External HDD is read only?

[tyron2000]

Hi,

First off I am new to this forum, so hello everyone!

I am new to the iMac after building gaming PC's for several years. I have got the iMac 27" all signing and dancing iMac.

When I attached my 500GB external HDD to the USB port on the rear of the iMac, all the files are read only? I have tried to change this but can not ind a way to do this.

Am I missing something simple? Please help...

Many Thanks

Tyron

 

[miles01110]

It's probably an NTFS drive, which OS X can't write to by default. Look into MacFUSE or NTFS-3G.

 

[tyron2000]

Ok,

Going to back up the HDD and see if I can format the HDD to MacFUSE... I'll post if I get stuck.

Many Thanks

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Ok,

Going to back up the HDD and see if I can format the HDD to MacFUSE... I'll post if I get stuck.

Many Thanks

MacFuse is not a 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.
• AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
• 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.
• 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

 

[tyron2000]

OK, installed NTFS-3G and got this error when I restarted:

NTFS-3G could not mount /dev/disk1s1
at /Volumes/My Book because the following problem occurred:

dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib
Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g
Reason: image not found

Any ideas?

 

[tyron2000]

Ok,

Sorted now.

Backed everything up then formatted the HDD to a Mac file system and now using it as a back up disk with Time Machine.

Thanks for the help