I recently bought my first mac and am wondering if my external hard drive that I used with my pc will be compatible?

I know that it will not be formatted for a mac, so does that mean I will be able to pull up information but not change or add to the content at all?

MelK1983 wrote:
How do I know that?
Use Disk Utility which can be found in Applications - Utilities. Select the external drive in the left-hand sidebar and info will appear at the bottom of the window, including formatting information.

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I am new to a MAC. I have an external hard drive that I used with my Windows XP computer. Can I reformat it

I am new to MAC. I have an external hard drive that I used with my former computer running Windows XP. Can I reformat it to use with my new MAC? If so, how do I do it?

Yes you can. See the following:
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 one. 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 just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

This is a tricky one.
Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....." You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
Once the libraries have been moved over the new external hard drive, you will likely need to "point" Aperture and iMovie to the location of the libraries on the new external hard drive.

I have a Toshiba external hard drive that i used to back up my Windows 7 HP -- I want to transfer files to my new Mac and it won't accept. Help?

I have a Toshiba external hard drive that I used to back up my Windows 7 HP -- I am not able to get the files off of it (pictures) onto the Mac. I am NOT a very technical person. IS there a simple easy way to explain and do this -- OR a simple way to just say it is not possible?

If you connect the external hard drive to your Mac does it show up in the Finder? If so, do the files you are trying to transfer show up? What happens when you try to move them over?
What kind of Mac are you using and what operating system does it have running on it?
Let us know, we'll keep helping you.
Best of luck.

Can I take my old mac and make it into an external hard drive

Can I take my old mac and make it into an external hard drive? It does not work anymore but I would like to make it into an external hard drive. I heard it is not to hard to do myself but I have important information I would like off of it and only really trust the apple store to do it. I know it is possible because I have had a friend that had it done after water went on her laptop. I would like to also know how much is this going to cost and if it is even worth getting done at the store or just do it myself.

Can it boot to Target Disk Mode
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
Otherwise just take the HD out and put it in an external enclosure.

I have a Seagate Slim Portable 500 GB USB 3.0 external hard drive that worked great with my Macbook Pro 13" Retina but gets ejected and won't show files on any iMac.

I have a Seagate Slim Portable 500 GB USB 3.0 external hard drive that worked great with my Macbook Pro 13" Retina but gets ejected and won't show files on any iMac. My Macbook Pro and the two different iMacs I tried it on were all using Mountain Lion, so the only difference was the iMac versus Macbook Pro.

I just tried this, no luck...
I connected a different USB cable, still the same problem. Tried both cables with the problematic hard drive on two different computers, still the same problem.
At this point I assume I'll probably need professional help in saving the files, thanks for the assistance.

HT4718 I have an external hard drive that I used as Time Machine Backup. I have not used it for a while and now, when I plug it in computer says: This disc is not readable. I want to recover the backups and not erase and reformat the disc. Thank you in

I have an external hard drive that I have used as Time Machine backup, but not for a while. Now when I plug it in, computer says this disc is not readable.
I want to keep the backups on it and not erase and start over.
Thank you in advance.
Gregor

It sounds like something went wrong with the drive. Did you drop it? How long has it been sitting around unused?

I have an external hard driver that I used to use with my old pc, but now I have a mac and I can see all of the files on it and open them, but I can't add things to it. How do I fix this?

I use my external hard drive to store all of my music, but now I can't save anything on it with my new Mac. Is there a way that I can reformat it or something without losing everything I already have on there?

I suggest to copy all your files in your external drive to your Macbook and reformat that external drive to Mac OS Extended Journaled or exFat.
Once you've done that - then copy all the files back to your external drive.
Do not format your external drive if you haven't copied whats in your external drive. You'll lose everything.

Best external hard drive format for use with mac and windows?

This is more of an apple operating system combined with windows operating system question, but being that my OS will upgrade an fluctuate there is not option to choose in the operating system section.
Anyways to the question(s)
This whole prbolem came about when my computer started having issues, I want to back it up and whether I can continue to use my laptop or not I will still be owning an apple in the future. I went to buy a hard for back up and got told that it is not as easy as one would think to transfer files from mac OS to windows OS and vice versa. I have a mac, my boyfriend has a windows computer; we share files. Mostly I just copy his files, but once in a while I give him files too. I have read up and talked to people and only found one solution so far to format the external drive to fat 32 or exfat. I think only mac has the exfat option, but works well between both OSs, correct me if I am wrong.
What is the difference between fat 32 and exfat?
A user posted some good info about formatting. More specifically .Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3044
If I do not want to use fat32 or exfat is there a format type that works great for mac saving that I can still at least save files to that were originally on a windows computer? Such as I copy his files from his external drive to my computer and then save them to my external drive.
Is there a better format for file sharing between mac and windows that does not set a 4GB limit?
And a silly question, Can you dual format a hard drive?
Note: This format is for an external hard drive.

