Formatting External Windows Hard Drive

Whenever I connect an external hard drive that I normally use with my Windows PC, my MacBook makes the external hard drive "read-only." How can I change this to read and write?
Also, eventhough its in "read only," can I format the external drive?
THANKS!

Your external hard drive that Windows formatted most likely formatted the drive in the NTFS partition type. OS X can only read NTFS, not write to it.
OS X allows you to use the Disk Utility application to format hard drives, including external hard drives, but you cannot format it in NTFS.
OS X can format in FAT32, another format that Windows uses. If you want to ultimately have the external hard drive readable by both Windows and OS X, FAT32 will work.

Similar Messages

Can't format external USB hard drive

Hi Guys
I recently bought a Mac Pro, having decided to make the switch from PC, but am having trouble formatting an external 0.5 TB USB hard drive I used with the PC for use with the Mac. The drive was supplied formatted to Windows NTFS and when I first connected it to the Mac the blue LED indicator blinked off - presumably beacause OSX couldn't read the drive? Now, whenever I try to format the drive using disk utility I am presented with a message stating, "The underlying task reported failure on exit". If I try to partition the drive, I get a message stating, "Resource busy".
I am new to Macs and OSX, so imagine a lot of this problem is down to inexperience. I really need the external drive as I'm a musician, and store all my samples and projects on the drive.
Cheers, Dan

AFAIK, NTFS isn't a supported format for an ICBM (Intel-chip-based Mac). You need to remove any data files and reformat it MS-DOS or some such thing. Check Disk Utility's help files and http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303220
Since you're a newcomer to the Mac, you should peruse these before you do anything:
Switching from Windows to Mac OS X,
Basic Tutorials on using a Mac, and
MacTips Learning Centre.
Additionally, *Texas Mac Man* recommends:
Quick Assist.
Welcome to the Switch To A Mac Guides, and
A guide for switching to a Mac.

Formatting external WD hard drives for Mavericks

Hello all.
I have just purchased a WD external hard drive and need to format it for my newly updated MacPro Mavericks OS.
I have visited their website but the don't have the correct installation area to select to format it. Their latest version is for the OSX 10.8.
I tried following those instructions just to try out. In Disk Utility I select the correct information and then press 'apply'.
A wonder pops up and says Partition Failed. Couldn't unmount disk.
Any help and advice please?

Hello Baltwo.
Please accept my apologies, but I have managed to reformat the HD!!
Stupid me had unknowingly left open a file that came with the HD, thus preventing any formatting from happening.
I apologise for wasting your time.
Hopefully all will be well.
Many thanks,

How do i format a new hard drive without using an external drive

My hard drive crashed so i bought a new hard drive and have already placed it inside the macbook pro. i tried to use my install disks but nothing happens. i realized that i never formatted the new hard drive and started researching. i can not use my old hard drive since it is damaged so is there a way to format the new drive without using the old drive or an external hard drive?

Formatting, Partitioning Erasing a Hard Disk Drive
Warning! This procedure will destroy all data on your Hard Disk Drive. Be sure you have an up-to-date, tested backup of at least your Users folder and any third party applications you do not want to re-install before attempting this procedure.
• With compute rshut down insert install disk in optical drive.
• Hit Power buttonand immediately after chime hold down the "C" key.
• Select language
• Go to the Utilities menu and launch Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel. (You are about to create asingle partition volume.)
• Click on Options button
• Select GUID Partition Table(Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partition in pull-down menu above Volumediagram.
(Note 1: One partition is normally preferable for an internalHDD.)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID (usuallyMacintosh HD).
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Quit Disk Utility.
Open installer and begin installation process.
cornelius

Can You Now Install Windows 7 64-bit On an External Thunderbolt Hard Drive?

Hi. Will Windows 7 see external Thunderbolt hard drives as internal and install it finally to an external hard drive (for Boot Camp)? Has anyone tried it yet? Thank you in advance.
Gbu.

