External HD Question (MAC to PC, PC to MAC)

Hello,
I am looking at getting an external HD, but I need to be able to swap it back and for from Power MAC g5 and my PC laptop. I need to be able to read and write on both systems.
I guess what i need is some info as to wether or not this is feasable without adding extra software to my PC.
All I have been able to find is that if I want to try this I need to have the HD formatted for PC.
Any insight you can provide would be great.
Thanks,
Keith

You could try MacDrive for Windows. This lets you read/write Mac formatted drives under Windows. I've had great success with it.
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/

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Formatted External drive for Mac OS extended

Hi,
I actually change from windows to Mac (no comparison...!!) but trying to transfer my photos (Pictures in finder) to an external hard disk i can`t drag and drop and i do not know why....i read in one forume that i have to formatted the external drive for Mac OS extended. First question: how could i do that? if my hard disk was originally formatted for windows, do i lose the info when i formatted?
Thanks!!

You will lose the files on the HD when you reformat it. So copy what you want off the drive to a folder on your Mac temporarily.
select the HD on the Desktop and launch Disk Utility.
select the HD in the left hand page of DU.
click on the Partiton button
select 1 Partition
select OS X Extended (journaled) in the drop down Format menu.
click on the Apply button
drag the folder of files onto the EHD to copy back and then delete from your Mac's drive after verifying that they all copied back successfully.
OT

How can I migrate an Aperture library from an external HDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format?

How can I migrate an Aperture library from an external HDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format?
I used to store my pictures on an external hard drive using the latest version of Aperture. Now I tried migrating my Aperture library to Photos. However, after a short moment an error message popped up telling me that "Photos was unable to make a copy of your library before preparing it. Photos does not have the necessary permissions...".
My external HDD doesn't need any permission repairs nor is the system prohibited to read from or write to it.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
Gohtac

My guess is that the encryption is the problem for the new app.

Advice on External HDD for Mac & Windows

Hello
I am looking for advice regarding using a external HHD for Mac & Windows.
I searched the forum, but failed to find a updated thread on this subject matter.
I will be using the drive on both platforms regularly.
Should i use HFS+ with a small FAT32 partition to keep MacDrive on?
What is a good way to approach this?
Im not sure what would be optimal for both platforms.
Thanks in advance for your input.

Why just one?
Shopping list I can think of:
Vista: NTFS for backups and storage. Can be read by, but not written, Mac OS.
MacDrive 7: can access HFS+ from within Windows (but not x64 versions)
WinClone 1.5: to make backups of Windows from within Mac OS (requires disk image or partition to hold volume image)
SuperDuper: essential for OS X backups and bootable clone.
A drive that is used for emergency only and maybe backup partition, separate from your OS X and windows clone drive.
You can create large partitions with Disk Utility to be FAT32. Read and write in both, but not the best file system and limited to files less than 4GB.
FW800 would be fast and efficient interface. Also, eSATA if possible.

External hard drive - mac specific or generic?

While I was browsing external hard drives I noticed that there was one that said it was specifically for Mac - I think it was Western Digital. So I was wondering is there a reason to pay extra for a Mac specific external hard drive, or just to use a standard one?
My current WD one is OK (other than the error -36 which means I can't actually copy anything to it without a lot of mucking around) and I'm not really interested in any 'special features' that might come with them, I just use it for archiving & backup.

The upgrade to OSX 10.6.3 (available today) may fix your -36 error, sleepydwarf. It is amongst the items listed as addressed by it - see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4014
There are two reasons why some drives tend to be classified as "Mac drives".
Firstly, for best performance on a Mac the drive should be formatted using either the GUID or Apple Partition Scheme, and the HFS (extended) file system. This lets you deal with files over 4Gb in size, provides faster and more reliable operation than FAT32 , etc etc. It also allows you to easily install OSX on the drive from your OS DVD if you wish to, so that you can boot from it.
I presume the WD drives are provided in this format. (Though you can always reformat a drive that isn't when you get it simply by using Disc Utility, of course)
Secondly, WD , for example, often install additional software on their drives for automated back up purposes etc. Generally this stuff is Windows only and can cause problems when the drive is used on a Mac. Sometimes it makes them next to useless as boot drives etc.
I suspect that WD , in this case , are reacting to the huge amount of criticism that has come their way when people try to use their external offerings on Macs (to the point where many of us strongly recommend against people purchasing them these days).
Another thing that matters when choosing a drive for Macs, though, is the interface itself. Sure, Macs can use a USB drive, but for an external drive FW400 is substantially faster, and FW800 simply blows USB away when it comes to transfer speeds. If you are shopping for a drive it is well worth the extra in most situations to get one that uses FW800.
The favourite external drives of most of the long term users here are the "OWC Mercury" range - see http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/ They are sold under other brand names in different parts of the world (In Australia they usually go by under the "Pleiades" brand name - not sure which hunk of the globe you are in) . I have five of them, and couldn't recommend them highly enough. You can either buy them with the drive installed, or add a drive of your own choosing. Quiet, cool, extremely reliable, and easy to update with a new drive when larger ones come along at lower prices (as they inevitably do).
Make sure you take a look at them if you are drive shopping. They beat the pants off the offerings from other , better known, makers.
Cheers
Rod