I still do not know which format would be the best. That is so that I can use it easily between mac OSX and windows. Is FAT32 the only true option? How limited is it? I heard it is limited to 4GB file size for windows and 32 GB for Mac. Are there other sources I have not found with more concrete information on the limitations of this format?
I really do still need this information and I need to back up my drive before I can take the computer in for service.

What should I format my wd external hard drive to to use with my new Mac Pro?

What format should my wd external hard drive be in order to use with my new Mac Pro?

If you're going to use it only with Macs, use Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It's the fastest filesystem to use on Macs.
If you're going to use it with PCs and Macs, use exFAT or FAT. I recommend exFAT because it hasn't got limitations as FAT and it's faster, but you need Windows XP Service Pack 3 or later to use it on PCs

External hard drive /storage for use with mini and XP (bootcamp)

Never purchased an external hard drive (storage) before so not sure if this is possible.
Basically I have an intel mini with 60gb hard drive, which I have now allocated 20 to xp via boot camp. I'm quickly using up the 20gb with a few games so I want to purchase an external storage device that will work with both osx and windows - is this possible?
My mini hasnt 'seen' a few USB devices, can anyone recommend one which is compatible with the intel mini?
would any external drive have to be partinioned as well?

I still do not know which format would be the best. That is so that I can use it easily between mac OSX and windows. Is FAT32 the only true option? How limited is it? I heard it is limited to 4GB file size for windows and 32 GB for Mac. Are there other sources I have not found with more concrete information on the limitations of this format?
I really do still need this information and I need to back up my drive before I can take the computer in for service.

External Hard Drive to be used with windows and Mac

I shall paint the picture;
I have a very nice mobile hard drive on it's way to me, and I shall be upgrading to leopard at some point soon after receiving it, my MBP has a 120gb internal HDD and the external on it's way is 160gb .
I will be using it as a time machine HD , but will also be using it to transfer from my mac to college/university PCs.
So, do any of ya'l out there know a good way of going about it? My thoughts are along the lines of creating a separate windows/mac partition because Time Machine I assume uses HFS+ and as far as I am aware, windows is unable to use this.
I am not 100% sure on this so any help or corrections or indeed alternate solutions are welcome.
Only requirements are that it's with my MBP and G-Tech G-Drive mini only, no extra bits and bobs.
Thank you in advance

A 160 GB drive may be a bit small to use to back up a 120GB drive with TimeMachine... and have a separate partition to use for Windows files. While your MacBook Pro's 120GB drive may not be close to full yet... it will likely continue to grow in time. TimeMachine keeps multiple copies of files that you change allowing you to go "back in time" to various points. It will use as much space as is available on the drive. You may want to keep a larger external desktop drive for your TimeMachine backup... or dedicate your entire 160GB to it.

I want to take all the data stored on my mac and put it on an external hard drive, what all can be moved off the computer and still work and what can't?

Im looking to get some external terabytes and move data or files from my internal drive to the external drive, i was wondering what has to stay on the computer to function still and what can me moved if not all of the files on the internal drive. i know i can move the videos and pictures, but what about program data or files or whatever may be nedded to run all of the apps and programs i have on my computer. if i could get some insight, it would be greatly appreciated.

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

I have 10.5.8 installed and can't find an external hard drive. It used to work...but hasn't in a while. any suggestions?

I have an older Mac, prob 2007/early 2008. I've got OS 10.5.8 installed. For the last couple months, I haven't been able to recognize my iomega HD. It used to work with time machine, had it set to run on a weekly basis if there were changes, and then I started getting messages that Time Machine hadn't run in a while. Googled it, and there are a lot of suggestions out there. I've tried a few, but to no avail. Any suggestions?

It could be the cable or the drive may have failed. Plug in another external HD and see if that works OK, if it does then that points the finger at the EHD.
Roger

How do I use an external hard drive that has been used on a windows machine on my mac....

I have recently just bought a new mac and want to edit files that are currently saved on my external hard drive that I used on my windows machine.
Is there any way to be able to do this or will I have to transfer all files across to my mac and then re-format the external?
Thanks in advance.

Either copy files over, reformat drive from NTFS to a Mac format and copy files back, or tell your Mac how to write to NTFS drives with a third-party product. Tuxera NTFS has high ratings: http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/

I recently bought my first mac and am wondering if my external hard drive that I used with my pc will be compatible?

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