Formatted external hard drive from PC to Mac - Data Recovery Needed

I formatted an external hard drive configured to (PC) for a Mac.
I clicked erase data by accident during the process of formatting -- My old files are no longer there now.
Is there a way to recover the old files that I had on there before the reformat?
Someone please say yes and tell me it's possible......

Not very likely.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

Similar Messages

Hey, can i clone my Macbook Pro internal hard drive and then paste it all onto a formated external hard drive, then make the Mac use the external as the primary hard drive?

hey, can i clone my Macbook Pro internal hard drive and then paste it all onto a formated external hard drive, then make the Mac use the external as the primary hard drive? please help for i only have around 618mb left out of 189GB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If what doesn't work?
If cloning your internal drive to the external drive is not successful, I expect CCC will tell you so. Assuming that doesn't happen, you will have a bootable replica of the internal drive on the external drive once CCC has finished.
You can then do any of several things:
1. Replace your internal drive with a much larger one (320GB or 500GB, or even larger), and clone the external drive's contents onto the new drive so you'll have all your data in one place. Note that if you do this, you'll also need to buy an external drive that's large enough to back the new internal drive up on.
2. Boot from the external drive as a temporary measure while you clear at least 30-40GB of data off the internal drive, allowing you to keep using it and saving small amounts of data to it. The external drive will then contain the only copies of the files you've deleted from the internal drive, so you'll need a seond external drive large enough to back both the other drives up on.
If you can't comfortably clear a minimum of 30GB off the internal drive, you really need a larger internal drive right now, and you shouldn't bother fooling around with the inadequate one you have — you'll just quickly overfill it again.
3. Replace the optical drive in your MBP with a large conventional hard drive, giving you two hard drives inside the machine. You will then need one or more external drives large enough to back up both of the internal drives.
If you sense a theme here — back up, back up, back up — you are correct. It's flat-out foolhardy to own or use a computer without maintaining complete, up-to-date backups of everything at all times.

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

What are these files you are trying to copy over?
If they are program specific and there is no program on a Mac to read them then you'll have to find either a Mac version of that program or one that does the same thing and can read those files.
The file extension should not change just because you connect a NTFS formatted drive to a Mac computer. A Word Document is still a .doc/.docx ad the same for all other office type programs. Music files with an extension of .MP3, or whatever, should read the same on both system. Same goes for all other files like images with a .JPG extension.
Yes I would network them.
I would not use Migration Assistant. There is nothing on your Windows PC that can be used on the Mac other than your personal data files. No programs or settings can be carried over from Windows to OS X.
marimbapony1 wrote:
Also, when I view the files from the external hard drive, they show up as .nbz and are not recognized by any program on the Mac. Should I just abandon the hard drive option and start sharing files through the LAN approach?

How can I use my external hard drive from PC to Mac without reformatting???

Ok, so I am computer illiterate. I have always used PC's and have just bought a MacBook. When I plug in my external hard drive into my new Mac, it says it needs to be reformatted to use with Mac, which would cause all data to be erased. Is there anyway to get around this?
Please help me!

OK... as Woggledog indicated, OS X cannot write to NTFS formatted drives. NTFS is a proprietary Microsoft format. Conversely, Windows can neither read nor write to an OS X formatted drive.
Both Windows and OS X can read and write to FAT32 (this is a fairly old format). The down side to FAT32 is that the largest file you can work with is 4GB. That is probably fine for most people... but if you're working with large files (videos, virtual drive images, large backup files, etc...) FAT32 is not suitable. There are applications that you can purchase for both Macs and Windows machines that will allow them to read and write to the other format.
An immediate option provided you have the space on either your PC or Mac is to create a folder on either machine and move everything from your external drive into that folder. Then you can format the drive to FAT32 and then copy everything back over to the external drive (and delete it from your Mac or PC's internal drive). It might take some time depending on how much data you have... but you'll only have to do it once... and this is assuming you have enough space on one of you machines to copy the data from your external drive.

