Picasa has become one of the most popular tools for organzing and editing digital photos.

Unfortunately, it only works with Windows. Well, thanks to Mac Phreak over at the Picasa discussion boards here is a little tip on how to use Picasa if you live on a Mac and store all your photos on a Mac-formatted external drive.

What you need:
Mac external drive
Windows computer - Stand alone PC, a Mac running Boot Camp or a virtual install of Windows (Fusion or Parallels)
Picasa
MacDrive
Photos

Using either Windows Vista or XP, you will need to edit a text file so Picasa can see your external drive. Here are 5 simple steps to get you up and running.

1) Plug in your Mac-formatted external drive. You can see it in Windows thanks to MacDrive.

A Mac-formatted hard drives appearing in Windows Vista thanks to MacDrive

2) Open up “My Computer” and make a note of the drive letter given to the external drive.
3) Make sure “Show hidden files” is turned on. To check whether or not you can see hidden files, follow these steps:

Make sure "Show hidden files and folders" is checked

Windows XP
Open “Folder Options”, Tools>Folder Options>View Tab>Show hidden files and folders. Click OK.

Windows Vista
Open “Folder Options”, Star>Control Panel>Appearance and Personalization>Folder Options. Click the view tab and under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders. Click OK.

Open and edit the Picasa "watchedfolders" text file

4) Change Picasa’s “watchedfolders.txt” text file. Here is where you can find it:

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\<USER>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Picasa2Albums

Windows Vista
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Google\Picasa2Albums

Once you have located “watchedfolders.txt”, add the external drive Mac-formatted drive, i.e. “F:\”.

5) Start Picasa.

Picasa will now scan the Mac external drive. The drive does not appear in the Folder List, but it does appear as a Watched Folder.

Have fun editing and organizing all your photos with Picasa.

Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of a hot deal on XPlay 3!

XPlay is the easiest way to manage music on your iPod and copy music off your iPod, and you can purchase it today for only $19.95. That’s a full $10 off–the lowest XPlay price ever.

With XPlay, you simply drop your music, playlists, videos, and photos directly onto your iPod, unplug, and away you go.  You can even manage your iPod with Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center, and use Mac-formatted iPods with Windows!

XPlay gives you direct drive-letter access to your iPod, so there’s no application to get in your way.  Copy music, photos, playlists and videos both on and off your iPod, using any computer.

At less than $20, you might as well go ahead and give yourself the gift of true Windows/iPod integration.

To XPlay on one computer for $19.95, or on two computers for just $29.95, visit www.mediafour.com/xplay.

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What’s new in MacDrive 7.2.2?
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• Fixed: Activation is maintained when updating from versions 7.0.10 and earlier

You can download this update from the Mediafour web site:

http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive

If you have a question about the operation or installation of this update, please look for help online at:

http://www.mediafour.com/support

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What’s new in MacDrive 7.2.1?
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• Improved: Activation is maintained when running Boot Camp virtually with VMware Fusion and Parallels
• Fixed: Hibernation causing disk consistency issues when running Boot Camp (32-bit only, a fix for 64-bit will be available soon)
• Fixed: Minor fixes and revisions

You can download this update from the Mediafour web site:

http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive

If you have a question about the operation or installation of this update, please look for help online at:

http://www.mediafour.com/support

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What’s new in MacDrive 7.2?
=================

• Added: Compatibilty with Windows Vista (64-bit)
• Improved: Minor improvements and revisions

You can download this update from the Mediafour web site:

http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive

If you have a question about the operation or installation of this update, please look for help online at:

http://www.mediafour.com/support

================
What’s new in XPlay 3.0.2?
================

• Fixed: Code 10 in Device Manager for Mediafour iPod WPD Device

You can download this update from the Mediafour web site:

XPlay
http://www.mediafour.com/updates/xplay

If you have a question about the operation or installation of this update, please look for help online at:

http://www.mediafour.com/support

================
What’s new in XPlay 3.0.1?
================

• Improved: Activation issues when reinstalling Windows on the same computer
• Improved: “Explore my iPod with XPlay” was added to the Desktop and Start Menu
• Fixed: Music on the iPod was not displayed in XPlay if it had corrupt tag data
• Fixed: iPod nano (3G) and iPod Classic could report “No Songs” after making tag changes
• Fixed: Minor fixes and revisions

You can download this update from the Mediafour web site:

XPlay
http://www.mediafour.com/updates/xplay

If you have a question about the operation or installation of this update, please look for help online at:

http://www.mediafour.com/support

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What’s new in MacDrive 7.1?
=================

• Improved: Activation issues when reinstalling Windows on the same computer
• Fixed: Mac-formatted iPod compatibility with iTunes
• Fixed: Stability and reliability issues that could cause a system crash
• Fixed: Corrupt journal caused “The disk structure is corrupt and unreadable.” error
• Fixed: MacDrive Disk Manager now checks and repairs HFS+ (Journaled) disks
• Fixed: Minor fixes and revisions

You can download this update from the Mediafour web site:

http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive

If you have a question about the operation or installation of this update, please look for help online at:

http://www.mediafour.com/support

You have asked and we have listened.

The all new XPlay 3 truly integrates your Windows or Mac iPod with Windows-just drop your music, playlists, videos, and photos directly onto your iPod, unplug and away you go.

XPlay 3 brings compatibility with Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, and the ability to get your music, playlists, videos, and photos on and off your iPod. Yes, we said photos.

Not an iTunes fan? XPlay 3 gives you direct access to the iPod and adds compatiblity with Windows Media Player 11 and Vista Media Center. In addition, XPlay 3 can also recover music and videos that your iPod can no longer find.

Be sure to check out all the new features of XPlay 3 and take it for a test drive.

When you’re ready to purchase visit the Mediafour Online store and pick up a single license for only $29.95 or the convenient two computer license for only $39.95. Previous owners of XPlay can upgrade to the new version for only $14.95 ($24.95 for 2-pack upgrade).

The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg was recently asked how to share an external hard drive with both a Mac and Windows PC. Walt’s conclusion:

“You can install a third-party Windows program called MacDrive 7, which allows Windows to both read from, and write to, Mac-formatted drives. I have tested it successfully with Vista under Boot Camp on an iMac.”

If Mr. Mossberg says MacDrive is the way to go, who are we to argue? Read more of Mossberg’s Mailbox.