Need Help Fixing a stupid mistake

[dups12345]

I am hoping someone on here can help me fix a stupid mistake. I had a 1TB HDD which I happily had all my data on and was shared to all my Macs around the house and life was good. Then at the weekend I got a new 1.5TB HDD to replace so the old one could be a time machine drive.

After what seemed like an ice age to copy everything to the new one and to create the old one into a time machine drive I realised I had made the new one into FAT32 (you can imagine the choice of words that came out of my mouth then ) As this can't be shared over the network and I would prefer not to face another long copy is their any way to changing the file format of the drive with out moving data?

I understand that this is VERY unlikely but I figured I would give it a shot anyway.

Cheers

 

[simsaladimbamba]

No, you need to do the whole ****ing process again, meaning copying data back, formatting the new HDD correctly, and copying the data back again.

19​

 

[GGJstudios]

is their any way to changing the file format of the drive with out moving data?

No, reformatting a drive wipes all data from it. Here are your formatting options:

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 $36).
• Some have had good results with Paragon (approx $20)
• 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

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 or SuperDuper! 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

 

[jbg232]

No, reformatting a drive wipes all data from it. Here are your formatting options:

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 $36).
• Some have had good results with Paragon (approx $20)
• 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

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 or SuperDuper! 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

Is Eib an exabyte and Zib a zettabyte?

 

[dups12345]

Cheers guys. I figured that would be the case. Best get started with the copy

 

[GGJstudios]

Is Eib an exabyte and Zib a zettabyte?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EiB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebibyte

 

[r0k]

Cheers guys. I figured that would be the case. Best get started with the copy

I guess you already know this but when I bring home a new HDD, the first thing I do is hook it up and tell disk utility to partition it (if necessary) and make it HFS+ (journaled). Sometimes I copy off the useless windows utilities that often come with the drive but more often than not I simply blow them away and format.

I forgot one time and hooked up a 1.5 TB WD drive to a Time Capsule and wondered why it couldn't "see" it. Then I remembered, dragged it back over to my Mac and formatted it HFS+ (journaled) and all was good.

 

[dups12345]

I guess you already know this but when I bring home a new HDD, the first thing I do is hook it up and tell disk utility to partition it (if necessary) and make it HFS+ (journaled). Sometimes I copy off the useless windows utilities that often come with the drive but more often than not I simply blow them away and format.

I forgot one time and hooked up a 1.5 TB WD drive to a Time Capsule and wondered why it couldn't "see" it. Then I remembered, dragged it back over to my Mac and formatted it HFS+ (journaled) and all was good.

Yeah I normally do this but I was victim of doing doing two things at once which just never works out well!