Share MBP external drive with my PC?

[wavinwayne]

I use a WD "My Passport" 320 GB external drive for Time Machine backups on my Macbook Pro. I would like to be able to use this drive to transfer large files from my Mac to my PC....BUT, my PC will not read the Mac formatted drive. Are there any FREE programs that will allow the PC to access the WD drive?

Thanks in advance.
_________________
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

[Dalton63841]

If you want to hook up the drive directly to the PC then you will need something like MacDrive.

If you want it to access it from over the network while the drive is hooked up to the MBP, then all you have to do is go into System Preferences, under Sharing. Select File Sharing, then under Options select SMB, and set up the share.

[wavinwayne]

Thank you very much for the info. I'll have to give the sharing a try. I looked at the Macdrive 8 software, but it costs a little more than I can spend at the moment (in between jobs).

Thanks again.
_________________
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

[wavinwayne]

After a bit of thought, I found a free work-around (sort of). I have Ubuntu installed alongside Windows on my PC. I booted into Ubuntu, and the Mac-formatted external drive mounted to the desktop just like it does on the Mac. I was able to view and access the files. Since I can also see my PC's Windows partition in Ubuntu, I can use Ubuntu to copy any large files from the Mac-formatted external to my Windows folders.
_________________
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.