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external hd from my pc now hooked to my mac, cant delete files

H

Hawco

macrumors newbie
Original poster
i just hooked a seagate external hd that i use to use on my PC
to my mac, i can watch the video files fine, but i cant delete the ones
i dont want.

is there a way to change the files so i can edit the name or delete them without havin to format the HD?

thanks !!
 
Did you format the hard drive using the Apple Disk Utility before using the hard drive? Otherwise, some or all features will not work properly.
 
NickZac said:
Did you format the hard drive using the Apple Disk Utility before using the hard drive? Otherwise, some or all features will not work properly.
Click to expand...

no i didnt format it, because i used it with my PC for a couple years and all my video footage is on it, so i don't wanna erase everything on it,
but when i plug in into my mac i can watch the videos but thats it cant delete, cant rename nothing,

so is there anything i can do so it would be possible to rename them and so on ?
 
pyroza said:
It's probably NTFS formatted, and you can only read NTFS on a Mac
Click to expand...

i downloaded it but now what, nothing really opened up just a gauge came up went to 100% and that was that,

so now plug my hard drive back in and it should work or what else do i need to do ?
 
Hawco said:
i downloaded it but now what, nothing really opened up just a gauge came up went to 100% and that was that,

so now plug my hard drive back in and it should work or what else do i need to do ?
Click to expand...

It should be a Preference Pane option in the bottom of System Preferences...thats if you got the right one
 
tjb1 said:
It should be a Preference Pane option in the bottom of System Preferences...thats if you got the right one
Click to expand...

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/30449/ntfs-for-mac
thats the link i used i downloaded it, but im new to mac so i dunno what else had to be done to install it besides clicking on it in the download folder,

so i guess now i have to go into system preferences? as much step by step you can give me for advice is greatly appreciated lol,

and after this i should be able to work with the files on the HD no problem?
 
Here's what I did: I had a 1.5TB drive from my PC days that I got tired of not being able to copy any to or delete from.

I was using only about 500 gb so I bought a 1TB drive, formatted it HFS+, copied everything to the new drive, formatted the old drive and copied it all back. Now I'm using the new drive as my dedicated Time Machine drive.
 
tasslehawf said:
Here's what I did: I had a 1.5TB drive from my PC days that I got tired of not being able to copy any to or delete from.

I was using only about 500 gb so I bought a 1TB drive, formatted it HFS+, copied everything to the new drive, formatted the old drive and copied it all back. Now I'm using the new drive as my dedicated Time Machine drive.
Click to expand...

i think i know what you mean, i was thinking about trying something like that
i'm gonna move the files from my ext. HD to my PC,
after thats done i'll format the HD on my mac, set it for this macbook,
then plug it back into m pc and copy the files to it

does anyone know if that will work or its a waste of time ?
 
No, you cant write to a HFS drive on a pc without pricey programs... NTFS-3G is free and does the same thing, only on mac. Cant you just copy the files off the HDD to your Mac then format it and copy them back?
 
tjb1 said:
No, you cant write to a HFS drive on a pc without pricey programs... NTFS-3G is free and does the same thing, only on mac. Cant you just copy the files off the HDD to your Mac then format it and copy them back?
Click to expand...

trying it now, i'll let you know !
 
when i copied the flies from my HD to my mac, when i open em i still cant delete them so i guess this isnt gonna work lol
 
The easiest thing may be to copy the files onto your Mac as you have, format the HDD, and then place the information back onto the drive so it can be edited while in the external hard drive.
 
Hawco said:
i just hooked a seagate external hd that i use to use on my PC
to my mac, i can watch the video files fine, but i cant delete the ones
i dont want.
Click to expand...
It's NTFS format:

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
  • Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
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.
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended)
  • Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
  • Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backups of Mac internal hard drive.
  • To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
  • To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
  • Maximum file size: 8EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 8EiB
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • exFAT partitions created with OS X 10.6.5 are inaccessible from Windows 7
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
 
Last edited:
NickZac said:
The easiest thing may be to copy the files onto your Mac as you have, format the HDD, and then place the information back onto the drive so it can be edited while in the external hard drive.
Click to expand...

that worked great, thanks !!
 
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