USB Flash Drive for transferring between Mac & PC??

Jack31081

Member
Jan 20, 2005
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I'm looking to get a USB flash drive to transfer files between my Powerbook and my desktop PC, but from some of the related threads I found here it seems like Windows will format the flash drive when I use it. If this is the case, will I then be able to use it on my powerbook? Or inversely, if I use it first on my powerbook, will it be formatted as an HSF drive, making it unusable on my PC?

If anyone uses a flash drive for this and it works, or if you've tried and failed, let me know. Don't want to waste money on a flash drive I can only use on one computer...

thanks.
 

Lord Zado

Senior member
Jan 21, 2005
263
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Nope, it's not an issue at all. I do it all the time at work between the office Dell's and a co-workers powerbook G4.
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
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The only issue I've had is that older Mac OSes (I'm talking like System 7/8 here) don't always have proper support for USB jump drives, and need drivers to be installed first. If there are no drivers for your particular drive, you're stuck. Mac OS 9 and OSX seem to support almost all of them out of the box.
 

MarioBros

Junior Member
Feb 3, 2005
14
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Yes, it works. I use a Sandisk Cruzer Mini. I use it to transfer stuff from an Imac to a PC
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
11,313
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Thumb drives are typically formatted as FAT32. Mac OS 10.x understands this filesystem just fine. I use a Lexar Jumpdrive all the time with my Macs and PCs. Its the best way to transfer files quickly, aside from networking.
 

LtPage1

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2004
6,311
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Originally posted by: Matthias99
The only issue I've had is that older Mac OSes (I'm talking like System 7/8 here) don't always have proper support for USB jump drives, and need drivers to be installed first. If there are no drivers for your particular drive, you're stuck. Mac OS 9 and OSX seem to support almost all of them out of the box.

neither does win98. if youre using 9/X and 2000/ME/XP, youll be fine. and if youre not, there are drivers. i do it all the time.