Hi John,

I have not been following this topic, so not sure of the background, etc.

However, when you say:

> Any body got any suggestions, bearing in mind that all I wanted was an
> external 
> device that would work similiar to USB stick but larger capacity that would
> plug in 
> to PC and MAC
> 

My first reaction is that all my USB sticks are formated MS-DOS (fat 32) -
which gives the convenience you require - but, of course, is limited to a
32GB volume size.

For larger drives, some people find a three partition system suits them:

>> Partition A: HFS+
>> Partition B: FAT 32 (max 32 GB)
>> Partition C: NTFS

* When on the Mac: Partitions A & B are accessible
* When on the PC: Partitions B & C are accessible

Partition A is used for Mac work and Partition C for PC work. Partition B
can be accessed by either OS without additional software.

It all depends on how you intend to use the drive re Mac files, PC files and
files you want accessible to both.




Of course, having purchased the latest version of Macdrive, that should
(according to their website) enable simple cross-platform access to your
hfs+ drive!


If I were in your position, given you have purchased MacDrive8, I would be
looking first to their support site:

<http://www.mediafour.com/support/updates/product/macdrive8.en-US>


I also find it best to use a systematic approach to troubleshooting -
starting from a working configuration and documenting how/when a problem
occurs.

In your case, you said that your set-up initially worked on your home Mac
and home PC, but not on your work PC. Now you say that it works on the PC
only (I presume that this is the home one and that the work one still can't
access it) and not on the Mac.

This might suggest that the PC (or Macdrive on the PC) has somehow upset the
formatting of the hfs+ drive and you may have compounded your original
problem - making it harder to troubleshoot.


If it was me, I'd go back to square one here - back-up any data you need off
this drive, while you still have some access to it, and start again.

Given that the function of MacDrive is to give the PC access to a Mac hfs+
drive, I would make sure that I started troubleshooting with a drive that
was OK on the Mac - so my approach would be:

1) Back-up any data you need from the drive.
2) On the Mac erase and re-format the disk - verify the disc and make sure
that everything is working fine.
3) Check that Macdrive can still access the drive on your home PC (it's
always worked on this PC, right?)
4) Confirm that everything is working as it should on both the Mac and your
home PC if not make a note of any strangeness/messages and sort this out
first.
5) When you are happy that all is working as it should on the home PC & Mac,
go to the work Machine:
- Make sure it meets all the MacDrive system requirements
- Make a note of the Windows version/configuration (will help if you have
problems to report)
- I would probably re-install MacDrive8 on this machine (you never had it
working on this PC, right?)
6) Connect the drive to your work PC and try to access it with MacDrive. If
there are any problems:
- make a note of Exactly what happened, including any error messages
- check out MacDrive knowledgebase and forums to see if it matches any
known/reported problems.
- if not, raise a ticket with MacDrive support
- report it all back here


I must stress that I have no direct experience with this software (MacDrive)
- these are just my thoughts on a logical troubleshooting sequence and being
able to gather the data necessary to help support personnel solve your
problem.


Cheers



Neil
-- 
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: n...@possumology.com


on 20/5/10 10:25 AM, j...@iinet.net.au at j...@iinet.net.au wrote:

> 
> Hi ,
> 
> Thing are going from bad to worse. Can now only read the hard drive on my PC
> with 
> Macdrive 8 installed. PB G3 no longer recognises the HD and wants to reformat
> the 
> drive. Have used the tools from Macdrive and it says that their are no
> problems.
> 
> Any body got any suggestions, bearing in mind that all I wanted was an
> external 
> device that would work similiar to USB stick but larger capacity that would
> plug in 
> to PC and MAC
> 
> 
> john
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed May 19 16:48 , Ronda Brown <ro...@mac.com> sent:
> 
>> 
>> Hi John,
>> 
>> I would imagine that you need to install MacDrive on the PC at work,
>> otherwise the 
> PC won't be able to read & write to the Drive.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Ronni
>> 
>> On 19/05/2010, at 4:40 PM, j...@iinet.net.au wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Ronni,
>>> I have the latest version of macdrive. The HD works alright on the PC and
>>> MAC at 
>>> home but not at work. Should it work any where or only where I have macdrive
>>> installed.
>>> 
>>> On the PC at work  managed drives is unassigned or allocated.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sorry about off list query
>>> 
>>> John
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wed May 19 15:33 , Ronda Brown ro...@mac.com> sent:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 19/05/2010, at 2:17 PM, j...@iinet.net.au wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Ronni,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sorry to bother you but you recomend that I format my 500GB passport HD
>>>>> with 
>>>>> MAcdrive software which I have done.Formatted to HFS+. Works ok at home
>>>>> but at 
>>> work 
>>>>> the PC wont mount the drive Initiates the wizard. Any siggestions
>>>>> 
>>>>> john
>>>> 
>>>> Hi John,
>>>> 
>>>> I've replied to WAMUG as 'Off List' is reserved for my clients.
>>>> Also someone else who uses or has used MacDrive might be able to help you.
>>>> 
>>>> What version of MacDrive have you installed on your PC?
>>>> Did you restart WindowsXP PC after installing MacDrive?
>>>> Can you see the drive in Disk Management?
>>>> Right-click on My Computer and select Manage. From the Computer Management
> screen, 
>>> select Disk Management. In this window you should see all of your connected
>>> physical drives, their format, if they are healthy, and the drive letter.
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/find-your-missing-usb-drive-on-windo
>>>> ws-
> xp/>
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Ronni
>>>> 
>>>> 17" MacBook Pro  Intel Core i7
>>>> 2.66GHz / 4GB / 1067 MHz DDR3 / 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200rpm
>>>> 
>>>> OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard
>>>> Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance)
>>>> 
>> 



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