Can't copy files to external hard drive....

[Amadore]

*edit* Just figured it out after a lot of tinkering, please delete.

Mac newbie here!

I just bought a 13 inch MacBook Air, and so far I love it. There are; however, a few things that I have no idea how to do:

I backed up all my PC files to an external hard drive. When I plug in the external hard drive to the Mac I can see them all, but I can't copy any files from my new MacBook Air to the external HD. I downloaded a few videos to the Mac, and when I try to drop them into the external HD I just see a circle with a slash though it. How can I get them onto the drive?

Thank you so much,

 

[GGJstudios]

I backed up all my PC files to an external hard drive. When I plug in the external hard drive to the Mac I can see them all, but I can't copy any files from my new MacBook Air to the external HD.

That's because the drive is formatted as NTFS.

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)
  • 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

 

[jackrv]

On the PC, copy the files off of the External HDD and reformat as ExFat. Copy the files back on, and both PC and Mac will be able to read/write.

 

[GGJstudios]

On the PC, copy the files off of the External HDD and reformat as ExFat. Copy the files back on, and both PC and Mac will be able to read/write.

That's one option, but may not be practical, if the OP doesn't have sufficient storage to offload the files. It isn't necessary to reformat the drive to be able to read/write from Mac OS X.

 

[JonasDK]

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

This is what I use - Cheap and works flawlessly