User manual LACIE LITTLE DISK

[. . . ] LaCie Little Disk · Design by Sam HecHt User Manual Table of Contents page 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minimum System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Windows users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] If your needs change, you can reformat your LaCie Little Disk to optimize it for use with Windows or Mac, or for cross-platform use. For example, if you used LaCie Setup Assistant to format your drive to work with your Mac (HFS+), but now you want to share your hard disk with Windows users, you can reformat it to FAT 32 (MS-DOS) for this purpose. You may need to format your LaCie Little Disk if LaCie Setup Assistant was interrupted or stopped. If the hard disk does not appear in My Computer (Windows) or on the desktop (Mac), it may not be formatted properly. TECHNICAL INFORMATION: The LaCie hard drive is preformatted in FAT-32 (MS-DOS) format, optimized for use with Mac and Windows OS. See File System Formats, below for explanations of the other possible file formats. IMPORTANT INFO: Reformatting 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 reformatting. File System Formats What is Formatting? When a disk is formatted, the following things occur: the operating system erases all of the bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk to make sure that all of the sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (i. e. , those that are scratched) and creates internal address tables that it later uses to locate information. There are three different file system format categories: NTFS, FAT 32 (MS-DOS), and Mac OS Extended (HFS+). Use the information below to determine which format is best for you. Use NTFS if. . . . . . you will be using the drive only with Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista (performance will generally be greater when compared to FAT 32). This file system is compatible in read only mode with Mac OS X 10. 3 and higher. What is Partitioning? You can also divide the hard disk into sections, called partitions. A partition is a section of the hard disk's storage capacity that is created to contain files and data. For instance, you could create three partitions on your drive: one partition for your office documents, one as a backup and one for your multimedia files. Or, if you will be sharing the drive with another person in your household or office, you can create a partition for each person who uses the drive. Partitioning is optional. 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 FAT 32 (MS-DOS) if. . . . . . you will be using your drive with both Windows and Mac OS X 10. 3 or sharing the drive between Windows 2000 and Windows XP or Windows Vista. Maximum single file size is 4GB. LaCie Little Disk · Design by Sam HecHt User Manual Formatting & Partitioning page 15 3. 1. Formatting for Windows Users If your disk is formatted as a FAT32 volume, proceed to section 3. 1. 1. If your disk is formatted as an HFS+ volume (or unrecognized in Windows) , click here or proceed to section 3. 1. 2. Formatting from HFS+ (Apple File System) to NTFS. 3. 1. 1. Formatting from FAT32 to NTFS Follow these steps if you used LaCie Setup Assistant to create an exchange volume on your LaCie Little Disk for data sharing between Windows and Mac computers or if you reformatted your LaCie Little Disk as a FAT32 volume on a Mac. CAUTION: Following these steps will erase everything from the hard disk. If you have information that you want to protect or continue to use, back up this information before performing these steps. Select Disk Management under Storage (you may have to expand the Storage list to see the Disk Management option). Information about all storage devices connected to your computer appears in the pane on the right. [. . . ] Otherwise, the Hi-Speed USB 2. 0 device will operate at the slower USB 1. 1 transfer rates. Check to see that the Hi-Speed USB 2. 0 drivers for both your host bus adapter and device have been installed correctly. Minimum System Requirements Did you follow the correct installation steps for the specific interface and operating system?Are both ends of the USB cable securely attached? Is there a conflict with other device drivers or extensions? [. . . ]