How do I make an NTFS external hard drive compatible with my Macbook Air?

I have bought an external hard drive with NTFS. How do I transfer files to this drive from my Macbook Air, and write files on it? I also would like to use the hard drive for a pc as well so any suggested solutions that allows me to use across my mac and a pc would be greatly appreciated.

marshalltimd wrote:
Never seen the term exFAT in a post previously - is that an enhanced version of FAT32?
Yes it is. Here's an abstract from this Microsoft KB page
The exFAT file system is the successor to FAT32 in the FAT family of file systems. The exFAT file system is a new file system format that addresses the growing needs of mobile personal storage on different operating systems. The exFAT file system handles large files, such as those that are used for media storage, and it enables seamless interoperability between desktop computers and devices, such as portable media devices. Because of this functionality, you can easily copy files between the desktop and external devices or between the desktop and other operating systems.

Similar Messages

External hard drives compatible with 2008 macbook air

Does anyone have advice on the best external hard drives currently available for the 2008 MacBook Air?

While most any external drive may work, the Toshiba Canvio USB 3.0 drives have generated quite a few threads on this board with people having problems in getting them to mount. While some cludgy work-arounds have been useful to some, I think the best one is just to avoid the drives until Toshiba works out the compatibility problems.

External hard drive compatible with macbook pro 10.5.8

external hard drive compatible with macbook pro 10.5.8, i need a hard drive that will work with 10.5.8 to back everything up before upgrading to 10.6. a hard drive that is compatable with 10.5.8 has been impossible to find, a hard drive that works with both opperating systems is what i am looking for, any information that can help is appreciated

You can buy just about any USB2.0 hard drive and use it with your MacBook Pro. Many older external drives come pre-partitioned and formatted FAT32 for use on Windows. Your Mac can use that file system as well, but it has limitations on file sizes. You can always re-partition your external drive and re-format it as HFS+ (MacOS Extended Journaled) then your old Mac OS version and your new one should both be able to access it just fine. One thing to keep in mind is that many older OSes don't really handle drives larger than 2TB well, so you would probably want to try to keep your external drive to something smaller than 2TB...

I don't want to spend 60 pounds on a apple cd hard drive, so will any cd hard drive work with a macbook air?

I don't want to spend 60 pounds on a apple cd hard drive, so will any cd hard drive work with a macbook air?

As you quote the price in 'Pounds' I'm assuming you are in the UK!
You might want to consider one of these from Amazon. I have one on my MBA and it works well.

How do i transfer files an external hard drive to a new macbook pro

how do i transfer files from an external hard drive to a new macbook pro?

thank you. i did that with my old computer, and it saved it as a whole other computer on my new macbook. now if i do the same for the external hard drive, i guess it will save it as another separate computer on the new one. so i guess what i should have asked is, is there any way to copy my whole old computer and external, but have the files integrated into the new mac, so i don't have to log in and out of 3 computers just to use my old programs or to see pictures or movies or files from the past. ??? and i now have the apple tv and i have to turn on my macbook and log into the old computer to see certain old files and pictures or home movies???? there has to be an easier way???

How can I transfer my files and documents from external hard drive to my new MacBook Air?

I recently bought a new MacBook Air and I would like to transfer my files and documents which I already saved in my external hard drive to this new mac. Unfortunately, I have not been able to do it so far. I tried to drag some files but the rest of the documents cant be transferred.
I appreciate it if anyone could help me in thsi regard.

Describe exactly what you did when it failed and the error message you received that told you it failed. Dragging and dropping files from one drive to another will work. Having said that however, you need to be aware that trying to copy items with the same name will result in a warning dialog box offering several different options including canceling.
To better help you it would also be helpful to know about the external drive. Did you use TimeMachine to back up to that external drive? Did you copy files from another computer to the drive?

External HArd Drive not recognized by MAcBook Air

Hi,
I bought an external hard drive(from LaCie) few months ago and plugged it once to my Macbook Air. I tried to plug it again last month and my MacBook Air didn't recognize it. I also tried to plug it in a PC and not recognized as well.
I've been told to check in the disk utility folder and to format (erase) my hard drive in order to have it running again, but even in the disk utility, hard drive is not recognized.
If anyone had the same problem before, i'd be gratefull of some help.
Many thanks

what lacie hard drive did you buy?
some hard drives require power supplies. if your hard drive requires one make sure it's firmly connect at both ends. If you haven't done so try another outlet. Also some lacie hard drives have a 3 mode switch on the back. make sure it's set to on, if your hard drive has a switch.
Some of the lacies hard drives have a blue button on the front. try another cable. see if the hard drive shows up as a USB device.

External Hard Drive Compatible with Mac and Windows?