How do you dump a external hard drive from PC to mac

How do i dump my external hard drive from a PC to my Mac

If you don't see the external HD when you connect it to the Mac, then you need to use Disk Utility to format the XHD to a FAT32 drive. Once done it will read on the Mac and PC without any problems.

Formatting a PC-formatted External Hard Drive to work in Mac OS

So I have a 300 gig external hard drive formatted for Windows XP with NTFS. I recently got a Macbook Pro and as it stands in Mac OS X the hard drive is read only. I can copy files from the hard drive to my Mac, but I can't edit files on the external HD or copy from my Mac to my external HD. This of course is a problem and so I need to reformat it to work in Mac OS. While I will not be using PCs anymore, if possible I would like for the external HD to be Mac and Windows compatible.
First things first I have to get all 300 gigs of files off the external HD in order to reformat it. This will be a pain but I have the means to do this. Once I get everything off, how and with what method should I reformat it to work in Mac? Should I use the HFS file system or MS-DOS? Also, what utility in Mac OS lets me reformat it. As I said, I probably won't be hooking up this external HD to Windows anytime soon, but if there is a way to format it in Mac to work with Windows, then fine.
So what exactly are my options here? I understand that I can format the hard drive in Mac OS with either MS-DOS or FAT32. I just don't know which is better/faster/more reliable in Mac OS, as I'm still a Mac newbie. I don't have files that are over 2 gigs as far as I remember, so I don't think that will be an issue. If it helps, it is mostly media files (videos, music). I've read up online about formatting a drive to work with Mac OS, but there's just so much info I'm getting confused. Thanks.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
So from what people are saying, I can format the drive in Mac OS as FAT32 (aka MS-DOS) and it will work fine between the two operating systems.
I've been reading more though and it seems that FAT32 drives can not be larger than 130 gigs? Or is that just for partitions.
I have a 350 gig hard drive and I don't plan on having any partitions. Can I just format the drive as FAT32 in Mac OS and the whole 350 gigs will be available? There's so much conflicting info in articles I've been reading.
thanks

External Hard Drive from PC to Mac.

Hi !
I'm curently using a 250 gb Western Digital external Hard Drive in a FAT32 Format on my Windows XP PC. I'm about to get a Mac and would like to know if I will have to format my hard drive, or if I will simply have to plug it in the Mac.
Thanks for helping,
Bastien.

Mac OS X understands FAT32. There may be file naming issues, and I wouldn't use a FAT32 volume to backup a Mac with cloning software. Only individual user document files should be copied over from the Mac to the drive, and files that have been Archived with the control-mouse click of the individual files and folders on Mac OS X. If you want a full clone of your data you'll want to reformat the drive, and use MacDrive for Windows to read the Mac formatted hard drive on Windows.
Here's my backup FAQ:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
You decide which method best suits your needs.

External Hard Drive (from windows to Mac)

Hi Mac users!
I just moved from Windows to Mac and I'm very glad I made the switch. However, I am having some issues with my Win-Mac transistion. I have 3 external hard drives that I used under Windows to keep backups of my videos and personal files. Out of the 3 external hard drives, only one is recognized by OS X (10.5). I really need the other 2 to be recognized to transfer some more data to my new Mac system. Could you please help me to figure out what to do??
Here are some information on my 3 externl hard drives:
1 is a WD My Book (working fine)
1 is a La Cie Porsche model (Not working)
1 is a Ximeta (Not working)
I tried several USB ports, USB hubs. I have checked the Utilities to make sure the hard drive is not recognized/detected. Please, i need help to recover some important information and to complete my Windows-Mac transistion!
Thank you for your help!

I had to ask...I also have to ask, when you tried a USB hub, was it an externally powered hub? Sometimes a USB disk won't mount because there isn't enough USB power. However, Mac OS has always given me an explicit message to that effect...
If your LaCie came with a CD, you might use it to install drivers. In principle, that shouldn't be necessary, but is a possibility. If it is a drivers issue then you may be SOL for the Ximeta; glancing at their website--but not necessarily for the right product--they seem to claim that their hard drives require Windows. But I've never had to install drivers on a Mac to use an external hard drive.
It shouldn't be an NTFS issue because NTFS is still readable, just not writable, as you already observed with the WD. The filesystem(s) should still mount.

