I'm planning to buy a Western Digital My Passport 4TB external HDD. In the official page, it says that it's compatible with Windows 7/8/10, and that use for any other OS's requires reformatting. Thing is, I want to buy this HDD so I can backup my files from my old Windows XP installation, then format the PC and transfer the files onto a newly formatted Windows 7 one. What problems will I encounter by using this drive on 2 different OS's? Is there a fix? If I use only the most basic drivers for this HDD, will I have an issue?
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External HDD and OS compatibility question
- Thread starter Ma-dazz
- Start date
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...dows-xp-hard-drive-size-limit?forum=itproxpsp
This is all a bit tecky but Windows XP will only recognise up to 2TB. So you could put your files on to the disk only to find that when you try to copy those files back Windows 7 wont see them. You will have to partition the disk into 2 x 2TB partitions. Then use to copy your files and when you have done undo the partitioning. I would use this free tool for that:- https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/ but I don't think you will able to use it in Windows XP.
This is all a bit tecky but Windows XP will only recognise up to 2TB. So you could put your files on to the disk only to find that when you try to copy those files back Windows 7 wont see them. You will have to partition the disk into 2 x 2TB partitions. Then use to copy your files and when you have done undo the partitioning. I would use this free tool for that:- https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/ but I don't think you will able to use it in Windows XP.
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...dows-xp-hard-drive-size-limit?forum=itproxpsp
This is all a bit tecky but Windows XP will only recognise up to 2TB. So you could put your files on to the disk only to find that when you try to copy those files back Windows 7 wont see them. You will have to partition the disk into 2 x 2TB partitions. Then use to copy your files and when you have done undo the partitioning. I would use this free tool for that:- https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/ but I don't think you will able to use it in Windows XP.
I'm not too fond of making changes like this. Instead, I came up with a new solution which I'm not really sure will work.
I also own a Windows 7 laptop. I will connect the external HDD to it, then connect the laptop to my Windows XP PC via an Ethernet cable, and then do the backup from the PC to the HDD via the laptop. How easy/successful/bothersome would this be?
Will I have any more luck considering I got a dual-boot installation on the PC (also have Ubuntu installed)? Should I just do the whole process from Ubuntu?
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That should work but could be "bothersome" You will need to connect your two computers together using a crossover ethernet cable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable