Hello fellow computing dot netters. Got a problem here. Have an external Hard Drive, 160GB, Freecom. It's a big brick of a thing and is powered by USB and an external power source. It is partitioned three ways. One NTFS (for my Windows backup) one FAT32 (for storage in Windows and the Mac) and one FAT32 which I planned to make HFS+ (for Mac backup) - however the Mac won't mount any of the partitions. Looked for drivers on Google, but no go. Any ideas?

I don't know anything about Macs but I do know a little about harddrives. I suggest that if this is a new setup you remove ALL partitions and start over. Instead of creating a primary partition and an Extended partition with logical drives, create THREE Primary partitions. Don't format the ones destined for the Mac. Let the Mac format instead. I think that should solve your problems. Keep in mind that you are placing all your eggs in one basket with this approach. If something happens to this external drive you stand to lose all your backups. Might want to consider burning personal data to disk in addition to the above. OSes and programs can be re-installed. Personal data can't be replaced, once lost.

Thanks OtheHill for the quick response. Someone else suggested the partitions might have been at fault. I used RANISH partition manager to do it. I have since made one backup of my Windows machine, but I can afford to lose that as I need to make another. I'm aware of putting all my eggs in one basket, but I periodically make DVD backups as well :)

As I said, I know zilch about Macs but I would guess it doesn't want to mount a logical drive. Especially one formatted for Windows. I haven't tried to partition an External drive at all as it isn't really necassary if staying within the Windows family. I backup to DVDR. That said, I am not sure how the different partitions will present themselves to the different OSes. I am guessing all Primary partitions will be more compatible.

Perhaps I should just make one single large partition and use folders instead? That said I'm not even sure G3's can "see" all of 160GB. I'll experiment.

Well folks, I've been trying all even to get this external HD to work in my mac and it just doesn't want to know. I tried two partitions (primary) and one partition (primary) and it wouldn't see it. The Winbox has no problem recognising it at all. Just on the offchance that it would make a difference, I'm running software update now. OS 10.3.9 should be up and running soon. It's fast looking like I will need to buy a "Mac Compatible" external HD though.

A harddrive is a harddrive. I don't think that you need anything special. This is especially true now that Macs use x86 instruction set processors. Perhaps your USB ports are not working. Or the Mac needs a driver for the enclosure.