Can't get things off my external hard drive

When I purchased my Macbook, it had OS X 10.4.11. I upgraded to Leopard, and started backing up my files using Time Machine. My hard drive crashed, and when they fixed it, they but OS X back on my computer. I really want to get all of my files and settings from my external hard drive back onto my computer, but I don't know how. Help?

try...
Apple.com > Support > Discussions > Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard > Time Machine
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1227

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I can't delete things off my external hard drive

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,5
1 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
I bought a Seagate 2TB external hard drive. i can get stuff on it no problem but I can't delete certain things from my trash. When I try to delete some, not all, things off it a box appears that says:
"the operation can't be completed because ..... is in use."
It's not, I have all the applications closed. I have tried the normal delete, the secure delete, I have tried turning the laptop off and then trying to delete again when its on and it's not working, I have tried putting the file back on the Hard drive and then moving it to the trash again (this has worked for me before with other drives) and deleting, that is also not working.

This is concerned in particular with backups.. but what is relevant is the command to empty the trash.
http://pondini.org/TM/E6.html
Doing stuff from terminal as you know .. be very careful.
I would do a permissions fix beforehand. Just open the disk the disk utility and run the repair.
Or again you can do it from terminal.
http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/10/repair-disk-permissions-from-the-command-line/
Depending on what nasty changes there are in Yosemite.

How can I get information off my old hard drive?

Recently my old mac book died. The genius bar said that it would be 750$ for repairs and since it had been 5 years since I'd gotten the laptop, I opted to buy a new MacBook Pro. The problem is I have stuff on my old hard drive that I want to keep (mostly the pictures from my iphoto), so the genius bar took the hard drive out for me. So now I have the hard drive from my old laptop and I'm not sure how I get the information off of it.
I tried to look it up online and saw something about a hard drive caddy? I have no idea what these are/ how they work. Do you just put the hard drive inside of it and connect it with a usb chord? Are all of these compatible with the macbook hard drives and will it work with my new macbook pro?
Or could/should I just go to best buy or something to see if they could put it on a CD for me?
What are my options/how can I go about getting the information from the old hard drive onto my new laptop?
Thanks!

You want to buy an enclosure that will accept a 2.5" IDE hard drive(I think that is what your computer probably had). Once you put the old hard drive into the enclosure, just connect it to your new computer using USB or Firewire(if the enclosure has Firewire ports) and copy your stuff over.
Now is a GOOD time for you to buy another external hard drive and back up your new computer to it often. This will save you the trouble of recovering your information in the future. It is always recommended that you back up your important files to several places.

Can't get search results on External Hard Drive..??

Hi guy's,
I recently bought a brand new external Acomdata 160 gig Firewire hard drive in order to back up all my important stuff off of my G4 1ghz iMac due to Kernel Panics and a couple of other frustrating issues.
I loaded the external hard drive, did an erase and install from the OS X dvd and so far, most is ok EXCEPT that I don't get any results when searching through Spotlight, Command+F, Search windows - from my external hard drive.
Does it need to be indexed? If it does, I haven't been able to find how.
I notice the external hard drive is frequently running more so than when it was a few days old. It makes a lot of "snap, crackle, pop" noises as the hard drive spins and processes.
Everything I put on it is still there and I can manually locate files but it's 75 gigs worth of stuff and I'd much rather be able to automate the search.
Spotlight/search does produce results for my iMacs hard drive, just not the external hard drive.
Any help?
Thanks guys.
vanessa_b

There is a pulsing, reddish dot in the middle of the
blue light but on the hard drive itself, I don't see
any "lights" in any "menu bar".
It's at blue circle with a white Q-shaped symbol at the right end of your menu bar.
If you dare to use the terminal application (can be found in the utilities folder) you can use the following command to re-index that drive. Start Terminal and type (or paste) the following line and hit enter:
sudo mdutil -E "/Volumes/xxx/"
Replace "xxx" with the name of Your drive! If there is a space in that name type it like "/Volumes/My\ Drive/"! You will be prompted for Your admin password to proceed.

How can I transfer files off an external hard drive formatted for windows?

