Western Digital - My Book 1TB External USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive for Mac
added on September 6, 2009 by k-rock360, last updated on September 9, 2009 by shawndiaz
to go to the offer at BestBuy
You can reformat this drive and get it to work on a PC (and not just a Mac). Just one google search away.
*Shipping will show up as Free when you go through the final step of checkout.
Description
Product Features
* 1TB maximum storage capacity
For expanded storage for your files.
* High-speed USB 2.0 interface
For fast and easy connectivity.
* Data transfer rates up to 480 Mbps
For quick response when updating files.
* Compatible with Time Machine software
Keeps your files organized, safe and secure.
* Energy-efficient design
Helps preserve power by turning the drive on and off with your computer.
* Fanless design
For cool and quiet operation.
* Plug-and-play connection
For easy installation.
* HFS+ formatted and compatible with Mac
To ensure flexible options with more than 1 computer.
Windows will see a Mac-formatted drive as a "GPT Protected Partition", which can't be deleted, formatted, assigned a drive letter, or anything. This is very frustrating the first time you encounter it.
Fortunately, this is not terribly difficult to overcome. Here's how you do it:
1. Attach the disk. Windows will acknowledge it's been connected, but then will likely tell you it's not working properly. 2. Assuming the disk is empty and you haven't actually used it on Mac to backup data, we won't be worried about losing any data, so we can continue to the next step. I only list this step to make sure you're aware that everything on that disk will be deleted. 3. Open a command prompt by going to Start->Run, and typing "cmd" 4. Type the command "DiskPart" into the command line, and press enter. 5. Type "list disk". This will show all of the disks on your machine. 6. "Select" the disk you need to fix. Make ABSOLUTELY SURE you choose the right disk. Most of us only have one hard drive in our computer (disk 0), so the external drive will likely be "disk 1". The command you'd type would then be, "select disk 1" 7. Type the command, "clean". This removes the GPT protection. 8. Close the command prompt. Right click My Computer and select disk management. 9. You'll now see your new hard drive as "unallocated", which means we can now go through the normal formatting steps... right-click and "initialize", then right click and "format".
Easy, yes?
So to answer everybody's questions. Yes it can be done, and yes you'll be fine.
