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Vercatron

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2010
1
0
Basically I just got myself the latest MacBook as an upgrade from an old laptop. With my old laptop I had no problems what so ever when using my external hard drive. To delete any files I didn't want I would just right click and press the delete option. However, when connected to my new Mac, there is no such option when right clicking on a file. I've tried dragging the file to a recycling bin but I get a message from the finder saying this file can't be deleted. I've tried moving the file out of my hard drive which worked and then deleting it which was fine but the file remained in the external hard drive as I'd only created a copy. I can't figure out how to delete files I don't want. Deleting everything on the hard drive is out of the question. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

Ross.
 

iTzChasE

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2008
356
20
Ehh, This might work. Not sure though.

Right click on the Drive and then hit Get info. Look towards the bottom at Sharing/Permissions and make sure it says Read & Write.
 

Thatzlife

macrumors newbie
Apr 18, 2011
1
0
Having same issue

Ehh, This might work. Not sure though.

Right click on the Drive and then hit Get info. Look towards the bottom at Sharing/Permissions and make sure it says Read & Write.


I did this and it said READ ONLY. with no option to choose Read and Write.

So the question is, how do we get it to say READ AND WRITE?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,539
941
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)
Choose the appropriate format:
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive) NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion and later)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X. [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
 
Last edited:

bobright

macrumors 601
Jun 29, 2010
4,813
33
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X: Install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free)
  • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx 33USD).
  • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
I am searching here as I just ran into this problem as the OP. And yes this hard drive was formatted for a windows machine.

GGJ-
Is this app still relevant? I want to delete stuff from my External without losing anything when formatting or whatever. I want to just manually delete certain stuff from it.
 

aadi87

macrumors newbie
Jan 10, 2014
1
0
Hey guys,

If formatted to NTFS 3G, would it be recognised by Windows if needed to be used ??
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,539
941
I am searching here as I just ran into this problem as the OP. And yes this hard drive was formatted for a windows machine.

GGJ-
Is this app still relevant? I want to delete stuff from my External without losing anything when formatting or whatever. I want to just manually delete certain stuff from it.
I just now saw your post from over a year ago. I've updated my previous post to include more current information. I recommend Paragon for reading, writing and formatting NTFS drives from OS X.
Hey guys,

If formatted to NTFS 3G, would it be recognised by Windows if needed to be used ??
Yes.
 

inglesereepless

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2017
1
0
Basically I just got myself the latest MacBook as an upgrade from an old laptop. With my old laptop I had no problems what so ever when using my external hard drive. To delete any files I didn't want I would just right click and press the delete option. However, when connected to my new Mac, there is no such option when right clicking on a file. I've tried dragging the file to a recycling bin but I get a message from the finder saying this file can't be deleted. I've tried moving the file out of my hard drive which worked and then deleting it which was fine but the file remained in the external hard drive as I'd only created a copy. I can't figure out how to delete files I don't want. Deleting everything on the hard drive is out of the question. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

Ross.
[doublepost=1489644680][/doublepost]for windows.. just right click your external hard drive the select properties, the click the tools tab above.. click the "check now" button... wait till it finished.. then you should have all the permissions to your hard drive,, such us delete move, copy, or even install a software to your drive.... hope it'll help........
 

Ta2dsoldier84

macrumors newbie
Nov 4, 2017
1
0
go to launch pad and then select disk utiliries from there and the rest is self explanitory and easy to follow...i actually figured that out while trying to get the same answer you were lol
 

irishgirl0413

macrumors newbie
Jul 17, 2018
2
0
Ehh, This might work. Not sure though.

Right click on the Drive and then hit Get info. Look towards the bottom at Sharing/Permissions and make sure it says Read & Write.

Great suggestion ... but this didn't help me to save more files OR delete those already on. Appreciate your input though
 

old-wiz

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2008
8,331
228
West Suburban Boston Ma
A drive formatted NTFS only reads on an iMac unless you get one of the programs that will read and writs NTFS. You will not be able to keep any files if you format the drive - either bet the program like paragon or copy the files you want to save to another drive then format the NTFS drive for Mac.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,539
941
A drive formatted NTFS only reads on an iMac unless you get one of the programs that will read and writs NTFS.
macOS can read NTFS natively. It just can't format or write natively. See my earlier post for more info.
 
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