hi all! i just got my new macbook air 13. i got an external hard drive thats currently being formatted for my mac right now.( over the phone with apple care) she told me ill need specific instructions to transfer files from my old external hard drive (formatted for pc) to my new one. anybody know those steps? thanks in advance!
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MacBook Air file transfer question!
- Thread starter nates0819
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No special trick at all. Plug them both into your MacBook, then just drag from one to the other in finder. Your MBA will read all the files on the PC drive without any problem at all.
It comes down to the file system on that HDD, but Mac OS X can read Windows formatted HDDs just fine, therefore this should help. Ask away, if you still have questions after that:
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Overview of the four major file systems (called "Formats" in Mac OS X) used on Windows and Mac OS X, compiled by GGJstudios. You can use Disk Utility to format any HDD to your liking.
Any external hard drive will work with PCs or Macs, as long as the connectors are there (Firewire, USB, etc.) It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can re-format any way you like. Formatting can be done with the Mac OS X Disk Utility, found in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Here are your formatting options:
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
exFAT (FAT64)
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
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____________________________________________________________
Overview of the four major file systems (called "Formats" in Mac OS X) used on Windows and Mac OS X, compiled by GGJstudios. You can use Disk Utility to format any HDD to your liking.
Any external hard drive will work with PCs or Macs, as long as the connectors are there (Firewire, USB, etc.) It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can re-format any way you like. Formatting can be done with the Mac OS X Disk Utility, found in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Here are your formatting options:
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
- Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
- Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac OS X system files.
[*]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
- Mac OS X: Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volume and file limits
- You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
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
- You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
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
- You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
- Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
[*]Maximum file size: 4GB. - Maximum volume size: 2TB
- You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
so the issue im running into now is some albums work, some wont open. i guess they are different types of files. and i have no idea how to change it.
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the hard drive is now formatted HFS. i do not know the difference between the "read not write" or vise versa thing you mentioned lol, sorry. so i dont know which of those two files you mentioned to download.
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the hard drive is now formatted HFS. i do not know the difference between the "read not write" or vise versa thing you mentioned lol, sorry. so i dont know which of those two files you mentioned to download.
Explain "album." What is this album? What application do u use to open it?
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Ignore this.
If the HDD is now formatted with HFS+, there is no need to worry, unless you do not understand what "reading" and "writing" data is.
when i drag and dropped my audio files to my new external it shows them all as a shortcut link. cant even open them...
Explain "play right."You wanna make an appointment? this may take a while.