I'm going to buy a iMac soon,I'm wondering if I can save files from my windows pc to a external hard drive and then use the files on my mac?

As above, if any one can recommend a external hard drive that will also be much appreciated.

Depends on what the long term plans for the EHD is. I'd recommend any of these if you are looking for features and high quality. Personally I use the LaCie's (I have 4) but OWC or G-Tech would also be welcome on my desk.
G-Tech G-DRIVE series
LaCie d2 Quadra series
OWC Mercury Elite Pro series
As for your PC files that totally depends on the file type and if they can be read by comporable OS X apps. I'd suggest book marking and reading Switch 101

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I bought a GoFlex desktop external hard drive and when I attached to my old mac toer and transfered all my files they are all in asian text? It took all weekend to tranfer and when I attached it to my new mini allthe transfered files are in asian ... what

I bought a GoFlex desktop external hard drive and when I attached to my old mac and transfered all my files they are all in asian text? It took all weekend to transfer and when I attached it to my new mini all the transfered files are in asian ... what can I do to change them into English?

What kind of files are these?
Are the Filenames in asian also?
Can you paste some of the asian here so we can have a better guess at what's going on?

If I were to drag and drop files from an OSX 9 onto an external hard drive (1 TB), assuming there is still plenty of space left, will I be able to use this same external hard drive to back up my iMac (Mountain Lion)?

If I were to drag and drop files from an OSX 9 onto an external hard drive (1 TB), assuming there is still plenty of space left, will I be able to use this same external hard drive to back up my iMac (Mountain Lion)? And would it ask me if I want to initialize (thus erasing it) or eject the hard drive like the OSX 9 did?

I was trying to follow this thread because I was curious about the OS 9 installation - until I realized you have another thread going about the very same subject, albeit with a different subject line.
FWIW: it is best not to double post - things get far too confusing after a while.
@ Kappy (in case you hadn't seen the other one):
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5054178?tstart=0

Can some please provide instructions on how to import an iPhoto library from an old Mac to a new Mac without getting a bunch of duplicates? I tried transferring my pictures using an external hard drive and then copying it to the Pictures folder on my Mac

Can someone please provide instructions on how to import an iPhoto library from an old Mac to a new Mac without getting a bunch of duplicates? I tried transferring my pictures using an external hard drive and then copying it to the Pictures folder on my new Mac. I ended up getting a bunch of duplicates. My old Mac has an older version of iPhoto while the new Mac has iPhoto '11. Is that the cause of the problem? Please advise. Thanks.

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.
Regards
TD

My Mac Book hard drive is nearly full. How do I move iTunes music, etc folders to a different location on an external hard drive and still access as if on my Mac?

My Mac Book hard drive is nearly full. How do I move iTunes music, etc folders to a different location on an external hard drive and still access as if on my Mac?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Trying to copy ANY file from my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive spins for 45 minutes then fails. I hate this computer and WISH I never would have wasted my money. Any ideas? WD My Passport 2TB Drive, had to buy a program to make the POS write

Trying to copy ANY file from my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive spins for 45 minutes then fails. I hate this computer and WISH I never would have wasted my money. Any ideas? WD My Passport 2TB Drive, had to buy a program to make the POS read files. Copies that would take seconds from a Windows based machine never complete. I have to close the transfer or shut off the machine half the time. Worst computer I have EVER owned, crashes non-stop, constantly freezes, and seems like EVERY operation is more complicated with this thing. Literally, my 1997 Compaq was FAR MORE reliable and user friendly.

This is one of the messages I keep getting; The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in -- File Whatever -- can’t be read or written.(Error code -36)
I have copied things to the hard drive in the past, but it has always been incredibly slow, and now just seems to freeze and fail

HT4927 I have just downloaded iPhoto from the app store. The photo library from my old laptop was backed up on an external hard drive and I retrieved the photos from there. Now when I open the photos on my new Mac Book Pro, they are small - am I missing

I have just downloaded iPhoto from the app store. The photo library from my old laptop was backed up on an external hard drive and I retrieved the photos from there. Now when I open the photos on my new Mac Book Pro, they are small - am I missing something?
I am using 10.8.2 Mountain Lion btw

I dragged the Photo library icon from the backup drive on to iPhoto on the laptop
That means you imported one Library to another.
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.
So the reason you're seeing small photos is because you're seeing the iPhoto thumbnails from the back up library.
So, what to do?
Do you still have the back up? If so, trash this bunged up library and restore from the back up again. HOw to restore will depend entirely on how you made the back up, but no version of restoring includes importing the library.
Regards
TD

Can i make (for example) 3 partitions on my external Hard Drive, and make different formatations for each, so i can share files of one of them in a pc and mac?

