Initiating external usb hard drive that has been formatted for Windows

I have a 400GB USB external hard drive and it was working fine until I tried to erase it in disk utility and it wouldn't work and kept causing disk utility to freeze up and it was very difficult to force quit even.
I took it to a PC shop and they reformatted it for windows and it worked on their windows so I thought I would try and reformat it again in disk utility to run on mac but it just did the same things and froze again.
If anyone can understand what I am babbling about could you please give me some advice before I give up
Thanks
Kevin

No it has to be formatted for OS X. Mac Extended (Journaled).

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Can I backup to an external hard drive that has been formatted with windows?

Hi, I am fairly new to mac. I was wondering if I can backup my mac book pro using time machine to an external hard drive that has been formatted with windows. Time machine is saying it must erase to the hard drive in order to do a backup? Please help.

No it has to be formatted for OS X. Mac Extended (Journaled).

Files on my hard drive are not showing up. Sometimes they flash for a second before disappearing again. Mine is a WD elements 1TB hard drive that has been formatted to ExFAT for mac. No problems prior to this.

So the files on my hard drive just disappeared, the space is still occupied, but they are not listed. The disk cannot be unmounted for some reason. And I did not hide any files.

Reinstall the WD HDD in a non WD enclosure. Any difference?
Also look at these links:
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/31/western-digital-warns-external-hard-drive-cu stomers-over-mavericks-data-loss/
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/11/26/western-digital-releases-new-hard-drive-soft ware-after-mavericks-data-loss/
Ciao.

Time machine can't mount disk ,hard drive,after its been formatted for windows

i want to use time machine but it can't mount disk as it has been used with windows

You will need to repartition and reformat the drive for use with OS X:
Drive Partition and Format
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 Apply 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.
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6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

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How do I reformat an IPod Touch for Windows that has been formatted for a Mac? All instructions I have been able to find use ITunes or Device Manager to reformat. My IPod is not being recognized by ITunes or in Device Manager.

I have an IPod Touch that has been formatted for a Mac. All instructions I have been able to find use ITunes or Device Manager to reformat the device for Windows. This cannot be done if Windows doesn't recognize the device. Is there another way to set the device back to the factory settings directly on the device without using ITunes?

Ipod touch is not formatted one way or the other at all.
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iPod touch User Guide (For iOS 5.1 Software)

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Lost write privileges to external USB hard drive- please help!

Hi,
I've got an external Western Digital 250GB USB hard drive that has been chugging along just fine until about a month ago, when somehow I seemed to have lost write privileges to the top level directory. I"m not sure if this happened when I installed an Mac OS update, or what, as I use the drive as backup and didn't notice it for a while.
The drive appears in the sidebar with a tiny lock icon, and when I try to copy a file from my internal HD to the external (top level directory, or drag the items right onto the icon), the following things happen:
Dialog box says "The item "foo" cannot be moved because "External HD" cannot be modified", with an authenticate button, which I then click.
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Group: my account (dimmed) Access: Read only
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Ignore ownership on this volume (unchecked).
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4) When I connect the drive to another computer (my iBook) the situation is the same. Also, when I create a new admin user account and try to access the drive from that account, I still cannot write to the drive.
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The drive appears in the sidebar with a tiny lock icon, and when I try to copy a file from my internal HD to the external (top level directory, or drag the items right onto the icon), the following things happen:
Open the Terminal in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and enter the following:
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The fact that my account was named both as owner and group seemed odd, since in Group the access was "read only".
Recent versions of Mac OS X create a group with the same name whenever you create an account from the Setup Assistant or System Preferences. The Group permissions don't apply in this case.
I changed the Group access to "read & Write", but it's not "sticking" -- when I close teh details field and reopen it, or close the get info window and reopen, the Group access settings go back to "read only".
Did you get an error message after doing this?
Verify/Repair permissions were dimmed for this drive (I assume becuase it doesn't have MacOS X installed on it?)
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(12377)

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Another problem:
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Hey coby,
Well thanks for the star. Not sure I deserve it.
i then tried connecting the drive to each USB port again, and voila! i have found one it works in. I guess my computer's ports must be a little worn.
Hmm well try looking inside and see if there's some smutz in there, if the contacts are dirty or bent or worn.
i was starting to think i would have to go out and get a USB hub to give it some more power.
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richard

While partitioning in Lion 10.8, I get the following error message: I have been attempting to partition a 2 GB hard drive that I just formatted using the Disk Utilty in Mountain Lion (10.8) and get the following error message: DiskManagementTool has died

I have been attempting to partition a 2 GB hard drive that I just formatted using the Disk Utilty in Mountain Lion (10.8) and get the following error message:
DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted. The log shows the following:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700: Preparing to partition disk: “HitachiG ST Media”
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      2 partitions will be created
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      Partition 1
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Name          : “Alex's External Storage”
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Size          : 1.5 TB
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           File system     : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Do not erase contents
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      Partition 2
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Name          : “Alex's External Storage 2”
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Size          : 500.05 GB
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           File system     : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700: Beginning partition operations
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:52 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:52 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:52 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:55 -0700: Disk Utility started.
Does anyone have any thoughts? Cant find anything on the web with this

I have been attempting to partition a 2 GB hard drive that I just formatted using the Disk Utilty in Mountain Lion (10.8) and get the following error message:
DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted. The log shows the following:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700: Preparing to partition disk: “HitachiG ST Media”
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      2 partitions will be created
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      Partition 1
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Name          : “Alex's External Storage”
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Size          : 1.5 TB
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           File system     : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Do not erase contents
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:      Partition 2
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Name          : “Alex's External Storage 2”
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           Size          : 500.05 GB
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:           File system     : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700:
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700: Beginning partition operations
2012-09-10 11:20:51 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:52 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:52 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:52 -0700: DiskManagementTool has died. Disk Utility will need to be restarted.
2012-09-10 11:20:55 -0700: Disk Utility started.
Does anyone have any thoughts? Cant find anything on the web with this

Initiating external usb hard drive that has been formatted for Windows

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