Installed Windows 10 on cMP and am puzzled by file transfer

[Levina]

I bought a new camera and my old Mac Pro 4,1>5,1 can't access the raw files. I had a few options but decided that the simplest solution was to install Windows on a separate SATA SSD. I did that this afternoon, installed apps that I needed Windows for and it works well.

I never worked with Windows though (I only know Macs (since 1986)) so I had a few fights with it but all is well now. I found out that I can copy files from the Windows environment to my Mac, which is great. However, the other way around does not work. I can't drag anything from my Mac to the Windows drive.

Can I do something to make that possible? I mean, it seems to me that if it can be done in one direction it can also be done in the other. Right?

TIA.

 

[retta283]

The reason for this is that Windows uses a proprietary drive format, NTFS. macOS only includes read-only support for NTFS drives by default, with no ability to write to the drive.

There are a few ways to go about remedying this, depending on your comfort level (and macOS version, somewhat). First you could set up a mid point between the two systems, like a USB drive or network drive that both operating systems can use, I'd recommend formatting this as ExFAT if it's only to be used as a data drive. ExFAT overcomes the old 4GB file size limitation of FAT32.

If you want a more direct solution there are some third party apps and solutions for macOS that will allow writing to the NTFS drive. I like macFUSE but it's not very straightforward to set up at first. There are apps that will do it like Paragon-NTFS (which seems to be nagware, I haven't used it) and there are various options. Perhaps someone who has used these apps can chime in with their preferences, I always used FUSE.

 

[DeltaMac]

The Mac system can read the Windows files, but cannot write or modify those files. The Windows drive uses a different format (NTFS) which the Mac system cannot make any changes.
You will need to get an NTFS driver to install on the Mac system, such as Tuxera, Paragon, or macFUSE.
There are others. Some are free, which is almost always the slowest solution.

 

[Levina]

The reason for this is that Windows uses a proprietary drive format, NTFS. macOS only includes read-only support for NTFS drives by default, with no ability to write to the drive.

There are a few ways to go about remedying this, depending on your comfort level (and macOS version, somewhat). First you could set up a mid point between the two systems, like a USB drive or network drive that both operating systems can use, I'd recommend formatting this as ExFAT if it's only to be used as a data drive. ExFAT overcomes the old 4GB file size limitation of FAT32.

If you want a more direct solution there are some third party apps and solutions for macOS that will allow writing to the NTFS drive. I like macFUSE but it's not very straightforward to set up at first. There are apps that will do it like Paragon-NTFS (which seems to be nagware, I haven't used it) and there are various options. Perhaps someone who has used these apps can chime in with their preferences, I always used FUSE.

When I couldn’t drag the images to Windows I formatted a USB drive as ExFAT, put the images on it, rebooted in Windows etc., your ‘mid point’ way. It’ll do, especially since this is a one time thing basically as from now on I will download images directly from the camera into Windows, convert them, then drag them to the Mac drive.

I was just curious as to why I could drag files from Windows to Mac but not from Mac to Windows. Thank you and DeltaMac very much for the explanation. Much appreciated.