External Hard Drive stuck between Mac & Windows

I'm in big trouble. I have an external hard drive that I've been using for almost a decade. I had been using it with a G3 for years, but I recently tried plugging it into a windows laptop. It had me give it a "drive letter," so I did, but then it prompted me to reformat the drive, and I said no because I have nearly 10gb worth of files on it! Problem is, now when I plug it back into the G3, it no longer reads it! What can I do ??! Help !!
NOTE - I have just ordered the newest iMac available and will ship in Feb of 2013.

Hi. I just got my new iMac and when I first plug it in, I get a message saying that the drive is unreadable. When I open Disk Utility, the drive is in there, but when I click Verify Disk it says the disk needs to be repaired. When I click Disk Repair, it says that it can't be repaired and to back up as many files as I can and to reformat.
This is a major problem. How can I back up my files if I can't even view them ?
Again, I am desperate here. I can't sleep!
UPDATE:
Okay, I'm not a techincal genius here, so forgive me if my ideas are useless. Don't be afraid to be honest with me. I was reading up on the Disk Image function, in which Disk Utility will copy the entire contents of the drive into a single dmg file. In theory, could I do this, reformat the drive (on my iMac) and then somehow restore my files onto the drive using the dmg file ?
Also, could RAID be of any use for me ?

Similar Messages

External Hard Drive Usage between Mac and PC

I have a WD Passport SE 1 terabyte hard drive that I have backed up my PC (Windows XP) files on. I want to transfer files onto my Macbook Pro (OS X) but it comes up as read only. I've been reading a lot of different forums and stories about not being able to write and how to overcome that but am thoroughly confused.
I use Mac and PC equally as much and it's important for me to be able to use the External HD between both platforms because both computers are not in the same location at all times for a home network type situation.
I like the security of the NTFS but I don't want to do anything (or add any programs) that will make either the Mac or the PC unstable and unreliable.
What do you recommend I use to be able to read/write from both platforms that will be stable?
Why doesn't Apple/Microsoft get together and make a format compatible for both OS's?
Is it better to use NTFS or HFS+? What are the advantages/disadvantages of both?
I'm not very computer savvy on either machine so I need things dumb-ed down for me to understand. My mom is also in the same situation as I am so you would greatly be helping both of us out at the same time. Thanks in advance.

You have 3 basic options to work with. Both Mac and Windows support FAT32 drives in full read/write capabilities. This solution is all many need. There are limitations to this, and the big one comes in the max size for a single file. Using FAT32, a single file has a max size of 4GB (it might be only 2GB, but I believe it is 4GB). As I said, for many this is fine, and they have a simple solution supported out of the box on both OSes.
The second option is to format your external drive in HFS+ (Mac format). Your Mac will have full read/write access, and your PC will not have any access unless you ave the read-only driver from Boot Camp loaded, or if you buy a commercial driver like the ones from Paragon, or MacDrive. Many people will not consider this option unless they work primarily with Macs and only occasionally with a PC.
The third option is to format the external drive as NTFS. Out of the box, Mac OS-X providers read-only support for NTFS drives, and there are several choices for free or commercial drivers to give you full read/write access to the NTFS drive. This option seems to be used the most by people who often work with multiple PC's and sometimes with a Mac or two. I have not seen any of these NTFS drivers that make a Mac unstable, but some of them are quite slow. In my house, we have about 10 PC's and one Mac. It is more cost effective to to put drivers on the Mac vs on the 10 PC's (at $40-80 per PC).
At this point the recommendation depends upon your environment. If you are mostly around Macs and only a small number of PC's consider using a Mac format for the external drives and buying drivers for the few PC's that need to access the drive(s). If you are more like me where you interact with more PC's than Macs, consider using NTFS and getting a free or commercial NTFS driver for your Mac(s). Also keep in mind any computer that may need to access the external drive(s), so if you need a family member to access it, will they need drivers or not? One again, with my world being about 90% PC's and 10% (or less) Macs, having the majority of the computers that have full access to the drive out of the box is the "better" choice, especially considering the other computers (the Macs) can still read the information, just not write to the drives without a driver.

