Using External Hard Drive with laptop, xbox360 PS3

parkside_stroller

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to partition my external HDD so that I can use it with my laptop (vista), ps3 and xbox 360 in the fastest formats available on those machines.
I am aware that the games consoles use FAT32 whereas the HDD is pre-set to NTFS (as used by the laptop). I'm not sure however if I can partition the drive to have part of it use FAT32 and the other part NTFS.

I also realise that I can use FAT32 for the whole drive but I am just a little concerned about the 4GB limit on files and I have read that transfer times are slower for FAT32.

Any advice much appreciated.

spg_SCOTT

I have an xbox and use an external HDD. (mainly for the few videos I have)

I also found trouble with the fact that the xbox needs FAT32... What I did was to create a FAT32 partition on the HDD.
This is where I put the videos that I want to be recognised by the xbox. Don't have a ps3 so I can't comment there

EDIT: sorry, I mis read slightly. Yes you can partition it to have different file types.
My external has three partitions, 2 NTFS, one FAT32

parkside_stroller

Thanks Scott - I think PS3 will be same then. I just got the HDD today and it's first time I have owned one - couldn't really find the exact info I was looking for in google. I will give it a try - will I have to use a special tool like Swiss Knife or can it be done easily enough in Windows Vista?

spg_SCOTT

I did the partitioning in either win7 or vista can't remember which but it is probably the same, given the similarities between the two.

It may be a bit awkward to use this though, you have to shrink the volume then create the partition.
This is the method I used: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/ Although this only shows the making space for the partition, once this is done, you then create a partition from the extra space you have created. (and as part of the creation you are asked about formatting, which is where FAT32 comes in)

There are probably other programs that can do this, but I hate installing things and this works just fine.

Scott