How to transfer large files from macbook pro to External Hard Drive?

I want to transfer a file from my Mac to an external hard drive, it says "The item “File name” can’t be copied because it is too large for the volume's format."
I am trapped, if there is any way you could suggest me to overcome this problem I will be grateful.

I may be wrong, but I believe the format has something to do with it - note the sizes here (from the Help in Disk Utility on how to format a drive for Windows):

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Transfer photos/videos from MacBook Pro to External Hard Drive (not iPhoto)

I've read all the other threads regarding how to transfer photos from iPhoto to an external hard drive (i.e., format your EHD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)), however, I do not believe my situation applies.
In short, I download new photos/videos from my iPhone to my MacBook Pro twice - in two distinct methods. The first method (and the one I favor) is to use the Preview Application to download photos to the MyPictures folder. Once this is done, I revise the name of each photo so that I can tell not only the date but also the event. Once this is done, I then also download the same photos to my iPhoto Library via iPhoto but I don't make any revisions to the file names (I don't know why I continue to download photos into my iPhoto Library since I don't like iPhoto, but I guess I feel like it is a "backup" of sorts).
My problem now is that my internal hard drive is filling up and I must transfer some photos to an External Hard Drive (EHD). I thought the simplest solution was to transfer my iPhoto Library since I don't really use it anyway and many people advise to simply format my EHD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). However, if I do that, my understanding is that I will not be able to then transfer the files to a PC, if I decide in the future to do so. The solution, as suggested by others, was to then format my EHD as "ExFAT". However, if I do that, my understanding is that iPhoto will not function properly.
So my questions include the following:
1. Is there any harm in simply deleting my entire iPhoto Library from my internal hard drive to free up space since I believe I have been downloading all my pictures in a separate location anyway (MyPictures folder)? Or will deleting my iPhoto Library somehow delete these other photos (even though they are not named similarly)?
2. If I decided that transferring my iPhoto Library to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled)-formatted EHD was the best solution, what would my options be if in the future I wanted to transfer the photos to a PC? Is that option lost forever? Or could I somehow transfer the photos from the EHD to the MacBook Pro, then re-format the EHD to ex-FAT, copy back the photos from the MacBook Pro to the ex-FAT-formatted EHD and then transfer the photos/videos to my PC? Is there an alternative better solution?
3. Any other suggestions?
Thank you

1 - no - if you do not like or use iPhoto then yu have no need for the iPhoto library - it is sefl contained and deleting it will not affect anything except iPhoto
2 - you can export photos form iPhoto to any format drive - it is only the iPhoto library that has drive format restrictions
Reformatting a drive totally erases it so you can not simply change the format of a drive without removing everything on it
3 - deciede what you want - if you use iPhoto then it has no cross platform capability and nothing you do in iPhoto is directly of use on a PC - you have to export from iPhoto to a volume that a PC can read
Since you do not like or use iPhoto and it will not do what you want I have no idea why you are messing with it at all
LN

How do i move files from mac mini to external hard drive

how do i move files from mac mini to external hard drive

The simplest method would be to drag & drop the files you want to move to the external drive using the Finder. Just open both the source and destination locations in separate Finder windows.

File transfer from MacBook Pro into external hard drive

I can't copy files from the MacBook into an external hard drive.
In the 'Get Info' section, it says read-only. However, the hard drive have just been recently bought.
I had the same problem with our previous hard drive. Although the previous hard drive was 'read-only' I was able to copy and paste files in our old HP laptop.
What can I do in order to copy and paste files from the MacBook into the hard drive?
Hard drive = Toshiba
Capacity = 1TB

In my last paragraph, I said
"Note that Windows PCs cannot write natively to an HFS drive, so if you need to exchange files between Mac and PC, we need to talk about different options."
Windows cannot read Mac Extended (HFS) formatted drives; the Mac cannot write to Windows (NTFS) formatted drives.
The only formats fully compatible between Mac and PC are FAT32 (largely deprecated) and exFAT. If you need full read-write compatibility between Windows and Mac, and you can erase the drive (ie, it's a new drive or you have confirmed backups), reformat to exFAT using Disk Utility.
If you have a drive with files on it and you cannot erase them at the moment:
- if the drive is formatted for the Mac, you can purchase MacDrive for the PC
- if the drive is formatted for Windows (NTFS), you can purchase Paragon NTFS for the Mac.
Matt

Backed Up from macbook pro to external hard drive for use on PC--how to restore to macbook pro?

