Help transferring files from WD Passport external hard drive (previously used with a Dell) to my Macbook pro.

I was using a PC (Dell) for my work and used a WD Passport to backup all of my files. I own a Mac and will be using a Mac next year. Is it possible to get my files off of my WD Passport external hardrive onto my mac? if so, how?

Macs can read from (but not write to) Windows drives so you would copy the files and paste them on the Mac.

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Needed some help transferring files from Mac to external hard drive

Hey guys, I just needed some urgent help.
My friend wanted some files to be transferred to his external hard drive from my Mac. As he is a Windows user, I guess his hard drive is formatted for Windows as well. As I plug in the hard disk in my Mac, I can't transfer the files. It says something like "the disk cannot be modified".
So, please help me on how can I transfer this files from my Mac and if I do format it to work with the Mac, will it work for Windows later?
Please help!
Cheers
Sam

The Windows drive is probably formatted NTFS which is not natively writable
by the Mac. It should be formatted as FAT32 to be usable on both.
Dave

Help copying files from iTunes to external hard drive

I have a bunch of music files (about 15,000 of them) that I want to back up to an external hard drive. They are only files of a certain bit rate, so I can't just locate them in a particular folder and copy them; I need to sort them in iTunes and copy them from there. I tried to highlight all of them and just copy them, but I got the spinning wheel for a couple minutes and then the operation stopped. I then figured out that I could transfer about 1,000 at a time -- I got the tracks by bands starting with A, then B, then C, to transfer. But now I am stuck. When I try to transfer files now, when I highlight them in iTunes, the window showing the destination folder on the external hard drive disappears, and I can't transfer them. Before, it seemed like both windows were active, but now they are not. Anyone know the solution to this?

The Windows drive is probably formatted NTFS which is not natively writable
by the Mac. It should be formatted as FAT32 to be usable on both.
Dave

I had to erase my hard drive and then reinstall everything back from my passport external hard drive. Now my iPhoto edit is not working. I get a blank screen when I want to edit. The photos show up in the library but I cannot edit them. Help?

I had to erase my hard drive and then reinstall everything back from my passport external hard drive. Now my iPhoto edit is not working. I get a blank screen when I want to edit. The photos show up in the library but I cannot edit them. Help?

There are several possible causes for the Black Screen issue
*1. Permissions in the Library* : Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Include the option to check and repair permissions.
*2. Minor Database corruption*: Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild.
*3. A Damaged Photo*: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and right click on it. From the resulting menu select 'Show File (or 'Show Original File' if that's available). Will the file open in Preview? If not then the file is damaged. Time to restore from your back up.
*4. A corrupted iPhoto Cache*: Trash the com.apple.iPhoto folder from HD/Users/Your Name/Library/ Caches...
*5. A corrupted preference file*: Trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder. (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.)
If none of these help:
As a Test:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?
Regards
TD

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

I have an eMac and am trying to copy/move movie files from eMac to external hard drive for backup. The eMac will not allow me to do this. Keeps reading error -61. Any suggestions are greatly appreciate. Thanks!

Trying to backup movie files from eMac to external hard drive. Keep getting error -61. Any suggestions? Thanks

Good advice from Keith.
wrPermErr
= -61, /*write permissions error*/

My WD external hard drive will no longer show up on my Macbook pro.

My WD external hard drive will not longer show up on my macbook pro. The light turns on and you can hear it running but it won't show up either in finder or in the disk utility. This happened a while ago but I really want to get all my photos off the hard drive. Is there anything I can do to get my computer to read it again or get my data off of it?
I don't have access to another Mac to test it.
Thank you

dead sata bridge card. very common problem.
see all about it here:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
verify HD on another Mac however, if same, dead SATA card most likely

Best speed External Hard Drive to use with Final Cut Pro X ?

Hey all
I'm looking at getting a new USB 2.0 external hard drive to use with FCPX, I was wondering what everyones thoughts were on minimum speeds and what everyone else uses.
I am looking at least 1-2TB.

I will warn you now that I am somewhat of a lone voice on these forums for recommending USB 2.0s.
I have used the 7,200rpm types with their own mains supply over the last 6 years (and exclusively for the last 3) and had no problems of any kind.
Having said that I am not a pro with tight schedules (or underwear!) but I have used DV, HDV, AVCHD with and without ProRes and AIC.
Most of my projects are short though I have done a number of 2 hour projects with comparatively simple editing and a few effects etc. One ongoing project has some 12 hours of DV which I dip into occasionally.
I have a couple of LaCie FW HDs which I stopped using a couple of years ago in favour of the much cheaper USB 2.0s and didn't notice any difference, though as I said I don't have pro time constraints.
Now is not the best time to buy HDs cheaply as the autumn floods in Asia knocked out many of the main suppliers, prices doubled overnight and have still not got back to last summers figures (2TB WD Essential £69 with free delivery).
Look at the price now!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Elements-External-Desktop/dp/B003IPC21Y/ ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1330504588&sr=8-11

What is a good external hard drive for use with a macbook air?

