How does OSX handle specific files originally made in Microsoft programs?

[Dx3me]

I would like to get some advise, since I'm planning to make the switch from a Windows laptop to an iMac within the next few months...
But I have a lot of Microsoft Word, Excel files that I don't want to lose.
Neither can I afford to lose all my emails and websites (using Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox).

I run a company, so for me all the above files are very important to maintain.
- Now my fear is... will OSX recognize all these files by default, or do I need to convert everything with a specific app?
Also, normally I make weekly backups of all my files to an external harddrive, will this harddrive be recognized by OSX?

** I need to be absolutely sure that my files are safe, before I make the switch within the next few months.

 

[Fausty82]

I would like to get some advise, since I'm planning to make the switch from a Windows laptop to an iMac within the next few months...
But I have a lot of Microsoft Word, Excel files that I don't want to lose.
Neither can I afford to lose all my emails and websites (using Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox).

I run a company, so for me all the above files are very important to maintain.
- Now my fear is... will OSX recognize all these files by default, or do I need to convert everything with a specific app?
Also, normally I make weekly backups of all my files to an external harddrive, will this harddrive be recognized by OSX?

** I need to be absolutely sure that my files are safe, before I make the switch within the next few months.

There are versions of Microsoft Office for OS X... as well as Apple's own iWork suite (Pages = Word; Numbers = Excel and Keynote = Powerpoint) that read/write in Office's native formats. If you are comfortable with Microsoft Office, just pick up a copy of the suite for OS X and Bob's your uncle, as they say in England.

As for email, Mozilla has a version of Thunderbird for OS X. There is also a version the Microsoft Office email client (Outlook) that runs in the OS X version of MS Office on OS X.

And, of course, there is a version of Mozilla's Firefox for OS X, as well.

 

[Dx3me]

Ok, I got some valuable info from you guys... thanks!
I guess my best chance would be to get OSX versions of Office, to be able to fully use the Word/Excel files the way I'm used to.

I just checked my external harddrive however, and it's a NTFS format... but it should be able to re-format it to FAT I assume.
(will try that in a bit)

 

[Fausty82]

Ok, I got some valuable info from you guys... thanks!
I guess my best chance would be to get OSX versions of Office, to be able to fully use the Word/Excel files the way I'm used to.

I just checked my external harddrive however, and it's a NTFS format... but it should be able to re-format it to FAT I assume.
(will try that in a bit)

Another option for your external drive would be to connect it to your network via a router that has such a feature (All of the Apple routers do, as well as many other routers available today). By doing this, the network protocols will take care of the conversion to/from NTFS... without the need to convert your existing drive. I currently have a 2TB drive attached via my Apple Airport Extreme router and I can read/write to/from this drive on my Mac, Windows and Linux computers.

 

[Dx3me]

Hmm, not sure what to do here.
I checked the option to switch the file-system on my external harddisk from NTFS to FAT... but I only get the option to switch from NTFS to exFAT.

Regarding compatibility with OSX, would it be a smart choice to switch to exFAT, or would I be better of, sticking to NTFS??

 

[EdwinG]

Current OS X versions are able to read and write on exFAT volumes, although some restrictions may apply.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dx3me]

Ok, I'm about to re-format my external harddrive to exFAT (so it's compatible with both Windows 7 and OSX).

But when formatting, I get the option of choosing the 'allocation unit size'...
- 32 kb
- 64
- 128
- 256
- 1024
- 2048
- 4096
- 8192
- 16384
- 32768

* What size do you recommend me to format?
I take it, it has to do with the size of files you store on the harddrive?
(I plan to store video and music files, when I switch to iMac... for video / music editing purposes and such)