Please Help: Copying files from NTFS hard drive to MacBook Pro

[the.orange.tuba]

I am copying files from 2 types of old external drives: NTFS and FAT32.

While coping a lot of files from the NTFS drive(to a MBP13" '09) it caused my computer to freeze up, and I had to force a shut down via the power button . Anyone else have problems like this copying a large quantity of files?

Is there a GB limit you can copy at one time, or maximum number of files? FYI, my MBP locked up while it was "preparing to copy." It was stuck on just over the 40,000th file (was the large number of files the problem?). Any ideas or suggestions?

Now, I am copying smaller batches at a time, and so far so good. So was the large copy I originally tried, too large? How many GB and/or files have you successfully copied from an external hard drive?

Also, when I get these files to my MBP internal drive(HFS+Journaled), how difficult will it be to copy them and the new files created on the MBP to an NTFS or FAT32 external drive? Does it require special software to do this? Any problems I should be concerned about or precautions I should take regarding file names, sizes, etc?

Thanks for reading this, and any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

With FAT32 there is a 4GB limit on individual files. NTFS has a limit too, but it's bigger than the size of any hard drive available as of this posting.

As far as file names go, remember the forbidden Windows characters - don't use them in your file names if you rename stuff on the Mac.

/ ? < > \ : * | " are all not allowed in Windows.

 

[MacKeeperFanMod]

Using Carbon Copy Cloner.
Choose a source and target, under Target Disk choose "Incremental backup of selected items" from the Cloning options popup. Select what to copy from the list that appears under NTFS Disk.

 

[the.orange.tuba]

Thanks for your helpful replies!

I think the problem was that I looked at a .txt file on the external drive before I started the copy and for some reason it was still in use even after I closed the file(some kind of hangup) and even after I rebooted. Strange brew indeed. Anyway, I got all the files transferred and I appreciate your advice.