Yep, it works great.
I bought the Thunderbolt adapter for my Seagate GoFlex. Use the Windows 7 install USB stick that Boot Camp makes. Each time Windows installer reboots, you need to hold the option key to reboot back to the new installation. If you miss it and the computer boots back to OS X, no problem, just reboot with option. Once Windows is finished, run Windows Support from your USB stick.
    When you try to select Boot Camp in the startup disk control pannel, there is only one 'Boot Camp' even if you have a Windows installation on your internal drive. When you boot into 'Boot Camp' there is a high quality beatiful black and white ASCII boot manager screen that Microsoft made. You'll see 'Windows 7' and 'Windows 7' to choose from. There is a freeware boot manager editor you can use to uniquely name your various Windows boots, or you can use Microsoft's cryptic text based editor. Windows doesn't do Thunderbolt plug and play, so if you're on an internal Windows and plug in the drive, it won't appear or even start up. Reboot and it'll be available in the boot manager.
    I plugged the drive in through the Thunderbolt display, and everything worked fine. I was sure I would have activation trouble with all the peripherals in the TB display, but there was none. In the Windows Device Manager, every last thing has a properly working driver. I've never seen a PC with every device working.
    It all works because Thunderbolt really is a PCI express slot, just like in a desktop machine. In the GoFlex enclosure, there's an ATA controller just like on an adapter card. Windows hasn't a clue that it's external.

I want to be able to backup my iPhone 4 to an external hard drive since I don't have enough space on my Windows hard drive, how do I do that?

I want to be able to backup my iPhone 4 to an external hard drive since I don’t have enough space on my Windows hard drive, how do I do that?

Go through the below forum with similar issue and follow the process mentioned by "Macjack" in the beginning.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4499820

How do I format an old Windows hard drive for my 13in MacBook Pro?

My hard drive died and I am trying to replace it with my friend's old Windows hard drive. For some reason, the drive is not being recognized by my Mac, even though it is operational on his computer. Do I need to reformat it? If so, how?
Thanks!

launch Disk Utility.
erase with Option GUID partition Map.
[If re-purposing a drive, I always prefer to Security Erase, Write Zeroes, one pass. This takes several hours to complete, but if it completes without error, assures that the drive has 100 percent good blocks.]
create a Mac OS X Extended (jounaled) partition with a snappy name or the typical "Macintosh HD".
You need about 30GB to install and run Mac OS X 10.6.8, possibly a little more for later versions.

I accidentally formatted my portable hard drive when setting it up for time machine. Is there any way for me to get back my lost files?

I have an external hard drive of the brand Western Digital.
Before I got my iMac I moved a lot of my important files from my PC to the hard drive and today I went on and connected it to my iMac to move my files over to it.
When it had connected a window popped up that asked if I wanted to use this hard drive with the program Time Machine and create backups. Without thinking it trough enough and reading the warning properly (I'm stupid I know) I clicked "yes". I then realised how stupid it was and cancelled the formatting of the hard drive. But somehow the program still managed to delete all my important files and can't find any way to get them back. Neither can I connect the hard drive to my PC anymore so I can't check if the files are still there (which I doubt they are since I can't see them on my iMac either).
And now I wonder: is there any way for me to get back my lost files or are they lost forever?
Thank you in advance!
//Gina

A data recovery specialist or some data recovery programs should be able to help. Most format simply rewrite the directory tree saying no files are on this disk. The bits that represent the files are still flipped appropreiately so they still exists, you just don't have the location info to get at them. Secure formats and erases rewrite each bit to a zero or 1 or random so the data is then truely gone. This type of format takes a long time to complete.
I'm not making a recomendation of a particular program but here is one company that does what you ask:
http://www.remosoftware.com/mac-recovery The cost is pretty high but I'm sure they don't sell many copies and need to cover their development costs.
Good luck and don't write anything on the freshly formatted disk until you decide what to do.

Files on external FAT32 hard drive have disappeared

My friend attached her external USB hard drive to my Mac. She didn't know that she was supposed to eject her drive before pulling the USB cord.
Now, she can't see any of her files when she attaches her drive to her Windows XP machine. She's very upset; this drive has years worth of files, including some wonderful photos from a workshop we both went to.
I was able to attach the drive to a Linux computer, and I can see file and directory names. I wasn't able to change into any of the directories, though.
When we attach it to a Windows machine, the drive looks completely blank, and Windows asks if we want to format it.
What should we do?
Catemaco

