Can't write to external hard drive set up by Windows

We have a 300gb Maxtor external hard drive. I had set it up using the Windows laptop I use for work.
The Mini that we have can read, but not write to, this external drive. I just went back and set the Security properties to allow Full Control for the Everyone group. That did not work; the drive is still read-only for the Mini.
Additionally, when it's hooked up to the Mini, the hard drive starts spinning for no apparent reason. When it's doing that, you cannot eject the hard drive. It will whir for several minutes; at times, we've had to reboot the Mini to get the thing to stop.
Is there a Mac OS setting somewhere that needs to be changed to allow the Mini to write to the drive?
Why is the drive spinning for no apparent reason? Is there something we can look at to find out what's happening with it?
Any other suggestions for fixing the problem? I'd like to avoid reformatting it, if possible....

We have a 300gb Maxtor external hard drive. I had set
it up using the Windows laptop I use for work.
The Mini that we have can read, but not write to,
this external drive. I just went back and set the
Security properties to allow Full Control for the
Everyone group. That did not work; the drive is still
read-only for the Mini.
Sounds like the drive is formatted in NTFS. Under OSX, your Mac will be able to read, but not write, to an NTFS formatted drive.
If you format as HFS or HFS+, the Mac will be able to readd/write to the disk, but the Windows box will not be able to recognize the disk.
Since it is a 300gb drive, FAT will not work (FAT does not recognize drives that large).
It must be formatted as FAT32.
It can be formatted as such on either the windows box or the Mac.
You can partition the disk, one HFS+, one FAT32, but the windows box still will not be able to recognize the HFS partition, and the Mac will be able to read/write both.
So...for maximum compatibility and cross-platform usage, format the drive as FAT32.
As for as the periodic drive spin, it's possible Spotlight is updating it's index.

Similar Messages

  • Can't write to external hard drive. I have an NTFS driver.

    I have a macbook pro running mavericks and an external hard drive that is NTFS and i can read but i can't write to it. I already have the paragon NTFS driver installed and i know the driver works cos i can use my other NTFS hard drive with no problems. In the "get info" pane under permissions it says i can "only read", but in disk utility under "write status" it says i can read/write. I tried to verify and repair the disk in disk utility and both completed normally with no errors detected.
    Does anybody have any ideas on how to deal with this? i would rather not reformat the disk as it has roughly +500GB of work that i have no other place to store temporarily.

    Jotsy wrote:
     Does anybody have any ideas on how to deal with this?
    Yes, HD are cheap as dirt, buy another HD and format it for your Mac (Mac OSX ext. Journaled)
    OR for both PC and Mac  in EXFAT format.
    Jotsy wrote:
     i would rather not reformat the disk as it has roughly +500GB of work that i have no other place to store temporarily.
    Leave it as it is,
    $65 for a 1TB HD, or $100 for a 2TB drive.     you always need minimum 2 ext. HD for data redundancy protection anyway.

  • Can't write to external hard drive

    I have a MacMini G4 and and iBook G3 both running Tiger. I bought a Verbatim USB 2.0 500 GB external hard drive and reformatted it to HFS+. I can write files from the iBook without any problems. However, from the MacMini, the external drive mounts, I just can't write to it. When I try to change permissions in Get Info, I get error code 195. No luck with Disk Utility or Disk Warrior either. I have a suspicion that the problem lies in the fact that until very recently, the MacMini had only a networked account, now it has two local accounts (the iBook has only ever had 1 local account). How can I fix this without having to reinstall Tiger on the Mini, if at all? Thanks!

    Resource Manager Errors (other than I/O)
    -195 addRefFailed AddReference failed
    So it appears to not be a read/write problem, but either Permissions problem or missing OS components.
    Have you done these two lately...
    Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later to verify or repair disks...
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672
    About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature...
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751
    Reboot afterwards.

  • Can't write to external hard drive, kills MacBook Pro

    I got a SimpleTech SimpleDrive 1TB for an external drive. It's formatted for PC but I was able to format it for Mac with no problem and read and write small files to/from it. But data that is larger than 80-90MB will not work—at that point the progress bar ceases and will not close. I can force-quit Finder but Finder will not reboot and at that point I can only kill the power. The Finder has also hung when opening a folder on this drive. After reboot the drive does not mount and I have to turn its power off and on for it to appear.
    I did try to zero out the drive but aborted that after 3 hours. I figured that would have zeroed out anything on the drive but it changed nothing. What should I try next?
    Jeremy

    Yes, I formatted it as OS Extended (Journaled).
    Overnight I let Disk Utility run and zero out the entire drive. It took 10 hours and at the end it then prepared to erase but had another error: Input/Output Error. It now appears the drive has reverted to the factory defaults (MS-DOS (FAT) format, Master Boot Record) and is unusable. I am going to return it.
    Jeremy

  • Can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition?

    can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB external hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition? I now want to add another 500 GB?

    Yes. Windows supports external USB drives.