Cannot access shared external hard drive with other mac accounts

I cannot access a shared external hard drive with other mac accounts (all accounts are on the same macbook Pro). The shared external drive is shared via time capsule and is connected (of course) in USB. I see well this external hard drive as a shared disk with my main account. Yes shared option has been activated with the Airport Utility .. but when I open other account these othe accounts can see the external drive but cannot access to its content that is flagged with a no way sign. Strangely enough when I close my main account and start opening a new session with one of the other account then fine I can access the external hard drive and its content .. BUT then it is from my main account than I cannot access its content the no way sign showing ..
Looks like only one account at a time can access the content of this SHARED external hard drive .. any one as an idea on how to really make it a shared hard drive so that all accounts on the same mac can also access it ? I am at my wit ends on this case. THANKS ..

Results of my enquiries at Apple Genius Bar .. the guys found the problem interesting. They've been unable to provide a fix neither to give any explanation as to the reason why. To be fair I was not much impressed by the technical level demonstrated ..
In the mean time I have found that if account no.1 can see the shared external drive content and in such case account no.2 (same Mac computer) cannot see its content (only the external HD with a no way sign) this account no.2 can UNMOUNT (by ejecting) this external HD from account 1 and then remount it (just clicking on the TC shared part in a finder window) and .. see and access its content ; whilst account no.1 cannot see its content anylonger. Unless it unmounts the shared external HD and remount it .. then account no.2 can see its content anylonger. This can goes on an on.
So eventually YES the TC can allow to share a USB external drive between several accounts and a same Mac .. BUT this require to unmount and remount EACH time the external drive is accessed from a "no.2 account". So OK to share files with seldom access but not practical in case of frequent access needed.
I just I have now to figure how iTunes can automatically unmount and remount a shared external HD when it needs to access one of this shared HD content from on time account no.1 and then next time from account no.2. May be I am asking too much ..

One Format External Hard Drive for Your Mac and PC...

I have Formatted my External HD Passport 500GB = (465.8) and split it in two partition Mac OS Extended (Journal = 232GB) and FAT32 (Ms-Dos-FAT = 232GB) and reformat to NTFS using Windows...
How to use one External HUD for your Mac and PC you have a PC and how to have two Partition in Mac OS Extended (Journal) and FAT (Ms-Dos-FAT)as you desire the size of your partition under application, Utilities and Disk Utility and covert the (FAT32) to (NTFS)using Windows Control Panel or just search by Start, search Computer Management or just right my Computer and format the second partition to (NTFS)
Tips for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) FAT32 vs NTFS, what works and don't work...
(1)Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Partition can't be use in Windows to transfer files but NTFS Partition can be use in Mac by transferring file from Windows to Mac and NTFS support for files over 4G in size...
(2)FAT32 can be use in Mac and Windows but with a limitation that a file cannot be transferred to a FAT32 partition if the file is larger than 4GB such as a video file and FAT32 file system performs more slowly than NTFS...
(2)Mac OS Extended (Journaled) can be use in Windows when you Reformat your HD to HFS+ by third-party app such as http://www.macdrive.com/ MacDrive for $50.or http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ NTFS For Mac 6.0 for $30...
Reference link 1 External Hard Drive for Your Mac and PC...
http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/articles/1-external-hard-drive-for-your- mac-and-pc
Best regards...
JamesUFOs...
http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesEBEs

I have many external drives I use between my MacBook Pro and my Windows PC's. I use a free NTFS driver for Mac OS-X to give me full read/write access to any NTFS formatted partitions when running Mac OS. I also use MediaFour's MacDrive v8 on some of my Windows PC's to access any HFS+ formatted partitions.
Most of my drives are formatted NTFS because I have more Windows machines than I have MacDrive licenses, and with the driver for Mac OS, they are fully accessible. I have a few drives I do keep formatted as HFS+ because I have encountered an app or two that don't work quite right when they don't get to write to files on an HFS+ partition (one of my backup programs is picky about this).
As said before, FAT32 is fully accessible between the two OS'es but it also has it's own limitations.

I am not able to use my external hard drive with my Mac.

I am not able to use my external hard drive with my Mac. It was initially used with my Windows 7 laptop. Now when I insert my Hard drive in the Mac, it doesn't allow me to delete, format, make folders or copy new files on to my hard drive. I no longer have a Windows PC and am stuck. I tried going to Disc utilities,selected my HD, clicked on Erase and then changed the Format type to MS-DOS (FAT) but no luck .. Any other steps or advice?