Hello ...
My name is Rui, i'm from Portugal ... (so please be patiente with my english, it can get a bit confusing)
so... first of all ... i have to say ... i'm still a pc user ... i don't have a Mac ... yet ... they are sold out right now in the shops near me ... i am waitting for them to arrive so i can pick up mine ... (i wish in a couple of days i will be entering the Mac world ....) ... i'll be picking the "entery" iMac model, the 21,5'', i5 with 500gb hard disk ... well .. i know it's the cheapest one (i hope it is a good machine tho) ... but it's my entering Mac world too (my only apple products till know were the ipod ...) ... one of my concerns are being the 500gb hard drive ... that for my pc experience is a little bit short ... that makes me a little scared (but paying 300e for the next model to have a 1tb disk, it's not a good option for me right now) ...
so..
I've been reading a lot about iMac's ans OS X so i can get familiar with this all new world ...
and i couldn't get any answer for some of my doubts... so i decided to ask you Mac Users ..
My idea is to have an external HD to store files (and not to fill the 500gb of the iMac) ... and i am wondering if it would be possible to make this ...
- make three partitions on the external Hard Drive and
- the first be formatted in Mac OS extended (journaled) mode
- the second on fat 32 - so i can store and share files with a mac or pc
- third be reserved for Time Machine
i wonder would that be possible... or would make sort of incompabilities ... would it work all well ?
hummm ...
I hope someone can help me with this ...
... if it is a silly question ... sorry ... but please remember, i've never had a Mac computer (i'm waiting for my 1st iMac to be available on store) ... so a lot of things are "flying" in my head right now ...
... and of course .. sorry for my english ... i hope you all understood me ...
thanks (obrigado) a lot for your patience...
Rui from Portugal

Hi! Dwagner, once again ...
I've just got my Mac last friday ... i'm still getting amazed with this new world to me ... eehe .. quite different ... but
... "i can do it, i can do it" eheeh
i'm in that period that a new question appears at almost every mouse click ... lol
so ... can you help me (once again) ..
you said you had your hard drive with this settings...
"You can partition for OSX (extended Journal) - read/write by only OSX or read only by Windows via BootCamp
You can partition for Windows (NTFS) - readable by only Windows
OR - you can format with ex-FAT and this is read/write capable for both operating systems."
how did you formated the partition in NTFS ? ... on the mac? using the "disk utility" ? or did you use another program to do so ...?
i hope i'm not "bugging" you ... this might be a silly question for most of people ... but right now ... it's a major question for me ... ehehe
once again Obrigado (Thank You)
Rui from Portugal

How do I encrypt my external hard drive and subsequently a specific file within it, using my Mac? I tried creating a disk image but permission was denied.

Encrypting an external hard drive and specific folders within. Permission denied using disk image.

VKP90 wrote:
When I tried to encrypt a single file within the hard drive itself, I got the following: Disk Utility Progress: Unable to create "Name of my file" (Permission Denied).
When I tried encrypting the entire hard disk itself, I got: A GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme is required.
I have also currently used Time Machine on the external hard drive, along with saving other data. Hence, I am not sure if partitioning is going to delete any of this (a video I watched mentioned that using the + button when creating partitions retains current data). Backing up the external hard drive is out of the option since it is the back up to my Mac.
You can't encrypt a single file. I'm not sure what you did to try. You can make an encrypted disk image which begins with a folder, if desired. Or, you can just create a blank, encrypted disk image, then move your desired files into that.
While you could partition off the free space without erasing the disk, you cannot encrypt it because you need a GUID Partition table which requires you to repartition the entire drive, not just the free space.