Catemaco wrote:
My friend attached her external USB hard drive to my Mac. She didn't know that she was supposed to eject her drive before pulling the USB cord.
Now, she can't see any of her files when she attaches her drive to her Windows XP machine. She's very upset; this drive has years worth of files, including some wonderful photos from a workshop we both went to.
I was able to attach the drive to a Linux computer, and I can see file and directory names. I wasn't able to change into any of the directories, though.
When we attach it to a Windows machine, the drive looks completely blank, and Windows asks if we want to format it.
What should we do?
Catemaco
if the drive is still visible on your computer, copy everything to your HD and burn a CD or DVD with the data. Then you can reformat the flashdrive and copy the data back onto it.
Obviously you have learned the lesson of never disconnecting a drive without first ejecting it.
I have two flashdrives that I use on my MBPs and my PCs and it has never lost any data, but even a flashdrive should regularly be backed up onto something more permanent.
Your friend obviously has been yanking the flashdrive out of her PC without ejecting it and that's a no-no also. There's an icon in the Windows taskbar on the lower right that is used to eject any portable hardware, from flashdrives to cameras, to whatever. Let her know that it is very important to properly eject the drive, no matter what computer it is on.

Input/output errors on trying to format a new hard drive

I just installed a Western Digital 160 GB hard drive to replace the original 80 GB drive in my 1.67 Hi-res G4 PB. I can boot from an external FW hard drive that has a copy of the original made with SuperDuper - seems to run fine.
The new 160 GB drive shows up in System Profiler and in the Disk Utility list of drives on the left side of the window - which make me think that I did the hardware installation correctly as the drive can be seen by the system. Maybe this isn't so.
When I use Disk Utility to try to format the new hard drive I get "input/output errors" and can not proceed with the formatting.
The computer ran fine with the old 80 GB hard drive - no sign of any problems - I just need the space.
Has anyone had experience with this or thoughts on how to get to a resolution?

Hi, I installed a 160GB HD WDC (WD1600BEVE-00UYT0) for the previous one didn't work anymore.
After a month it began to freeze and I had to reset the pb, After a few days (and a lot of resetting) I had to reset the PB and the PRAM. After some more days (and a lot of PB and PRAM resettings) I had to reset the PMU, the PRAM, and the PB. After some more days (and ALL the resettings) I had to open the pb, disconnect the HD, re-connect it, and it did work again fine.
ALAS... in two weeks I was through the same procedure again.
It's the second 160GB HD that works in the same identical way (I thought the first one was broken)
I've just disconnected and re-connected the HD.
Have you discovered a simpler way to make it work fine? (I'm a little distressed...)

Install XP on External FireWire Hard Drive

Can someone help me install Windows XP onto an External, FireWire, Hard Drive? I can format and partition the drive with the XP CD, but it won't install XP onto the drive.
It says something about access rights and BIOS or CMOS. I don't think Macs have either a BIOS or a CMOS. I've tried correcting disk permissions with Disk Utility, but it wouldn't do it. It probably doesn't have access.
So does any body know how to do this?

Hi Megabyte,
sad to say but Windows can not be installed to an external Firewire Harddrive.
And this is not a OSX BootCamp issue, but 'designed' by Microsoft to not be doable.
Only way I know is with an USB connected external harddisk and described here: http://tubeshards.wordpress.com/2006/12/05/install-windows-to-a-macintosh-usb-dr ive/
regards
Stefan

[SOLVED] Kernel panic when using external USB hard drive

I have a desktop PC with a 64 bit arch install, on a Core2 Duo 6320 CPU. I have been using (and continue using right now) a 500 GB "Iomega Desktop Hard Drive" external USB hard disk without problems. But I have just bought a 3 TB "Seagate Expansion" external USB hard drive and I'm unable to use it from my Arch install. Each time I try to format it or to copy data from the PC, Arch freezes with a kernel panic. Sometimes it freezes faster and I cannot see anything, but others I am able to see the following kernel messages, repeating several times:
[11701.205071] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13380 tag 29, inflight: CMD
[11701.221297] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.221313] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.221323] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13500 tag 30, inflight: CMD
[11701.237550] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.237567] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.237576] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13680 tag 31, inflight: CMD
[11701.253922] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.253936] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.253956] sd 3:0:0:0: uas_eh_device_reset_handler
[11704.252182] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: LOGICAL UNIT RESET timed out
[11704.252196] scsi host3: uas_eh_bus_reset_handler start
[11704.252443] usb 5-6: stat urb: killed, stream 0
[11704.358882] usb 5-6: reset high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[11704.483206] scsi host3: uas_eh_bus_reset_handler success
Strange enough, the drive is listed by lsusb command as a 2TB but I don't think this is related to the problem (as the OS sees the 3 TB). This is the lsusb output:
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bc2:3312 Seagate RSS LLC SRD00F2 [Expansion Desktop Drive 2TB]
I have tried the drive on other PCs and it works flawlessly. Also tried booting Windows 8 on the same PC I have Arch installed in, and in Windows it also works perfect. I have tried using ext2 and NTFS filesystems. Tried also changing the USB cable without success. And right now I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions?
Last edited by doragasu (2014-07-03 11:06:25)

looks like it could be the UAS module , check https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=183190

