Software help archive

A read-only archive of old serato.com help threads.

Changed from PC to Mac... now external HD is slower?

Product
Scratch Live
Version
-
Hardware
Ortofon | Serato S-120
Computer
-
OS
Platform
-
DJ Habibi 3:56 PM - 19 September, 2008
Hi,

On a macbook 2.4ghz, 250 hard drive. When I was using my old laptop, my external hd was my main drive. Now however I have more space on my new mac so my external is just a backup. Both my serato libraries are identical (i update my external when I make changes or add music to my mac hd). But when it comes to building overviews my mac is done in ten minutes and the external takes up to an hour!?!?!?

My external was working faster on pc too (there´s a longer delay when I load tunes on my mac using the external)... this was just a test though, like i said the external is a backup and I gig with my internal and eveything´s perfect.

Reasons for the slow external? Do I need to reformat it perhaps?
Konix 4:31 PM - 19 September, 2008
If your external drive is formatted FAT32, it's going to load tracks slow on the Mac. There's a problem with FAT32 drives and slowing loading times with OSX 10.5.3, 10.5.4 and 10.5.5.

You could format the drive to Mac HFS+ format and you won't have this problem, but then you won't be able to use the drive on PCs, as PCs can't read Mac HFS+ drives. Also note formatting the drive erases everything on it, so make sure to back up everything first before formatting it.
link 5:28 PM - 19 September, 2008
you can use macdrive software if you want your ext drive to be accesible by windows os.
DJ Habibi 10:49 AM - 20 September, 2008
In which case gentlemen I´ll leave it alone: I may need to use it at gig one day for other computers and want it mac and windows compatible... thanks!