I just bought my first mac (yay!) and am trying to transfer my files off of my old pc. The problem is that I stored all my personal files on an external hard drive, which is of course formatted for windows. My mac will open it, but it is "read only." I tried plugging it back into my pc and using the Migration Assistant to transfer my files over, but it was not detected (rest of the pc was).
However, the second time I tried plugging it in to my pc, it told me it would need to be formatted first. Obviously my mac has changed something on it, and now all my personal files are on a hard drive that is unusable by either my old pc or my new mac!
Any suggestions would be appreciated! Heads up though, I am not especially computer literate, and my pc needs to stay intact as the husband needs it and some of the programs on it for school. Also, I have a second external hard drive that is brand new with nothing on it, if that will come in handy.
Thanks!

Format the extra HDD to EXFAT as previously indicated. There are two ways that can use to transferr the data.
1. Connect both drives to the PC and the copy the files to the newly formatted (EXFAT) drive from the HDD with the data . Then connect the EXFAT drive to the MBP and transfer the data to same.
2. Connect both drives to the MBP and open DISK UTILITY>RESTORE. Drag the drive with the data on it to the 'Source' field. Drag the EXFAT drive to the 'Destination' field. Click on the 'Restore' butt is on. After the transfer has been completed, close DISK UTILITY and place the data on the MBP where you want it.
Ciao.

Can I run Panther off an external hard drive

Hi all,
First of all, let me preface the following with this caveat: I'd describe myself as a novice when it comes to all things MAC, so please bear with me.
I read earlier posts on running OS X on an external drive, but I have a slightly specialized problem. My hard drive on my Powerbook seems to have an error (I tried wiping it clean and reloading Panther, but it gives me disk error messages part way through the process). Instead of taking the computer in and having an internal drive placed in it, I'm wondering if I could purchase an external hard drive and use that as I would my internal one by putting OSX on it. Is this possible at all? Or am I not conceptualizing it properly?
I'd appreciate any help you could give me on this, as well as any suggestions about repairing the disk error (beyond simply replacing it).
A million thanks.

"Is this possible at all?"
That's entirely possible. Simply hook up the drive, then boot from the Panther install CD/DVD and isntall it on that drive. Make sure it's a FireWire drive though.
However if your computer is out of warranty, you can replace the internal drive yourself, with instructions from:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide
Of course if it's still under warranty, have Apple fix it for free.

How to get things working after External Hard Drive Died

I had all of my iMovie videos (about 800 GB) on an external drive that died. Fortunately it was backed up to another external drive using Time Machine. I bought a new drive and couldn't figure out how to restore using Time Machine so i transfered the files manually using Finder. The transfer was successful, but now the movies do not appear in the iMovie event library. How do I get iMovie to work with the new external hard drive. The drive itself appears in the Event Library window, but none of the movies do. Then I also need to figure out how to back up the movies again to Time Machine. When it looks to do it now, it wants to duplicate the moveis which exceeds the Time Machine hard drive capacity (2TB). Thanks!!

For you to see them in iMovie, the Events need to be in a folder called iMovie Events. This folder must be at the top level of the drive.
Move it there and restart iMovie, and you should see them.

How can I get my 3.0 External Hard Drive back to factory settings?

I have a 1 terabyte external drive. When I tried to reformat it, it went to 10.0 GB. How can I get it back to factory settings? Right now it's not much more then a paper weight. Does anyone know where I can download a user manual from? I really need help on this one.

Do you have the model or part number?
Have you tried reformatting it again? What file system did you use?
- Peter

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down eliminate

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate

I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

I have two separate iTunes libraries on two separate Computers. I need to consolidate them so I can play them on a brand new computer. How do I do this so I can play them off an External Hard Drive on my brand new computer?

I have two separate iTunes libraries on two separate Computers. I need to consolidate them so I can play them on my brand new computer. How do I do this so I can play them off an External Hard Drive on my brand new computer?

Why, if it told you you have insufficient space on your computer, would it suggest making more space available on your phone?
At a guess, you have insufficient space on your phone. Installing software will typically require more space than the final size of the software, perhaps even twice or three times as much, for the installation process. You can easily dump some videos or music temporarily, and then synch them back in afterwards.

