Trouble deleting data from an external HD- error 61

[EricaV]

I've only been a mac user for a few months and didn't seem to have this problem when I first started using the the mac. Now I have it consistently with all my external hard drives.

Basically when I try to delete stuff off of my externals I get the "unexpected error has occurred" message listing "error 61" and that the task can't be completed.

This happened on a smaller jump drive once and I was able to reformat the whole thing using the disk utility. These are much larger drives with lots of data on them though - I need to reorganize them and delete stuff and it would be a much bigger drag to have to move data and reformat them all in order to make them functional.

Any ideas what the problem could be ? Again, I didn't seem to get these error messages initially.

Erica

 

[BlueRevolution]

What filesystem are the drives using? Can you move/copy files on the drive?

 

[EricaV]

What filesystem are the drives using? Can you move/copy files on the drive?

I'm not sure what the file system is on the drives- how might I check ? I can save to the drive and I can copy from the drive - I just can't delete.

 

[BlueRevolution]

In Finder, select the drive and go to File -> Get Info. The filesystem will be displayed under "format".

 

[EricaV]

It's NTFS- windows file system

In Finder, select the drive and go to File -> Get Info. The filesystem will be displayed under "format".

although I never did anything to format this drive- I did use it first with a windows system, could this be causing a problem ?

 

[EricaV]

although I never did anything to format this drive- I did use it first with a windows system, could this be causing a problem ?

My last post may not have been clear- it's a NTFS file system

 

[BlueRevolution]

Sorry, I missed this post.

Macs can only read NTFS-formatted drives. They cannot do write actions, including deleting, without third-party drivers. If you want to go that route, installing MacFUSE followed by NTFS-3G should give you read/write access. (After a restart, of course.)

 

[i.shaun]

Sorry, I missed this post.

Macs can only read NTFS-formatted drives. They cannot do write actions, including deleting, without third-party drivers. If you want to go that route, installing MacFUSE followed by NTFS-3G should give you read/write access. (After a restart, of course.)

he says he can copy to the drive, is that not considered writing?


Unless of course, the OP copied files to it from a windows machine, and only moved file off it on the mac.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Yeah, it sure is. Well, beats me. Without third-party drivers, OS X can't write to NTFS. Not even a little bit. Either the appropriate drivers are already installed, or writing dun happen (from that computer, at least).

So... have you installed drivers for NTFS?

 

[EricaV]

Questions about formatting HDs

Yeah, it sure is. Well, beats me. Without third-party drivers, OS X can't write to NTFS. Not even a little bit. Either the appropriate drivers are already installed, or writing dun happen (from that computer, at least).

So... have you installed drivers for NTFS?

Thank you all for your responses. I meant I can copy files off (write from) the NTFS but I cannot copy/write to it- sorry.

I haven't installed drivers and just beginning to figure out the problem. I have another drive that's FAT32 which I can read/write etc. from BUT, I just tried to delete all the files off of it and it's still behaving as if the files are still on it (showing same volume info. as it was pre deletion).

I think the question has become "what's the best file/volume format should I use on the Mac" And related questions:

1. If I want to use a larger (1Tb) server/back up system with both Macs and PCs what format is the most versatile ? Do some products/brands only work with PCs ?
2. If I run both windows/bootcamp and OS x on my Mac, what is best format
3. Does installing 3rd party drivers solve all these format problems so I can leave my drives in either FAT32 or NTFS ?
4. Were you suggesting I install both MACfuse and NTFS 3g in order to make the drives functional?

Thanks again for your help and patience !!