It was likely formatted in NTFS which is readable by the Mac, but not writeable.
You should be able to reformat the disk in Disk Utility.
After having copied all the data off of it, you can try re-partitioning it.
Select the hard drive in the disk list in Disk Utility. Hard drives are the device itself, are left-aligned in the list, and are usually named with the manufacturer, size, and model number.
Click on the Partition tab.
Select 1-partition from the partition menu.
Click the Options button and set to GUID
Set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Give the Volume a name and click Apply.

I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac

I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac. How do I do this? Where do I put these files on my Time Capsule? Will it affect the functioning of my Time Capsule?

Mixing files with data is not always great idea.
See info here.
Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Why not just connect the PC directly to the TC by ethernet and copy the files over?
It is hugely faster and much less mucking around.
In windows load the airport utility for windows.. if you have not already as this will help you access the drive.
There is more info here.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1331

How many transfers can I make from imported CDs to blank CD, external hard drive, via my Mac?

Hi! I was curious, because I heard from a friend that if we wanted to transfer a song on our computer we had ripped from an audio imported CD to a blank disc, or external hard drive, there was a certain number of times we could transfer that particular song or transfer that CD, before iTunes would no longer allow us to transfer it anymore. Is this accurate? Is iTunes equipped to only be allowed to transfer iTunes Store content to blank discs or other non-Apple devices, as opposed to non-iTunes Store content (i.e. songs from audio CDs that were imported into the Mac)?
If it is accurate that there is a limited number of transfers that can be done via iTunes with non-iTunes store content, is there a way around this? Possibly install another music program that allows unlimited transfers to blank discs and external hard drives, i.e. Windows Media Player?
Thank you for your time.

There is no limit for CDs you have RIP'd.
For iTunes purchases with DRM, you are limited to burning a specific playlist 7 times to an audio CD.
And the link posted above is three years old and irrelevant at this time.
Just don't "share" (illegally transfer) files with others.

I can not save any data to external hard drive from my mac pro. Is there anyone can help me in this regard?( note, when i first plug my ext. drive to mac i chose option to backup later)

I can not save any data to external hard drive from my mac pro. Is there anyone can help me in this regard?( note, when i first plug my ext. drive to mac i chose option to backup later)

The device may be formatted for Windows, as NTFS. The format is readable, but not natively writable on a Mac. To write to the device, you must either reformat it (erasing all the contents) or install third-party software to enable write access to NTFS.

Does anyone use a LaCie external hard drive with their Mac using imovie '09? I have some questions.

Does anyone use a LaCie external hard drive with their Mac using imovie '09? I have some questions.

Are you actually having a problem with the new Lacie drive, or are you just asking is the Lacie drive somehow different from your old G-Drive?
From a connection standpoint, most Lacie desktop drives have both USB and FireWire connections, just like the G-Drives do. You would connect and use it the same as a G-Drive.
Regarding capturing to the external HD, if you are using a camcorder that has FireWire (iLink) connection, it is not advisable to have an external FireWire HD connected to your Mac at the same time as your camcorder; there are often communication conflicts between the camcorder and the hard drive if they are connected at the same time. The conflicts usually appear as either dropped frames or a complete freeze. This is more common with Canon miniDV camcorders but I have also seen this behavior with Sony miniDV camcorders. (The problem is the camcorder's FW implementation, not the hard drive.) The workaround is to capture to your Mac's internal HD and later copy the captured video to your external HD.

HT3500 how do you transfer data from an external hard drive to a mac time capsule

I am trying to use my Mac Time Capsule as a wireless external hard drive for my MacBook Pro, so how do I transfer the data from a toshiba external hard drive, to my Mac Time Capsule?

Drag and drop or copy and paste files just as you would do with any normal Finder operation.
The Time Capsule is located under the SHARED heading in the Finder.
Click on the Time Capsule icon and double click the folder that appears representing the drive....named Data....unless you have changed the name......to mount the drive on the desktop.
Drag/drop or copy/paste files to the icon on the desktop or to the open window there.

Is it possible to format an external hard drive on my mac?

I purchased a portable external hard drive to back up my former pc in the hopes of using it on my mac. Obviously, I did not research this seeing now that I can integrate my files and photos from my pc to my mac. It appears possible to format the external hard drive to my mac os, which should be done prior to downloading files from my pc to the hard drive. Has anyone dealt with this or am I the only idiot that purchased the external hard drive thinking that was the thing to do before my pc dies completely?