Is it safe to format ANY external drive to Mac OS Extended?

Some Seagate tech told me a while back that Seagate drives should ONLY be formatted with their proprietary formatting and that my data is vulnerable if I use something else. (I may have misunderstood this, but I'm 98% certain that's what he said.) I do remember him saying not to use the Mac's Disk Utility to format the drive.
I want to reformat this drive so that it's 100% compatible with my new Mavericks iMac.
Is there any concern about formatting ANY external drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Or are there some hard drives that should not be formatted to Mac using Disk Utility?
I'm under the impression that all external drives are basically the same and I can format them however I want. No drive is "made" to be formatted with a certain OS or a certain format.
Is that correct?

Formatting a drive simply will remove any data currently stored on it. There is no such thing as "proprietary formatting." Drives come out of the factory with no formatting.
Whatever the person told you it was patently wrong not to mention mis-informed.
To use a hard drive properly with any computer it needs to be formatted with the tool that is required for the operating system with which it will be used. For the Mac you use Disk Utility (the tool) and you format the drive using Mac OS Extended, Journaled (the format.)
Your impression is correct.

Moving iPhoto to external drive; have formatted external disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), moved the iPhoto library to external drive; when trying to change the library, the iPhoto file on new external is greyed out can't be selected.What went wrong?

Must have done something wrong..
1. formatted external disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - required a partition, but that went fine. Entire new external disk was included in the partition formatted to Mac OS Extneded (journaled).
2. moved iPhoto library to new external disk
3. Holding Option key down, opened iPhoto
4. Choose library feature appeared, however when new library function option appeared and "choose library" selected, the iPhoto folder appearing in the new external drive was greyed out and not able to be selected. Therefore the default library remains the original iphoto library on the Mac.
I've moved the original iphoto library to the trash and then tried to start iPhoto. A message comes up that the iPhoto is in the trash and needs to be pulled out before iPhoto can start (clearly the new iphoto library on the external drive is not being seen.
Can anyone suggest where I went awry? Thanks!

Try trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder.
(On 10.7 or later: Hold the option (or alt) key while clicking on the Go menu in Finder to access the User Library)
(Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)
What's the plist file?
For new users: Every application on your Mac has an accompanying plist file. It records certain User choices. For instance, in your favourite Word Processor it remembers your choice of Default Font, on your Web Browser is remembers things like your choice of Home Page. It even recalls what windows you had open last if your app allows you to pick up from where you left off last. The iPhoto plist file remembers things like the location of the Library, your choice of background colour, whether you are running a Referenced or Managed Library, what preferences you have for autosplitting events and so on. Trashing the plist file forces the app to generate a new one on the next launch, and this restores things to the Factory Defaults. Hence, if you've changed any of these things you'll need to reset them. If you haven't, then no bother. Trashing the plist file is Mac troubleshooting 101.
Then try select it again.

I have an external hardrive for MAC, I needed to save something from my work computer so I can pass it on to my MAC, it requiered me to re-format my external HD and now when I connected to my MAC I only have "read only rights". How do I fix it?

I have an external hardrive for MAC, I needed to save something from my work computer so I can pass it on to my MAC, it requiered me to re-format my external HD and now when I connected to my MAC I only have "read only rights". How do I fix it? I run my Itnues from this external and now my library is gone. Luckily I have it saved somewhere else, which is not a problem, but I won't be able to write to this HD for right now. I can't see an option to give those permission back.

cptjuanjvarona wrote:
I have an external hardrive for MAC, I needed to save something from my work computer so I can pass it on to my MAC, it requiered me to re-format my external HD and now when I connected to my MAC I only have "read only rights". How do I fix it?...
Unless what you have to transfer is enormous, skip the external HD altogether and use a USB flash drive; you can get them with capacities to 128GB. Format the flash drive as FAT32 or ExFAT as LowLuster suggests so it can be read and written to on both PC's and your Mac.

