Using Your LaCie Drive, File System Formats

LaCie mini

COMPANION HARD DRIVE

3. Using Your LaCie Drive

Formatting a disk consists of the following: the operating system erases all of the bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk to make sure that all of the sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (i.e., those that are scratched) and creates internal address tables that it later uses to locate information.

As you format the drive, you will have the opportunity to divide the hard drive into sections, called partitions. A partition is a section of the hard drive’s storage capacity that is created to contain files and data.

Once formatted, the actual available storage capacity varies, depending on operating environment, and is generally about 10% less than the non- formatted capacity.

File System Formats

There are three different file system formats that are predominately found in Mac and Windows environments:

•Mac OS Extended (HFS+) - for Mac OS 9.x and Mac OS 10.x •NTFS - for Windows 2000 and XP

•FAT 32 - for Windows Me and legacy operating systems

Using Your LaCie Drive

Tech Note: Windows Users! This LaCie Hard Drive is formatted for

the Mac operating system, and you will need to re-format the drive in order for it to appear and operate under the Windows operating system.

Important Note: If you will be using this drive between Mac and

Windows operating environments, you can create two partitions: one 32GB FAT 32 volume, and one large Mac OS Extended volume. There are certain limitations to this configuration, though; to achieve the best performance and reliability, it is recommended that you utilize a third-party utility, such as Mediafour’s MacDrive, which allows Windows computers to read and write files on a volume formatted for the Mac.

Mac Users

•If you will be using the drive in a strictly Mac OS environment, leave the drive formatted as one large Mac OS Extended volume.

•If you want to be able to install multiple Mac operating systems on the LaCie Drive, partition the drive into multiple Mac OS Extended volumes.

Windows Users

•If you will be using this drive between Windows 98SE, Me, 2000 and/or XP environments, it is recommended that you create two partitions: one that is a 32GB FAT 32 (MS-DOS File System) volume, and the other as a large NTFS volume.

•If you will be using the drive in a strictly Win 2000/XP environment, create one large NTFS volume.

user manual page 13