Can't move files from my external hard drive to the desktop?

Hi folks, for some reason I am unable to copy files (irrespective of type) from my usb 2 external hard drive to my desktop. This is only a recent thing. Up until a few days ago I was able to transfer files back and forth without problem. Now it is only possible to move unto the harddrive and not the other way around. The harddrive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (journaled). I have tried running disk utility to repair the disc on both external and internal drives, and it advises me that no repairs were necessary. I have also checked the info and read and write is permitted and none of the files are locked. When I attempt drag a file off the harddrive to the desktop the cursor turns into a stop sign (circle with line through it). If I attempt to copy and paste, the file copies and then will not paste as "paste" does not appear in the contextual menu. I have had some limited success by dragging files off the external hard drive to the trash and then dragging then back out of trash unto the desktop. But this only seems to work sometimes?
It would be great if someone could suggest a reason and solution for this. Thank you in advance.
Jono

Sure sounds like permissions are goofed up somewhere. You weren't really clear about exactly what you had checked. Since you can copy TO the drive let's assume things are OK there. How about your Desktop folder? Did you check it with GetInfo to make sure you are the owner and have read and write permissions to the Desktop folder? I have seen these get messed up before.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Can programs be installed on an external hard drive with my mac pro?

Can programs be installed on an external hard drive. I am running low on space. Final Cut Pro X spins off the rendering files which takes a large chunk of space. Like to at least have those rendered files on an external drive, but can find that option to make it happen.
Hardware Overview:
   Model Name:   MacBook Pro
   Model Identifier:           MacBookPro10,2
   Processor Name:        Intel Core i5
   Processor Speed:       2.6 GHz
   Number of Processors:           1
   Total Number of Cores:           2
   L2 Cache (per Core):   256 KB
   L3 Cache:        3 MB
   Memory:          8 GB
   Boot ROM Version:     MBP102.0106.B07
   SMC Version (system):           2.6f59
   Serial Number (system):         C02L250VFFRP
   Hardware UUID:          B26BB020-5346-5A3E-BE36-8D63AAF041C4
   Sudden Motion Sensor:
   State: Enabled
   Hard Drive APPLE SSD SD256E:
Kent Mechem

Hello Ian. I am currently using Lion installed on a WD My Passport 500Gig drive connected to my MBPro via USB, which is still running 10.6.8. Like you I am not prepared to lose all my currently functioning Mac, but also like to see how the new OS runs before making the total switch, maybe when it gets to 10.7.2
So after you download Lion and select to run the installer it will show you which disk to install on, being the default SL drive you downloaded Lion with. But here you can click Other Disk and select the external HD. The installer will run and then boot into the external drive to complete the installation. From then on you can use Startup Disk or the Option key to select the preferred OS.

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

rtilghman wrote:
telling me to buy a new router is NOT a solution.
And why not? Apple is selling these things like BigMacs. They can't make enough of them. You've been suffering since May because you refuse to get a decent router.
Can you imagine if a company that makes a refrigerator told me that I needed to upgrade my electrical system to rectify a problem with their device? What kind of response IS that?!?!
What if the problem with their device is that it requires a new-fangled "grounded" outlet and your circa 1890 house doesn't have grounded outlets. Would you refuse to purchase a $ 25 adapter on principle?

Can i install wow on an external hard drive?

Can i install wow on an external hard drive and play it off that, cause im runing out of space on my computer.

If you are going to install WoW to a external hard drive I suggest getting a eSATA external hard drive. There is a noticable drop in performance when trying to use a external USB drive to run games from.

Can Time Capsule support an additional external hard drive?

A friend of mine is using Airport Extreme and has both his printer and external hard drive hooked through it accessing both wirelessly. The Apple site says this works great with Extreme but does not say you can do the same thing with Time Capsule. I called our local store and she wasn't sure. Both Extreme and Time Capsule have one USB port so no matter what, you have to split the USB(I know this works with Extreme). All my music is on an additional hard drive and it would be great if I could access it wirelessly. If anyone has done this with time capsule please let me know. I want to purchase it but if not I will go with Extreme.

Can Time Capsule support an additional external hard drive?
Yes.
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Can't get things off my external hard drive

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