I have two apple id's one from my old laptop and one from my iPhone. I saved my iTunes library to my external hard drive and then tried to transfer it to my iMac. My music skips like a scratched cd now and I can't add any to my iPhone. Help please!

I have two apple id's one from my old laptop and one from my iPhone. I saved my iTunes library to my external hard drive right before my old mac laptop died and then tried to transfer it to my new iMac. Now when I try to play my old music it skips like a scratched cd. Also, now I can't add any music to my iPhone unless it was purchased recently through itunes and downloaded through icloud. I tried to "Organize" my library in hopes of correcting the problem but my iMac just ejects my external harddrive part way through. Please help!

Ejects the harddrive?
Of what did your old Mac die?
It sounds to me like you have some file corruption somewhere. Either in the transfer of your library to the external or the external itself is flaky if it keeps ejecting.

How many transfers can I make from imported CDs to blank CD, external hard drive, via my Mac?

Hi! I was curious, because I heard from a friend that if we wanted to transfer a song on our computer we had ripped from an audio imported CD to a blank disc, or external hard drive, there was a certain number of times we could transfer that particular song or transfer that CD, before iTunes would no longer allow us to transfer it anymore. Is this accurate? Is iTunes equipped to only be allowed to transfer iTunes Store content to blank discs or other non-Apple devices, as opposed to non-iTunes Store content (i.e. songs from audio CDs that were imported into the Mac)?
If it is accurate that there is a limited number of transfers that can be done via iTunes with non-iTunes store content, is there a way around this? Possibly install another music program that allows unlimited transfers to blank discs and external hard drives, i.e. Windows Media Player?
Thank you for your time.

There is no limit for CDs you have RIP'd.
For iTunes purchases with DRM, you are limited to burning a specific playlist 7 times to an audio CD.
And the link posted above is three years old and irrelevant at this time.
Just don't "share" (illegally transfer) files with others.

Using Mac with Lightroom 5. set to read my sd card at start-up and load into lightroom. now laptop hard disk is filled. have external hard drive, and exported several lightroom files. How do I delete the old folder and whatever what may still be on the la

Q. How to permanently delete folders and pics from laptop hard drive after exporting to external hard drive? I need laptop disk space!

Instead of exporting, move the photos to the external HD by moving them in your operating system and then reconnecting in Lightroom.
See these instructions: Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

I made a Blurb book through Lightroom 5, on another computer, backed it up on an external hard drive and tried to import it into my imac. I got the picture files, but could not get the book I had worked on. How do I find my book?

I made a 'Blurb' book using Lightroom on a computer that was not mine. I backed up the book on an external hard drive and then tried to import the book into my imac. I wasn't able to retrieve my book. The photos I used for the book project are there, but the 45 page book I made is not there.
What do I need to do?

You would need to go to the computer containing the book.
Select the saved book in the Collection panel.
Go to Grid View [ G ] and select all the images [Cmd/Ctrl][A]
File>Export as Catalog and store on media you can use to transfer
Bring this catalog onto your computer
File>Import from another catalog and bring the transitory catalog into your master catalog.
It should bring the images, your collections (including your book) and other settings into your own catalog.

When ever the power goes out or I restart my iMac the external hard drive that is used by Time Machine for backups is dismounted ?

When ever the power goes out or I restart my iMac the external hard drive that is used for backups by Time Machine is dismounted and all backups are gone. I can reselect it and it will start working again, but I am worried if the iMac hard drive should fail will I be left without a backup ?

fzgy wrote:
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
That will erase it. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast). Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27. If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups.

I have an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine backup on my IMac. I want to add a second external hard drive and put my Aperture Photo Library on it. Is there a way to have the photos on this second hard drive automatically back up to the Time Mac

I have an IMac with an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine for automatic backups. I want to add a second external hard drive and load my Aperture Photo Library on to it so that the library can be shared by both me and my wife. Is there a way to automatically backup the photo library that will be on the second hard drive to the Time Machine hard drive?

Open System Preference > Time Machine
Click Options....
Ckick on external disk in list and hit the - button below the list to remove from the Exclusion list
Allan

I'm going to buy a iMac soon,I'm wondering if I can save files from my windows pc to a external hard drive and then use the files on my mac?

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