Should I necessarily use an external hard "for mac" to get a backup from my macbook?

I want to get a backup from my macbook pro using the time machine. Should I necessarily use an external hard "for mac" to get a backup from my macbook? Because I have an external hard, but its not for mac. Is there any way I can use this one?

You can use the external drive you want with your Mac. However, the "for Mac" external drives come prepared to connect them and start using them, and probably you will have to do some additional steps with your external drive.
First, you will have to format the external drive with "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", the only filesystem compatible with OS X. If you have got files on the external drive, you have to copy them to your Mac before erasing the drive. Then, follow these steps to format the external drive with "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" > http://pondini.org/TM/5.html
Then, to use Time Machine, open System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk, and choose your external drive, so your Mac will start making backups to your external drive

Peripheral for external Iomega Zip MAC 100 & Mac Book Pro

I would like to download files from an external Iomega Zip Mac 100 but the peripheral is not compatible with my MacBook Pro 13".
What do I need to get in order to do this, and will I also need to download a driver for the Mac to see it?
Thank you.

I haven't used a ZIP drive with a Mac in over a decade... I have no idea what sort of interface the Iomega device has? Do you know?
More likely than not, you're going to have to find some computer that has the right interface.
Clinton

Is it OK to use USB 2.0 connection for Glyph external drive and Mac Pro as project drive?

Is it OK to use a USB 2.0 connection for Glyph external drive and Mac Pro as project drive? I was told by Sweetwater tech support to use Firewire, but both the FW400 and FW800 connections crash my audio interface software mixer (Presonus' "Universal Control" software).
Both Firewire connections also create a 10 second hang for each Command-Save that I do.
USB 2.0 for the external drive seems to be working so far, but is there some reason I should be wary of using this as my go-to project drive? In other words, I am imagining that there was probably some definite reason that the tech support guy mentioned not to use it. But maybe not. It's a brand new Glyph. In any event, it's nice to have the 10 second hang eliminated, and I was just looking for some advice, since digging into the Presonus software issue could take some time.

If you have a mac pro, why not stick the external HDD inside via one of your many SATA cables & have it run 9 times faster than your USB?
Or stick a HDD CADDY in your mac pro, so you can slot in a full sized 3TB HDD for recording, and when you are done, pull it out & slip it in an external enclosure if you need to take it places?

How do install program from external drive to mac book air

how do install program from external drive to mac book air

DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc - Apple Support

Wouldl like to use an large external with my mac book-if so how can I shut the lid without losing the screen?

Wouldl like to use an large external with my mac book…if so how can I shut the lid without losing the screen?

This is the article on the subject:
Mac notebooks: How to use your computer in closed clamshell (display closed) mode with an ...
But it does not cool as well when closed. I suggest you arrange your workflow across the two screens side to side, or put the Big Display up on blocks and open the laptop below it, and use both screens in Extended Desktop:

I had formatted external HDD as Mac OS Extended(journaled) earlier, but now i want to format the same as ExFAT so that i can copy files between PC and MAC. But it is giving 'Can't unmount' error while i try to run Erase

I had formatted external HDD as Mac OS Extended(journaled) earlier, but now i want to format the same as ExFAT so that i can copy files between PC and MAC. But it is giving 'Can't unmount' error while i try to run Erase

Use the PC to reformat the drive.

Questioning Mac on start up

When I am starting up my iMac, I am now getting the 'questioning Mac' for a short while before it starts up. That's like a folder with a question mark appearing on the screen.
I can't think why, I have one operating system and my HD is not partitoned. I have no DVD or CD in the drive. It's not just a one off, it's happening all the time, and I'm not to happy. I had this before on my iMac G3 which was dual boot and occasionally I'd boot into OS9. But not on my new iMac. I feel a bit uneasy about seeing this. Any suggestions?

It sounds like your boot device (your hard drive) is not select. When no predefined boot device is selected, the Mac will show the folder/? screen for a short time, while it examines the hard drives. CD/DVD drive, Firewire, and Network ports for a bootable device. Once it finds a device to boot from, it continues on normally.
Go to System Preferences, Startup Disk, and make sure your hard drive is selected as the boot device.
Tom N.

External HD Question (MAC to PC, PC to MAC)

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