49 AM   in reply to lasvideo
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    I believe any reformatting means you will loose the current files!  Conversion might work.

     
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  • lasvideo
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    7. lasvideo,
    Jun 1, 2012 7:51 AM   in reply to Bill Gehrke
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    Thats OK Bill. I want to lose all files and wipe the drives of any old info. Not a problem.

     
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  • ECBowen
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    8. ECBowen,
    Jun 1, 2012 8:10 AM   in reply to lasvideo
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    Essentially the easy way to do this is to delete the raid volume while it's on the Mac and then connect the raid to the PC and create a new raid volume. After it initializes then you just initialize the volume in Windows as GPT and format the Volume as NTFS. Once you have the Driver installed for the controller in Win 7 you can also delete the raid volume on the PC system and then just create the new raid then.

     

    Eric

    ADK

     
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  • Jeff Bellune
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    9. Jeff Bellune,
    Jun 1, 2012 8:13 AM   in reply to lasvideo
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    This COW thread:

     

    Raid issues : G-Tech

     

    seems to indicate that you can do it with something called Configurator.  Windows 7 64-bit supports GUID partition tables, so multi-TB sized disks aren't a problem.

     

    Jeff

     

    EDIT: Even after a refresh, Eric still beat me to the punch.

     
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  • lasvideo
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    10. lasvideo,
    Jun 1, 2012 8:15 AM   in reply to ECBowen
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    Thanks Eric.

     
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  • lasvideo
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    11. lasvideo,
    Jun 1, 2012 8:15 AM   in reply to Jeff Bellune
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    Thanks Jeff.

     
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