Format my mini hard drive

trying to format my mini hard drive, but my disk utility does not have ms dos option - need to be able to transfer files mac to windows. any ideas? the hard drive is Diamond Digital Mobile Storage 4GB MD100, N623, made by www.Mitsubishi Electric.com.au
cheers

Hi Joseph,
Welcome to Apple discussions.
I presume you are trying to format an external drive.
Open Disk Utility, select the Mitsubishi drive, select Erase, and where it says Volume Format open the selection and choose MS-DOS File System.
*If you do not see MS-DOS listed in that window then that is because the disk is already formatted as MS-DOS.*
So without formatting if it is already, see if it transfers a Mac OS X readable file like a .jpg image file from your windows machine to the external drive, and then see if the Mac can read that file.

External USB hard drive won't reformat, won't appear in Finder, error: Unable to write to the last block of the device message

So I just got a new MacBook Air and since I had an external USB hard drive (TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 1TB) lying around, I decided to use it for back-up. Since I only have just the one hard drive, I decided to partition it into two - one for Time Machine backups, and one for general files (formatted FAT so I could use it with Windows). However, the partitioning failed and I ended up with a partition named disk1s2. Plus, it won't appear on Finder anymore, but it appears in Disk Utility.
I have tried to reformat it, but I always get the message "Unable to write to the last block of the device".
Here's the info about my drive:
Name: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 Media
Type: Disk
Partition Map Scheme: GUID Partition Table
Disk Identifier: disk1
Media Name: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 Media
Media Type: Generic
Connection Bus: USB
USB Serial Number: 1220069C
Device Tree: IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/XHC@14
Writable: Yes
Ejectable: Yes
Location: External
Total Capacity: 1 TB
Disk Number: 1
Partition Number: 0
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Not Supported
And here's for disk1s2:
Name: disk1s2
Type: Partition
Disk Identifier: disk1s2
Mount Point: Not mounted
File System: Mac OS Extended
Connection Bus: USB
Device Tree: IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/XHC@14
Writable: Yes
Capacity: 999.86 GB
Owners Enabled: No
Can Turn Owners Off: Yes
Can Be Formatted: Yes
Bootable: Yes
Supports Journaling: Yes
Journaled: No
Disk Number: 1
Partition Number: 2
Here's what it says when I run diskutil in Terminal:
Device Identifier:        disk1
Device Node:              /dev/disk1
Part of Whole:            disk1
Device / Media Name:      TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 Media
Volume Name:              Not applicable (no file system)
Mounted:                  Not applicable (no file system)
File System:              None
Content (IOContent):      GUID_partition_scheme
OS Can Be Installed:      No
Media Type:               Generic
Protocol:                 USB
SMART Status:             Not Supported
Total Size:               1.0 TB (1000204884480 Bytes) (exactly 1953525165 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
Read-Only Media:          No
Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
Ejectable:                Yes
Whole:                    Yes
Internal:                 No
OS 9 Drivers:             No
Low Level Format:         Not supported
I didn't have any data in it prior to the failed partitioning attempt, so there aren't any worries of data recovery. But I'd really like to be able to use this drive again, and save some money (external hard drives are expensive where I live). Anyone with any ideas?

I'd also like to add that repairing the disk using Disk Utility does nothing but tell me to reformat the drive. So I'm stuck in a loop here.

Lion won't open iPhoto library on external NTFS Hard Drive.

Lion doesn't open the iPhoto library on my external NTFS Hard Drive. The caution window says: "The iPhoto Library is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have permission to make changes to it." This is weird because I have installed Paragon for MAC OS X v. 9.0.1 (Lion compatible) and Lion reads and writes files on the NTFS drive without any problem.
Before updating to Lion, Snow Leopard just worked fine with the same configuration.
I have tried to delete and tranfer again my iPhoto library to the external HDD, as well as creating an alias of the iPhoto library on my Mac internal HDD but nothing worked. Any ideas or solutions?

I would caution you:
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos.
Regards
TD

Formatting External Windows Hard Drive

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