Macbook slowing down. Just bought a WD 320gb HD. Have a couple questions.

[Applebl0ss0m89]

I have had problems with my macbook crashing. Each time its been a harddrive problem. This has happened four times and I've only had the computer for 3 years.
Recently my computer has been acting up and running slow again. So, I thought I should invest in an external hard drive and back up my data.

I just bought a WD External 320gb hard drive.
I was able to configure it using Disk Utility so that it was Mac compatible. I chose an option called "MacOSX external (journaling)".

I am now able to drag files to the hard drive and they copy over. However, when I try to move my .mov files from movies I have made.... the files won't transfer over. A box comes up that states it cannot read the file, hence I cannot copy the .mov files over.
My question:
Why won't the files transfer to the external hard drive?

Also, Am I able to drag files to the external hard drive and still use Time Machine? Or will that erase the existing items on the external hard drive all together to make room for the Time Machine "program"?

I appreciate any answers and feedback!
Thanks so much!

Emails are welcome for this issue: Mystical.Elf490@gmail.com

 

[BlueRevolution]

Why won't the files transfer to the external hard drive?

It's possible that your current drive is failing and the computer can't read from that area on the drive.

Also, Am I able to drag files to the external hard drive and still use Time Machine? Or will that erase the existing items on the external hard drive all together to make room for the Time Machine "program"?

Time Machine doesn't erase the hard drive, but as its backup will gradually expand to fill all available space, I suggest creating a separate partition on the drive for backup.

 

[Applebl0ss0m89]

Time Machine doesn't erase the hard drive, but as its backup will gradually expand to fill all available space, I suggest creating a separate partition on the drive for backup.

I am really new to external drives. How do I make a separate partition??

Thanks for the help by the way.

 

[BlueRevolution]

I am really new to external drives. How do I make a separate partition??

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/68829/repartition.mov

Thanks for the help by the way.

My pleasure.

 

[bruno Estebam]

So i tried lots of ways, and nothing happened.

Can someone please help me with my problem? I have macbook white with Snow leopard 10.6.4, and in a very few days the front light died, that little light that means that your mac is turned on, and my macbook crashes all the time every 40 minutes. I had a volume error in DISK UTILITY I did fix it, but then it get back to the same problem and I don't know what do.

thanks for who can help me.