How to format my external HDD to NTFS

[compute]

Hi people,

I have an external HDD (Lacie) but every time i want to drag a file bigger than 4GB to my external HDD i get a message saying an error occurred and it won't let me transfer all other files smaller than 4GB are no problem.

I would like to format my external HDD to NTFS only problem is i have absolutely no idea on how to do this on a mac i'm still running OSX leopard 10.6.8

Could someone please explain in the most easy way on how to format my external drive please, i'm a real noob when it comes to this stuff. All help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GGJstudios]

Hi people,

I have an external HDD (Lacie) but every time i want to drag a file bigger than 4GB to my external HDD i get a message saying an error occurred and it won't let me transfer all other files smaller than 4GB are no problem.

I would like to format my external HDD to NTFS only problem is i have absolutely no idea on how to do this on a mac i'm still running OSX leopard 10.6.8

Could someone please explain in the most easy way on how to format my external drive please, i'm a real noob when it comes to this stuff. All help would be greatly appreciated.

You can format drives using Disk Utility, after enabling writing to NTFS as follows. Mac OS X can only read NTFS drives natively, but writing is possible via several methods. 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 ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
  • For Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
  • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
  • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
  • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, 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.

 

[Weaselboy]

Hi people,

I have an external HDD (Lacie) but every time i want to drag a file bigger than 4GB to my external HDD i get a message saying an error occurred and it won't let me transfer all other files smaller than 4GB are no problem.

I would like to format my external HDD to NTFS only problem is i have absolutely no idea on how to do this on a mac i'm still running OSX leopard 10.6.8

Could someone please explain in the most easy way on how to format my external drive please, i'm a real noob when it comes to this stuff. All help would be greatly appreciated.

You will need to add a product like Paragon to enable writing the NTFS drives on your Mac. A better and free solution would be to format the external drive to ExFAT. You can do this with Disk Utility in OS X. That will allow read/write on both Mac and Windows machines.

What you are seeing is the 4GB file size limitation of a FAT32 formatted drive. ExFAT does not have this limitation and should do the trick for you.

 

[compute]

thanks guys, really appreciate the help!