Good evening,
My college student daughter uses her macbook pro, 13" Mid-2010, for ALL her school work. A few days ago it stopped working for her. Blank screen. Turned it off and on, blank screen with the gear spinning. She took it to a place named MacExperience in Indy for diagnositcs. The tech got it working and said it was OK now ($90 later). Two hours later, same thing occurred. She returned to the tech and he indicated it is in fact the logistics board that needs repair/replacement.
She purchased an external hard drive (G-Drive 500 GB mini FW800/USB 2/FW400 7200 RPM)--that is the description from the receipt she scanned and sent to me. The tech backed up her files from the MBP to the External HD so that the files are usable on a PC until the MBP is repaired.
Will her files be intact on the MBP once it is repaired? More importantly, since the back-up was made from the MBP to use on a PC, how do we restore the files from the external HD back to the MBP so that she can use MBP with all her files, school work, etc.?
The tech said he will do it, but of course for another $90. My point is, she needs to know how to do this in the event something like this occurs again (I sure hope not!!). Furthermore, she will from now on back-up her files to the external HD, which she needs to learn to do, as well.
Thank you for your helpful replies.
Message was edited by: fmwhelp

I may be wrong, but I believe the format has something to do with it - note the sizes here (from the Help in Disk Utility on how to format a drive for Windows):

HT4889 Migrate from MacBook Pro to external hard drive

I have a MacBook Pro with no video, external monitor won't work, it's the nvdia chip. Before working on it, I want to back up the Apps, Settings etc. I have the data backed up. I tried to migrate to my mac mini but it doesn't have enough space so I thought I could migrate to my external hard drive, but I can't see the external... Here are my 3 inital questions:
Can you Migrate from Macbook to external drive....if so, how...migration asst. or disk utility????
When you Migrate from one drive to another, does it overwrite the files on the new drive, in this case my Mac Mini
Can you clone or disk image to an external hard drive, if so, how?

A clone should work.
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How to transfer music files from sonic stage to a hard drive

Hi all
I need your help, I am pulling my hair out here for the past 3 weeks. I purchased a hard drive from Apple and I want to transfer all my music files from Sonic stage which in on my old Fitjitsu laptop.
I then want to transfer the music from the hard drive to iTunes to my new mac airbook
Any help is appreciated at this present time I am hating Apple product big time. Maybe it will restore once I am guided at present Apple customer services who sold me the product initially couldn't help me.
Cheers

I am guessing this Fitjutsu laptop is running Windows which uses NTFS format drives. If you bought a hard drive from Apple it is probably formatted for Mac use. Anyway, I don't know why you are blaming Apple. Hard drives come in one of the other format and you need one that works with both. Sales people at many kinds of stores rarely know much about things they sell outside of immediate application. They are trained in the things they sell but are not technically minded. If you had bought the drive anywhere else you would be like the 2 questions I answered yesterday where people got the music onto the NTFS drive but didn't know why it wouldn't work with the Mac.
You haven't told us much about the Fitjutsu laptop. You may be able to use Migration Assistant to transfer the entire contents to the Mac. This will set up a separate user account with the content.
About Windows Migration Assistant - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4796 - Learn about how to use Windows Migration Assistant to migrate your files from a Windows PC to a Mac.
If you need/want to use a drive to get the music off the other computer you will need a drive with either NTFS format or FAT32 (MS-DOS) format. With NTFS format the Mac can read but not write to the drive. You can use it for transferring the files but it will have to be re-formatted back to Mac format for use with the Mac. Alternatively you can reformat your Mac drive to FAT32 (MS-DOS) format using Disk Utility. Macs can both read and write to this format but is isn't really a a Mac format (Macs can't repair a FAT drive) so eventually you may wish to reformat it too back to Mac format. Formatting a drive erases all content so once you get the content onto your Mac you will have to store it there temporarily when you format the drive back to Mac format.
I know this is sounding complicated but Apple's answer to transferring PC content is Migration Assistant. If you don't want to do that then yes, you are entering the realm where there is fiddly hands-on things to do.
If this is a brand new Mac you may still be in the 90 day period where you can get free help at an Apple Store from the "Genius" bar. I'm guessing, however, this won't extend to their formatting and reformatting a drive and transferring select content.