Re formatting an external hard drive from windows to mac

hi all,
bought a samsung hd400ld which i found out later had been formatted for windows nt?? just wondering if there is a way of reformatting the hard drive so i can save stuff from my mac onto it??
any suggestions would be appreciated,
(have tried using disk utility to no avail)
cheers,
sam

Open the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and reformat it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and with the GUID partition table format.
(103822)

External hard drive from pc to mac please help

My HP motherboard fried but the hard drive was fine. I extracted it, and put it an external enclosure and made it external. I plugged it in and it shows up on disk utility, but now I don't know what to do. I want to be able to transfer my old files to my new Mac. It says disk1s1 (the part with all of the files) isn't mounted. Should I mount it? will this erase my old data? Thanks

Hello jnorris5
Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
If the drive shows up in disk utility then it should show up in Finder (desktop). If it does show in Finder then all you have to do is drag and drop the files that you want to the Mac.
As the other poster stated you may be running NTFS file system on the ext drive, this is not a problem if you're only reading or copying the files. If you plan on writing to the drive with your Mac then you'll need to either format the drive (once you get the data off) to OSX Extended (Journaled) or FAT. You can alternately use a third party program such as paragon or macdrive, suggested by the other poster.
But if all you want to do is get the data from the drive to the Mac then just plug it in drag and drop the files.

Can i use windows migration assistant to transfer files from my windows formatted external hard drive to my mac?

I have a windows formatted external hard drive and a macbook pro. I was wondering if i could use the windows migration assistant to transfer files from my external hard drive to the mac

No.
Just connect the drive to your Mac. The Mac can read most Windows formats (it cannot WRITE Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) formatted drives.

I have an external hard drive, from Iomega. However, I cannot copy or save any file to it. On my PC it says that is possible to read and write in it, but in my Mac, it says I can only read. can somebody help me?

I have an external hard drive, from Iomega. that I can open and see my files. However, I cannot copy or save any file to it. On my PC I have it says that is possible to read and write in it, but in my Mac, it says I can only read. can somebody help me?
Also, Im a photographer, so I like to name a lot of files at the same time (used to do in on PC and it was very usefull.) cannot find out how to do it on my Mac. Really appretiate if some one can give me a solution! Thanx

Your drive is formatted with the NTFS file system. OS X can read but not write to the NTFS file system. There are third party drivers available that claim to add the ability to OS X to write to an NTFS partition. I have not tried them and don't know if they work.
The only file system that OS X and Windows can both write to natively is the FAT32 file system.

How do you transfer info from an external hard drive from a PC to a Mac

How do you transfer info from a external hard drive from a pc to a imac?

Expanding on what Niel said, a Mac can mount and read just about any hard drive from a Windows system. It can't write to an NTFS-formatted drive without third-party drivers, but it can read them. So as Niel indicated, you should be able to just connect the drive to your Mac and drag-copy over whatever you want. If you want to save things from the Mac to that drive, then it will need to be formatted either as FAT32 or exFAT, or if it's NFTS you'll again need drivers.
Regards.

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.

HT1338 I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine on my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. It was going fine when my 2 yo knocked the hard drive. Now TM said "failed" and the Mac refuses to recognize the external hard drive. Help please?

I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine and using my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. All was going well when my 2 yo knocked the disk leading to a "failure" by time machine (Latest Backup: Failed). Now the MacBook will not even recognize the hard drive. I have rebooted, tried all I can think of, but no acknowledgement of the drive. The drive itself makes noise and vibrates as if working, but nothing from the Mac. Please help or $100 down the drain... Thank you.

You may have already done these resets in the "tried all I can think of " portion of your post.....if not then here they are.....
PRAM
support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
SMC
support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
.....hopefully that is all that is required.....

Formatted external hard drive from PC to Mac - Data Recovery Needed

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