I am looking at purchasing a macbook air 13". What is a good external hard drive to use with it? Should I look for an external hard drive with its own a/c power or is the usb 3.0 capable of powering the external drive.

Have a look here for the sizes and prices.
It is however, much better to get a USB external drive that comes with it's own power adapter to avoid issues when or if your USB port can't supply enough power to your external drive.
That issue however does happen rarely but it does happen. Especially when connecting other devices to your other USB port while your external hard drive is connected to your other usb port.

How to play flac files from a Maxtor external hard drive

Trying to use an old mac mini PPC to play music from a Maxtor external hard drive. Files are flac format. Would like to move files to iTunes library individually or by album or ideally only when I want to play them. Am not that accustomed to using a Mac, just finding my way around...flac file conversion
is possible for this old mac or do I need to download some freeware?

If you want to convert your FLAC files (I would recommend to Apple Lossless format) then have a look at the free XLD software.
See http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html
Apple Lossless format is the same exact quality as FLAC, roughly the same file size but works natively in iTunes and on Apple's iPod/iPhone/iPad devices. It can also be played in most Windows applications including Windows Media Player if you add the right plugins or codecs. Apple Lossless is a free open-source format now, just like FLAC.

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!

Help with transferring files from mac to another hard drive...

my mac wont let me transfer files from mac hard drive to a external hard drive, i've done it before, but suddenly it wont allow this? what could it be?

Also Its my mums computer, i'm trying to fix it for her, she's running osx 10.10.2

Transferring data from Time Machine external hard drive to band new mac

My husband bought me a brand new Mac but then powered it up to play with it and bypassed the magic transfer option at the very beginning which would have allowed me to transfer my backed up info from my old mac to this new one.
Is there a process that I need to go through now to make sure this information transfers correctly or do I just plug in my external hard drive and let it do its thing.
My worry is that I do something wrong and Time Machine doesn't know that I need to transfer to a new mac, it sincs with the new mac and the old data gets somehow erased.
Paranoid? Oh yes!
Thanks for any help....

Time Machine transfers of backed up info to any Mac are not automatic, nor does any backed up info get erased from the Time Machine backup when you do a transfer. You have two options for copying Time Machine backup files to the new Mac:
1. Use Migration Assistant (found in Applications/Utilities) to migrate (copy) items to the new Mac. Select "From a Time Machine backup or other disk" as the migration method, then select the Time Machine backup of the old Mac, then select the items you want to transfer. You can select some or all of the user accounts on the old Mac, Applications (all or none), Settings files (Time Zone, Machine, and/or Network), & "Other" files & folders (which are any other root level files & folders not included in the above).
If you have already set up your network, time zone, etc. settings while playing with the new Mac then there is no particular need to migrate the old ones. If you migrate Applications, Migration Assistant will not replace newer versions with older ones, but it may transfer some old apps that don't work with Snow Leopard. This won't do any harm, but you may want to delete the incompatible apps as you discover them to save space on the new hard drive.
If you have created a new user account on the new Mac with the same name as some account on the old Mac, you will have to either give the old account a new name for the transfer or replace the new account with the old one, which will erase any user files you have created in the new account. Thus, you should save any such files to a backup if you want to keep them.
2. Use Time Machine itself to restore selected files or folders from the Time Machine backup of the old Mac to the new one. Open Time Machine from the Dock, choosing "Browse Other Time Machine Disks…" from the popup options. Again, choose the Time Machine backup of the old Mac, & then select whatever dated backup you want to restore items from.
All this is harder to explain than to do in actual practice -- for the first method you get on-screen guidance for each step & for the second the interface is pretty intuitive.

How move to move itunes files from laptop to external hard drive for 4 profiles, How move to move itunes files from laptop to external hard drive for 4 profiles

My current laptop has no free space, it has my iTunes on, my wife's, and ours kids too.
In order to sync our iPhones/ iPad I need more free space.... Therefore was going to purchase an external hard drive and move the files from my laptop to the external hard drive.
But have no clue on which files to move across?
Need to move them across and keep the individual iTunes accounts for me/wife/ kids.

This article may help
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751

Can't transfer files from a mac external hard drive to a windows hard drive

Today I went to a friends house to try and take some of his music from his external hard drive. So we plugged his mac converted hard drive into my computer, which is operating on windows 7, and my computer could not read that anything was there. So we plugged in my windows converted into his Macbook Pro, and his computer was able to read it, but for some reason, we could not transfer files from his hard drive to mine.
I was just wondering if I am doing something wrong, or if it could be because I am using a hard drive that I bought in China, and any information would be great.

NTFS is readable in Mac OS, but can't be written to.
HFS+ is not readable in Windows, though Apple now has a (somewhat problematic and buggy at times) service to allow Windows on mac to read HFS+ to make it easier and more convenient.
There are drivers (free and commercial) to add the ability to read and write to each.

Help transferring files from WD Passport external hard drive (previously used with a Dell) to my Macbook pro.

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