Need urgent help with OS X and external hdd

[nihalz]

hi
i just switched to mac two days ago and am loving it
however i am having a problem with my western digital external hdd
osx recognizes it fine and i can read and copy the files to my mac.
but i am unable to transfer my files to the external hdd from my mac
whats going on?
will appreciate any help
thanks

 

[yg17]

Is the hard drive formatted for NTFS?

OSX can only read from NTFS, it can't write to it

 

[xUKHCx]

Chances are your drive is formatted as NTFS, did you use it (and format it) on a windows machine first?

You'll have to format the drive but copy all the data off first.

If you want to use it with both Windows and Mac OS X then you'll probably want to format it as FAT32, although there is a 4Gb file size limit, but if you just want to use it on a mac then HFS+.

To format the drive look for an application called Disk Utility in Utilites folder.

 

[nihalz]

thanks for the replies
yea its ntfs formatted...
so i cant write to ntfs disks?
that sucks!
where and how am i gonna backup 400gb of stuff now
dont tell me to buy another external
isnt there any app which allows you to write to ntfs?

 

[mkrishnan]

You can use MacFuse. There are a couple of "interfaces" people have designed to simplify using MacFuse (as, by itself, it's not really suited for beginners). Someone posted about one recently here. I'll try to dig it up for you.

I'd try this:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/344590/

 

[nihalz]

thanks...ill give macfuse a try
btw has anyone had any problems with iMountIt?
is there any risk of losing data with it?

 

[byakuya]

Hi,
I made the little app and up until now I haven't had any problems with it...I can't guarantee anything though...as the MacFuse project itself is still in developing stages. But up until now the feedback has been really good...I say you give it a try (first by just copying moving files that aren't super important). Let me know what you think about it...I' thankful for any input you guys give me. Btw. there will be a minor update soon to imountit since the app icon is complete now...the app itself doesn't need any modifying up till now though.

byakuya

 

[mkrishnan]

It's fairly unlikely byakuya's program would cause any data loss. It's just a front-end for Fuse. Fuse is doing all the "heavy lifting."

As for Fuse itself... I don't think anyone out there is using it for "mission critical" work. Google created a really great framework that's caused an explosion of excellent development (including NTFS-3G), but there are limitations. For one thing, AFAIK, NTFS is still largely closed-source, and NTFS-3G involved a substantial amount of reverse engineering.

From what I've heard, NTFS-3G is good enough to use fairly regularly for light duty work.

I think if you need to rely heavily on file transfers to and from that drive, you really either have to boot into Windows and use it through Windows or reformat it into HFS+....

 

[WntPCbak]

Changing External Drive from PC only NTSF to MAC and PC compatible

I just changed my external drive from NTFS to a DOS format that MAC and PC can both use. First transfer your old file off of you external drive. The old school way - I connected my NTFS external hard drive to my PC and selected Start, RUN, and entered "CMD". A DOS window will pop up. Enter "CD C:/ " and hit return. You'll get a "C:/" prompt. Enter "format e:/ "or whatever your external drive shows up as. Answer" Y ". Your hard drive will be erased and formated. Once it is complete connect the external drive to your MAC. Since your external drive no longer has NTFS your MAC will now recognize your external hard drive. Go to Application, Utilities, Disk Utility. Your hard drive is now recognized by your MAC. Select your external drive. Select PARTITION, and select OPTION then select "MASTER BOOT RECORD". It reads" To use the disk to start up DOS and Windows Computers, or to use with devices that require a DOS compatible or Windows-compatible partion". I also used the SPLIT option to divide my drive. Once its finished you can load you files onto the external drive using EITHER your MAC or you PC. In am not sure if it is FAT32 but it works. It is not as bad as is seems.... GOOD LUCK

 

[LouisBlack]

Maybe just invest in alot of dual layer DVD-Rs... I know it sounds like alot of hassle but in the long run you'll want the drive to be HFS+ formatted. Macfuse and other programs seem a bit risky for using on that mush data.