Mac Users
You may customize the drive by reformatting and/or partitioning the drive with separate file system
formats. For optimal performance in Mac OS environments, format and partition the drive as one
large Mac OS Extended volume.
Mac OS Extended (HFS+):
Mac OS Extended refers to the file system used by Mac OS X. HFS+
represents an optimization of the older HFS file system by using hard disk space more efficiently.
With HFS+, you are no longer limited by block size.
MS-DOS File System (FAT 32):
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.
There are two possible file system format categories for Mac users: HFS+ and FAT 32 (MS-DOS). See
the table below for more information.
Mac File System Formats
Use HFS+ if:
…you will be using the drive on Macs only; performance will generally be greater when compared
to FAT 32. This file system is NOT compatible with Windows OS.
Use FAT32 if:
…you will be using your drive with both Windows and Mac OS 9.x or 10.x or sharing the drive
between Windows 2000, 98 SE, XP, Vista, and Windows 7. Maximum single file size is 4GB.
Formatting Instructions
The steps listed below will help you to format and partition a disk drive. For more information on
choosing the optimal file format, refer to
About File System Formats
.
Caution:
Formatting will erase everything from the hard drive. If you have information that you
want to protect or continue to use, back up this information before performing these steps.
Important Info:
If you reset the LaCie partition, the user manual and utilities will not be
available on your drive and will have to be downloaded from
www.lacie.com/support/
.
Note:
Refer to your operating system's documentation for more information on reformatting
and partitioning your drive.
13 | LaCie User Manual
