Hard drive format for Mac P2CMS offload for Avid

[SantaCruzMichael]

Hey guys,
I am delivering some footage for a network that will be edited on Avid, and I'll be offloading with P2CMS on a Mac.
They sent me a hard drive to compile MXF files on. What should I format the drive to?

Tried to search the forums on this, but I've been getting error messages with the search function.

Thanks for any tips..

[Barry_Green]

Fat32.

[NoahK]

I'd go NTFS with this plugin:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

-Noah

[SantaCruzMichael]

Thanks Barry, I went with FAT32
Noah, I'm assuming the advantage of NTFS is that you can then edit from this drive without the limitations introduced by running FinalCut with FAT32?

PS, your avatar pic is awesome.

[Barry_Green]

I defer to Noah on anything Apple-related. I suggested FAT32 because it is a universally-supported format that works on both platforms, but if Noah says NTFS is better, I'm sure there are reasons.

[NoahK]

Yeah there are some size limitations to FAT32 in OS X. NTFS is perfect for both platforms but it's not native without that plugin. With it- that's your best bet- worth every penny.

Noah

[David Saraceno]

One consideration is having the PC side use MacDrive, which will enable them to mount a Mac formatted drive and access the files.

If the project is big enough, it can be justified and you won't have issues. and it runs about $60.00

[SantaCruzMichael]

Thanks very much guys.
Footage has been whisked away by FedEx on a FAT32 drive, which should be fine, seeing as it's only for transfer.
I'll grab NTFS or MacDrive utilities for future use.
cheers,
Michael

[GTP]

So if understand correctly, I install this program from Paragon Software Group on both my PC and my Mac, I can format a drive NTFS on my PC, offload P2 contents, then use the P2 contents for editing on my MAC? The advantage is you can have large file sizes for long shots or final projects? Just trying to wrap my head around this stuff... thanks!

[David Jimerson]

So if understand correctly, I install this program from Paragon Software Group on both my PC and my Mac, I can format a drive NTFS on my PC, offload P2 contents, then use the P2 contents for editing on my MAC? The advantage is you can have large file sizes for long shots or final projects? Just trying to wrap my head around this stuff... thanks!

Close, but not exactly. You only need to install it on the Mac; NTFS is a native Windows file format.

[GTP]

Thanks for the response... wouldn't this program pretty much be necessary if you wanted a digital master file of a project? Just guessing the file size would be more than 4GB.

[David Jimerson]

If you want to share a drive with full read/write capability between Windows and OS X with any files larger than 4 GB, then you need to do that, or use MacDrive in Windows for Mac HFS+ formatted drives.

[DIGIMARK]

So apologies if this is a bit redundant, just seeking clarification.

To transfer P2 files to a PC compatible drive using a mac the drive needs to be formatted NTFS and the mac needs have installed the appropriate NTFS driver.

Would a drag and drop method be best, P2CMS, or some other transfer program?


The bigger question of why anyone would want to use a PC I'll leave for another forum.

thanks