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I need to move my iTunes library to my external hard drive.

Drag it there, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it.
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Hello everybody! i want ask you... how can i transfer my files from macbook pro to flash card or other devices?

hello everybody! i want ask you... how can i transfer my files from macbook pro to flash card or other devices?

Of course you can. You may use USB drives, HDDs and other Mac if the need be. More details from you will be required if you want more information.
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How do you transfer movies from macbook to a external hard drive it won't recognise

how do i transfer movies from macbook to a external hard drive? it just wont recognize

So your MacBook Pro is a 2012 model (I'm assuming since you only bought it a week ago!)?
There are some known issues with the USB 3.0 ports on the 2012 models where they do not recognize USB external drives. This tech note may be of some help - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5172#12.
Some people that are using pre-release versions of Mountain Lion, to be released in the next couple of weeks, have written here that their USB 3.0 port problems are 'fixed' with the new version of OS X 10.8.
Try the Apple FAQ first and if that doesn't solve your problem, you may have to wait a couple of weeks to see if 10.8 does.
Sorry,
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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?

I tried transferring my iphoto library from my old macbook onto my new macbook pro (via external hard drive), but when i open the new iphoto, it seems to have transferred ALL images ever used on my old macbook. so i tried to just del

i tried transferring my iphoto library from my old macbook onto my new macbook pro (via external hard drive), but when i open the new iphoto, it seems to have transferred ALL images ever used on my old macbook. so i tried to just delete all those images so i could try a different approach to transferring, but the new iphoto won't let me do anything and every time i try to delete anything it crashes (since the image amount is so high). please help!!
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iphoto '11, version 9.4.2

To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:
Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...
But however you do choose to link the two machines...
Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.
Then launch iPhoto. That's it.
This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.

Using Carbon Copy Cloner which is quicker firewire 800 Macbook Pro to external hard drive or Macbook Pro to same via Airport Extreme?

Using Carbon Copy Cloner which is quicker firewire 800 Macbook Pro to external hard drive or Macbook Pro to same via Airport Extreme?

Firewire 800 is the fastest and most reliable. Also it's bootable if you hold the option key down on a wired or built in keyboard. Not bootable via Airport obviously or if Filevault is used.
It's only your first clone that's usually takes the longest, it's shorter when it updates as you only do the changes which you can control to keep a pure clone if you wish.
Most commonly used backup methods

Large files fail when copying to external hard drive

Hi, I am trying to copy 2 extremely large dmg files (both 4-7 GB each) from my macbook to an external hard drive. When the file is almost done I get an error message saying it couldnt do it. I have heard about this happening to other people because their external harddrives were not formatted correctly or something. Is there some precedural way of doing this, if so what are the steps. Thanks.

In addition to the other suggestions, you may want to try connecting the drive directly to the MacBook. While this is probably sensitive to the exact combination of hardware, I'm finding that I have problems if I connect my drive to either my first-gen aluminum Apple Cinema Display or an external USB 2.0 hub, but no problems whatsoever if I connect it directly to one of the MacBook's two USB ports.
The exact error message you get would also be helpful.
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How To Transfer GarageBand File From MacBook To iPad?

Is it possible to move a GarageBand file from a MacBook to an iPad with GarageBand installed on it so that one can edit the file in the GarageBand iPad app? If so how? I have tried going under the Apps tab and clicking Add and adding the file to the iPad but it never shows up in the actual iPad app when i run it....any help would hbe greatly appreciated, thanks.

You might try posting your GarageBand for iPad specific questions to that forum (it is separate from here). Link to forum: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1438
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How to transfer large files from macbook pro to External Hard Drive?

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