A HD formatted in EXFAT will transfer data between both PC and Mac.
However dont make the titanic error most do in having merely a single external HD backup of your data, thats a tragedy waiting to happen.
HD are cheap as dirt.
Ideal situation is 3 HD , 1 for Mac backups, 1 for data archives stored away safely and updated as needed / often.
and a 3rd HD in Exfat for data transfers (or a thumb drive for the same thing to save $$)

With Time Machine I have an external hard drive formatted with Mac

With Time Machine I have an external hard drive formatted with Mac. The record contained files windows. How to recover?
Serious mistake: to connect a Mac to an external drive with data (important!) Windows, the warning appears: "You want to use the disk for Time Machine?" Wrong button, so in 2-3 seconds, the disk is formatted. Now Mac "sees" the disc but empty, Windows does not see it under "My Computer" but in "Disk Management" is reported as "hard core", "healthy", "GPT protective partition" Is there a way to retrieve the files? Sorry for my English Thanks

I'm having a difficult time following, I understand English isn't your native language. You may have good luck with Google Translate.
Also please read Pondini's Time Machine FAQs & Time Machine Troubleshooting.

Migrating music to an external hard drive for access by Windows

Existing discussion thread link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1715002?start=0&tstart=0
Hi,
I have a large (~212GB) iTunes music library that was created using iTunes on Windows. All music files, etc are held on an external drive. Now I want to be able to access my existing music library from my MacBook Pro running iTunes on OS X. When I launch iTunes I hit the key so I can select which library file it should use. I'm not currently able to select my iTunes library on the external hard disk.
I've tried following the steps covered in an existing discussion thread that I have found, Migrating music to an external hard drive for access by Windows & Mac, but that hasn't worked for me unfortunately. The linked post suggests renaming the library file (.itl) to remove its extension but the library is read-only. I've also tried doing the same when the external hard disk is connnected to my windows laptop and then switching back over to my MacBook Pro. But this has also not worked yet.
Any suggestions? Thanks.

Existing discussion thread link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1715002?start=0&tstart=0
Hi,
I have a large (~212GB) iTunes music library that was created using iTunes on Windows. All music files, etc are held on an external drive. Now I want to be able to access my existing music library from my MacBook Pro running iTunes on OS X. When I launch iTunes I hit the key so I can select which library file it should use. I'm not currently able to select my iTunes library on the external hard disk.
I've tried following the steps covered in an existing discussion thread that I have found, Migrating music to an external hard drive for access by Windows & Mac, but that hasn't worked for me unfortunately. The linked post suggests renaming the library file (.itl) to remove its extension but the library is read-only. I've also tried doing the same when the external hard disk is connnected to my windows laptop and then switching back over to my MacBook Pro. But this has also not worked yet.
Any suggestions? Thanks.

External hard drive bootable with Mac OS x 10.9

Hello!
i have these: Install-OS-Mavericks DMG file.
but i don't know how to Install the file.
i can to install this at the external hard drive (USB).
please help me!
How to creat the external Hard drive bootable in the Mac Intel or Pro? please give me simple methode!
How to install the OS with the external Hard drive? or any solution.
Thank you very much for your help.
Justin R.

To install the file, if you did not download the Install Mac OS X from the Mac App Store, you must make sure your Mac Pro is compatible, it must be at least a Mac Pro3,1 to install Mavericks. If you are compatible, and want to install on a USB drive, first you must open Disk Utilities (in Finder, Applications, Utitlities) and then select the exernal drive from the devices listed in the left panel of the Disk Utilities window. Then decide if you want one or more partitions on the drive and the size of the partitions. Select each partition one at a time and name the partition and then choose the format as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), and the Partition Table as GUID, and then Apply to format the drive.
Once that is done you place the Mavericks Installer DMG file on the desktop, double click to open and then choose the drive for installation to be the external drive you have formatted and named.
The installer will install and then delete itself when finished. If you want to keep a copy, make a copy and store it in a safe place, such as your Documents folder.
To boot to the external hard drive, restart the Mac Pro and hold the Option key. That will result in a grey screen with images for each of the bootable drives. Highlight the arrow under the drive you want to boot and then click that arrow again.

Help! When i connect my "iomega" External hard drive to my mac it does not show in devices or on the desktop, how can i access my hard drive?

Help! When i connect my "iomega" External hard drive to my mac it does not show in devices or on the desktop, how can i access my hard drive?

what format your iomega HD is it NTFS , if NTFS try download http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ntfs3g.html

External Hard Drive stuck between Mac & Windows

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