  • How can i format my external hard drive to write files from Mac without loosing the files that i alredy have on my external hard when i used it with windows?

    How can i format my external hard drive to write files from Mac without loosing the files that i alredy have on my external hard when i used it with windows?
    I have been using Windows to write files to my 1TB WD external hard drive and I do not want to format to loose the files capacity of around 500GB
    Someone, Please help

    Hi Allen,
    Is there any way to store the back up to Mac and restore after formating?

  • I have an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine backup on my IMac. I want to add a second external hard drive and put my Aperture Photo Library on it. Is there a way to have the photos on this second hard drive automatically back up to the Time Mac

    I have an IMac with an external hard drive set up as  a Time Machine for automatic backups. I want to add a second external hard drive and load my Aperture Photo Library on to it so that the library can be shared by both me and my wife. Is there a way to automatically backup the photo library that will be on the second hard drive to the Time Machine hard drive?

    Open System Preference > Time Machine
    Click Options....
    Ckick on external disk in list and hit the - button below the list to remove from the Exclusion list
    Allan

  • I can't see my external hard drive in the event library.

    I need to move my Imovie to a external hard drive to free up space.
    I can not view the external hard drives in the Event libary of Imovie.
    I have formated the hard drive to mac os
    PLEASE help urgent

    Strange if the drive format is Mac extended (journalled).  (see:  http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3ac6d42c)
    Can you can see the external drive in the finder? 
    Can you read to and write from it with the finder?
    Have you tried Trashing the iMovie preferences file and re-launching?
    Geoff,

  • I can't see my external hard drive on the network.

    I can't see my external hard drive on the network. I have a WRT160NL router with USB. I plugged the drive in the USB and set up a share in the router config.

    Did you map the drive? It won't show up in Explorer automatically like a jump drive or an external drive plugged directly into the PC will.
    You didn't mention the OS you're running, but what you want to do is choose "Map a network drive" and you'll see the router listed as a network device. Click on it and you should see the external drive listed. You can map it from there. 

  • How can a format an external hard drive to Fat 32 format

    how can i format an external hard drive to a Fat 32

    Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to MBR then click on the OK button. Set the format type to MSDOS (FAT)  Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

  • How can I partition my external hard drive supporting mac OS in one partition and windows OS in another?

    Hello everyone, how can I partition my external hard drive supporting mac OS in one partition and windows OS in another?

    OK. Start with:
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two (2). Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Click on the Erase tab in DU's main window. Select one of the two partitions, preferably the first one, change the Format type: to MSDOS then click on the Erase button.

  • Can I use an external hard drive for my ipad mini?

    Can I use an external hard drive for my ipad mini?

    There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
    The Kingston Wi-Drive, which costs $50 for the 16 Gigabyte, and then $30 more for every 16 gigs more. It works by you turning it on and then accessing the files on it from an app that you download on your iDevice. You can access music, movies, and other stuff. No connections or anything, it works like a WiFi connection, you connect to it from the setting on the iPad under wireless networks.
    Then there is the Seagate GoFlex, which some would recommend over the Wi-Drive. But this one costs $199 and had 500 Gigabytes of storage. It works the sameway as the Kingston: no wires, runs over its wireless connection. You can actually fit up to 300 HD movies on it.
    Another option:
    Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
    http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
    On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
    http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
     Cheers, Tom

  • Can I use my external hard drive for additional storage on my ipad?

    can I use my external hard drive for additional storage on my ipad

    With the Camera Connection Kit you can input data from an external USB device to the iPad, but you cannot write from the iPad to the connected drive.

  • Can I reimage an external hard drive that is in the windows NT file format?

    can I reimage an external hard drive that is in the windows NT file format?

    With WinClone 3.x $20 for Mac or with Windows imaging - built into Windows.
    Some like Acronis didn't (may now) work on Macs. Many use a linux CD recovery boot..
    You can write to NTFS with a simple NTFS driver. There, I strongly recommend Paragon for OS X
    www.paragon-software.com
    They also have all the program and Apple Boot Camp support
    Image a system or image a hard drive or.... ?

  • I can't see my external hard drive connected to my TC

    I can't see my external hard drive connected to my TC, I have connected to the USB port on my TC but cannot see it , any ideas

    Hello Bob,
    I have a powered hub plugged into my Time Capsule.
    Into the powered hub I have a printer; printer works fine.
    Into the powered hub I have an ExFAT formatted disk.
    The ExFAT disk is seen in the AirPort Utility as an "AirPort Disk".
    I cannot see the ExFAT disk in Finder or in Window's "My Computer".
    When I plug the ExFAT drive directly into Mac or Windows computers the drive is seen in Finder and My Computer.
    When the ExFAT drive is plugged directly into Mac or Windows both can read and write files.
    Do you think that I need to format the USB ExFAT drive as FAT 32?
    I have heard mention "need to map the drive". Do you think this would help?
    Thank you for your time.
    Rob

Maybe you are looking for