Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I purchased a 3TB HDD, which I put into an USB enclosure for my iMac. The drive is recognized at boot, but it only shows 801.23GB.

I formatted the drive with into two 1.5TB FAT32 partitions via Win7. My Windows machine shows the correct partitions, but when I attach the enclosure to my iMac it shows one 801.23GB partition.

Do you have any idea?

share|improve this question
1  
Where did your second 'e' go, Leeroy? (and do you still have any chicken?) – bmike♦ Aug 27 '11 at 21:14
Have you retried repartitioning the drive in disk utility? – XAleXOwnZX Aug 27 '11 at 21:53
I would expect better mac behavior if you format the drive as GUID as opposed to MBR. Also, macs generally don't use all the FAT volume size limitation workarounds that are built into windows OS. – bmike♦ Aug 27 '11 at 22:23

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I have no idea why the Mac can't see the 2 partitions.

Try using Disk Utility on the Mac to format the drive with FAT 32, then give it 2 partitions, and see if the Windows likes it.

That's the best I can come up with. It works with thumb drives.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.