Formatting New External Hard Drive from NTFS to MS-DOS Problem

Hi I'm new to the mac family and I just got a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive and hooked it up - it mounted fine but it comes formatted NTFS so its in a read only state at the moment. I want to reformat it to MS-DOS so I can use it for both my mac and windows pc's. I went to disk utility to do this but all of the options are greyed out so I cannot erase it. What do I have to do to format it?

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)

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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)

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 do I format a new external Hard drive for Mac?

Simple question I know for many of you out there but I could do with some advice as I have never done this before. I would like to buy a new external hard drive to store my music and photos on. I will get one with firewire and usb2 connectivity.Could someone walk me through the steps needed to format and prepare a hard drive for use with my Macbook (if it is not already Mac formatted). Will any brand of hard drive work with Mac or are some better than others?

In addition to what Templeto Peck said, make sure that you select the formating to be OSX Extended.
As far as the best esternal drive, type into the "Search Discussion" box: Best external hard drive. This will bring you to several previouslly posted threads that discuss quite thoroughly your question. The following is extracted from one thread:
The best drives are those that use the Oxford 911 chipset. I like the Mercury Elite Pro drives from OWC, but there are plenty of others that use the same chipset.

External hard drive that had my itunes on it crashed; had to recover data on new external hard drive; not can't access iTunes from my iMac - how do I name it correctly in order to make iTunes work again

how do I set up a new external hard drive with my recovered iTunes (from a hard drive that crashed & had to be replaced) so that I can access iTunes on my iMac again?

Take a look at this link, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519

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?

Got a new external hard drive. Transferred all files from old hard drive to new hard drive. Connected hard drive to macbook. How do I get all my files to be recognized by iTunes and my already made playlists??

Got a new external hard drive. Transferred all files from old hard drive to new hard drive. Connected hard drive to macbook. How do I get all my files to be recognized by iTunes and my already made playlists??

Trying to download photos from IPHONE, IPAD to IPHOTO in IMAC after installing new hard drive.
How did you import the photos to iPad and iPhone?
If the photos have been synced to the iPhone and iPad using iTunes, you cannot sync them back.
See this document: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236
You can't reimport pictures synced from your computer to your device back to your computer. You can only import pictures in the Camera Roll or Saved Photos from your device to your computer. If you need to retrieve synced photos from your device:
If your photos are not in the Camera Roll on your devices, save them to the Camera Roll, share them to the Photo Stream, mail the photos, or, if you have iPhoto on the devices, use iTunes Photo Sharing.
http://help.apple.com/iphoto/iphone/2.0/?handbuch#blnkee26bc1
Save photos to your computer using iTunes
Connect your iOS device to your computer.
Tap a photo, album, event, web journal, or slideshow and tap Share> iTunes.
Tap Selected, or change the photos you want to save (if you are saving a slideshow skip to step 4):
Select different photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap one or more photos, and tap Next.
Select a range of photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.
Select all the photos in an album or event: Tap All.
In iTunes, click the button for your device and click Apps at the top of the window.
Below File Sharing, select iPhoto (in Apps).
Select the Shared Photos folder under iPhoto Documents.
Click Save To and select the location on your computer where you want to save the items.
To view your photos, go to the Finder and look in the location you selected above.

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.

I am trying to format a new external hard drive. It is attached via a USB 2.0 docking station. It does not show up in Disk Utility or Terminal, but does show up in System Profiler. How can I get my MacBook Pro to recognise it?

I need help trying to format an external hard drive. My Mac won't recognise it anywhere other than System Profiler.

The problem is that it is a Western Digital 3.5 inch internal hard drive housed inside a hard drive caddy. So the only way to connect it to my computer is through a dock.

HT3275 Time machine at home and it will not allow me to remove the listing of my external hard drive from the excluded files list.

Please help guys, I have a Time machine at home and it will not allow me to remove the listing of my external hard drive from the excluded files list.
I am trying to use time machine to back up the hard drive. For backing up from Macbooik pro and Imac, there is no problem. It seems to not want to allow the external drive to be removed from the Excluded list and as such will not back up from it.
Is there a way to be able to transfer files (music, movies etc) to time machine, format the external drive then put the files back to hard drive?
Sorry it is a long winded question but it is driving me nuts that I cant sort this out.
The <Macbook and Imac are both running mountain lion.
Thanks Guys

As for the hard drive to which you have never been able to write, is it by any chance in NTFS format? OS X can read NTFS for importing files, but it does not contain code for writing on an NTFS volume. That's a choice, not a bug.
There is third-party software available to install NTFS-writing capability into OS X. An example is Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X. Another alternative would be to use a disk format that both Macs and Windows systems can use for both reading and writing; this would require either a new drive or erase the existing data.
If by "the new system software" you mean OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you may want to repost that portion of your query in the Mavericks forum at https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mavericks . I haven't made the leap yet.
I don't know what other problems you have been having, so I cannot comment on them. You don't seem to have any other recent postings on these forums.

How do I reformat an external hard drive from an IMac 10.4.9?

I am new to Mac, having migrated from PC recently. I just purchased a new external hard drive but it is formated as NTFS (read only) and I need to reformat it as FAT 32. Does anyone know how to perform this reformat from my new IMac? Sorry, but I am totally new to Mac and I need all the help I can get. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance.
IMac Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi rubenrodz;
May I welcome you to the Apple Discussion Forums.
Just be aware that while FAT32 can be used for both the Mac and the PC, it does have limitations. You can't have files larger then 4 GB. Plus FAT32 doesn't keep all of the Mac files.
If you are only going to use the disk on the Mac if would be better to format it as HFS+, the native Mac format.
Allan

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.

Which format for external hard drive to use with time machine backup and connect to windows laptop?

Hi! I have an external hard drive on which I have transferred my iTunes library (just mine - not others). I have also a folder containing just films (some but not all of which are in iTunes too) Everything has been working just fine until yesterday I noticed that Time Machine was not including the external hard drive in back up as it wasn't formatted. So I have moved everything back to the Mac hard drive and and ready to format the external hard drive - but understand that if I do the contents cannot be opened from a windows laptop ... is that right? Is there are format I could choose that would allow Time Machine to back up and allow Windows to open as well (the idea being that I take the external hard drive with me on holidays etc!!) Many thanks for any advice.

ok - I understand. I have managed so far to format the drive (on windows) to exFAT file system - which apparently works with both Windows and Mac - but you're correct - it will not be included in time machine backup as I have checked the back up files and Samsung is not showing. Reckon I'm onto having to buy yet another portable hard drive just for windows - or of course buy myself a new mac book!! Can I ask you please - does the drive have to be clear of everything before I change the format - or can I change it with the files still in there? Also, got any quick ways duplicating the files onto another External Hard drive (for use on the windows laptop) At the moment the files are taking 2/3 hours + to copy over! Thank you!

Formatting New External Hard Drive from NTFS to MS-DOS Problem

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