LaCie SAFE Hard Drive
User Manual
page
Helpful Information
FAT 32 to NTFS, there is no going back. You
can convert from FAT 32 to NTFS, but not the
other way around.
Use NTFS if:
You want to optimize drive performance under
Windows 2000 or XP.
You want to encrypt files, assign permissions to
files, or want to audit files for access.
You will be formatting partitions larger than
32GB.
•
•
•
You need to store individual files that are larger
than 4GB.
You need a filing system that can be mirrored or
structured like a RAID 5 configuration.
•
•
Mac OS 10.x Users: You have the option of for-
matting the drive in one of four formats: Mac OS
Standard (HFS), Mac OS Extended (HFS+), MS-
DOS File System and UNIX File System (UFS).
HFS - Mac OS Standard
Mac OS Standard refers to the file system used
by Mac OS 8.0 and earlier. This is no longer a mod-
ern file system specification, and Mac OS Extend-
ed is more efficient. Only use this file system if you
are creating a volume smaller than 32MB, using a
Mac with a 680X0 processor, or you are creating a
file structure that will be need to be used by Macs
using Mac OS 8.0 or earlier.
HFS+ - Mac OS Extended
Mac OS Extended refers to the file system
used by Mac OS 8.1 and later. HFS+ represents
an optimization of the older HFS file system by
using hard disk space more efficiently. Building off
of HFS, they increased the number of blocks from
65,536 to 4.29 billion. With HFS+, you are no lon-
ger limited by block size.
MS-DOS File System
This is the Microsoft file system, more typically
known as FAT 32. This is the file system to use if
you are going to be using your LaCie hard drive
between Macs and Windows operating systems.
UNIX File System
This is the file system based on UNIX, and is
preferable for users developing UNIX-based ap-
plications within Mac OS 10.x. Unless you have a
specific reason to use the UNIX File System, you
should instead format your drive using Mac OS
Extended (HFS+), because it provides Mac users
with a more familiar operating experience.
Mac Users
n
ImpOrTANT INfO:
If you will be shar-
ing the hard drive between Mac and Win-
dows operating environments, you will want
to leave the drive formatted in FAT 32.