So my old laptop is a Dell Latitude and I bought a Western Digital external hard drive and put all my files/pics/music on it. The information the WD came with said its compatible with Mac and Windows, but when I plug it into my brand spankin new Macbook, it doesn't register with the computer and won't show up. What's going on?
Message was edited by: philliesphan

I recently ran into that problem. In order to have the hard drive compatible for both PC and Mac it must be in a FAT32 format. In order to do this though all your files will be deleted (in order to reformat). You can do this by plugging in the hard drive into you mac and going under disk utility and there you will find your hard drive and under erase change the format to FAT32 and then you press erase (all will be deleted off the external drive though)

External hard drives compatible with time capsule generation 3

I am trying to connect a little 160Gb HP hard drive to my time capsule via a hub which also connects successfully a non wireless printer. This particular hard drive uses two usb in's to connect. Once i plug it into time capsule, it powers up, thinks for a while,the wee blue light becomes solid and there it is.
However it does not show up in the finder sidebar under Shared - though i have set preferences to show everything. the hard drive is formatted correctly, and i can access it when i plug it directly into the imac.
am i missing something ? or is it just not compatible with my time capsule ? - perhaps the two usb connections are the cause? i just want to be able to save files and access them on the external hard drive via the network from imac and laptop, instead of having to plug it in to either.....
any help much appreciated...
janemae

yep am using a usb hub,time cap. has only the one usb port- yes two usb outs on the hard drive , sorry, which merge into one into the hd, is bus powered...

Do all external hard drives work with my macbook pro?

I just bought an HP Simplesave external hard drive. On the rear of the package, I noticed its compatible with XP, Vista, and 7, but nothing about Mac. I don't want to open it, but I was under the assumption that all external hard drives work on all systems. I didn't think they were operating system specific.
Anyone know about this specific hard drive, and about hard drives in general if my assumption is correct?

The drive should work fine once you've reformatted it for the Mac, but whatever small portion of the purchase price went to cover the included software will be wasted, because HP will only have included Windoze software with it. And in the unlikely event that you ever need to call HP tech support, they'll be clueless about anything involving a Mac. These are the two reason why DP suggests avoiding drives whose makers don't mention anything about use with Macs.

How do I transfer files from external hard drive to my new macbook

I am new to apple and just received my lap top today, and i'm pretty clueless. When I connect my external drive to the mac it recognizes it and I see my files however I can not figure out how to transfer them to the hard drive on the mac. Any help would be appreciated I am sure there is an easy solution. Thanks.

Have you tried selecting the files you want to transfer on the external drive and just dragging them to your new Mac's desktop?
lenn

HT1338 how to export files to an external hard drive connected to my macbook pro?

i am unable to export files from my mac onto an extrernal hard drive. as i check the permissions of the hard drive, it says, read only!! kindly help me with this!

You can use a blank CD or DVD instead of your friend's hard drive.
Or you may be able to copy the files over the network. Is your friend's PC in the same location as your Mac, on the same wifi network (or wired network)? Connect the hard drive to the PC, then turn on file sharing on your Mac.
To turn on file sharing:
Open System Preferences
Click "Sharing"
Put a checkmark next to "File Sharing"
Click "Options…"
Put a checkmark next to "Share files and folders using SMB (Windows)"
Put a checkmark next to your user account, enter your password
Click "done"
Your Mac should now appear in the Windows "network", and you can use your friends laptop to browse the Mac files and copy over anything you need.

External hard drive compatible with mac

I recently purchased a Lacie external hd (the porsche design P´9220). Had some initial trouble with getting it up and running, had to switch primary partition hd to actually get the 1 TB storage amount. I did this on a pc in computer management, because I couldn´t figure out how to do this on my mac. Anyway, when I swiched the primary partition hard drive to the right one, I only had two options for formating, either NTFS or exFAT. I thought exFAT would work on mac, but turns out it doesn´t.. Is there any way I can format this hd to fat/ fat32 either on mac or pc?? The whole point of buying this hd was that I thought it would be compatible with BOTH mac and pc at the same time..
Any help will be appreciated, thanks!
Hedda - Norway

Nah:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two and size them to your preferences. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you created for Windows use, click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the Format Type to MSDOS then click on the Erase button.

HT201553 How to transfer data from windows portable hard drive to a new MacBook air?

I am getting a new MacBook air and need to transfer my data. I have a windows 7 laptop and a 2TB wd passport. I have several large home videos (larger than 4 GB) home videos. Any help would be appreciated!!!

Yes, so copy it elsewhere temporarily

How to convert NTFS external hard drive to FAT32 without loosing data?

New mac user. How to convert NTFS external hard drive to FAT32 without loosing data?

You have to off load and backup then.
don't have backup drive ?
Get one.
Want another option? Paragon NTFS for OS X will provide write function to your drive, works with the most PC cases and drives (not all NTFS drivers for OS X do) and does so with fast I/O and low overhead.
Not sure about using Seagate GoFlex as I seem to recall a number of threads reporting problems.
Windows can do a convert -fs to NTFS just never tried the reverse from NTFS to FAT32 but I would not use FAT. I'd either erase and reload and use as Mac HFS Extended; or if you actually do need to use it with a PC user running Windows, the driver would be handy and better.
Or your PC w/ Windows there are HFS drivers for Windows to mount and WRITE to a Mac formatted drive under Windows. There MacDrive has more and better support feature set.

How do I make an NTFS external hard drive compatible with my Macbook Air?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for