Issue with transfering files, images etc to external hard drive.

It wont let me drag folders when it did before to my external hard drive, is this to do with permissions or admin?? How do I change this so it works as I need to back up my system. All I want to do is drag them in, it comes up with a grey circle with a minus sign in it. Have used this hard drive before and it worked find. I was told the system on Os has been updated to be more secure.
Thank you!

cheekycharlie wrote:
Hi, thanks for your reply, i think i now know what the problem is, having checked how the maxtor EHD is formatted, it revealed that it is formatted as NFTS, i can read the files on my imac but cant move files on to the EHD from my imac, the EHD is also used on a windows vista machine, is it possible to read and write to this EHD using both Mac OS and windows, i use this EHD for image files only.
As you found out OS X can read files from at HFTS drive however it cannot natively write to it. However if you still wish to write to it you can download and install NTFS-3G. Here is a link to it, that shoudl take care of the problem.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g

Similar Messages

Export aperture originals with the edits,keywords etc to external hard drive?

Hi,
I have filled more than half of my hard drive with 29,000 NEF files (mostly family photos). I want to export them to a 2 TB external hard drive and then continue to import all new raw files in Aperture onto that same external hard drive. I'm not sure how to do this? I have all of the 29,000 photos back-ed up in an aperture vault on a 750 GB external drive so I feel relatively safe. In other words, the originals and versions currently exist on my iMac internal hard drive and are backed up in an aperture vault on a portable hard drive; however, I want to have all my photos (with the existing edits) migrated/exported to an external hard drive to free up space on my iMac. Do I create a new library on an external disk? If so, can I do that within Aperture using "Switch to new library" under File? Also, what is the safest way to get my originals and edits into that library. Is there a better plan than mine? thanks, Mike

Hi Mike,
I think Terence may have read your question too quickly. I know that some definition of terms will help you express your goal, and in turn help us show you how to attain it. I recommend _not_ proceeding with Terence's recommendation until it is clear what you want to do.
"Photo" has no fixed or usable meaning in Aperture. You camera records data every time you press the shutter release. The recorded data is processed and saved in a file. That file is almost always either a RAW file, or a JPEG. RAW described a family of proprietary sensor-data formats. There is no standard RAW format: every camera manufacturer uses their own formats, almost always varying them significantly from one camera to the next. JPEG is a standard image-file format. Computers can display image-format files. Computers cannot display RAW files — it's just sensor data until the data is _converted_. RAW converters (software) convert the RAW sensor data into a displayable image-format file. OS X includes a RAW converter. Aperture uses the OS X RAW converter.
Aperture can import RAW files, and image-format files (and movies). Once imported, the imported file is called an Original. Importing a file creates a record in Aperture's database, and also creates a text-format file of instructions telling Aperture how to modify the imported file in order to create the Image. Images are what you see in the Browser and in the Viewer. The initial text-format file is null — the instructions say, in essence, "don't do anything to the Original, just display it (after converting it if needed)". This text file is called a Version. (Aperture also calls, wrongly and confusingly, imho, the Image you see a Version.)
Aperture is a database. Each record in the database points to a unique Version (a text file), and an Original. There can be many Versions (and Images) for any one Original.
You can store your Originals wherever you want. Aperture makes it easy to relocate them, or store them inside your Library, any time you want. They do not have all be in the same place. The drives they are on don't even have to be on-line for you to use many functions in Aperture (if your Originals are off-line, you cannot adjust, export, or print Images).
Your Versions (the text files) must be stored in your Library. You cannot move them.
Your storage strategy thus focuses on two things:
- where to store your Aperture Library, and
- where to store each Image's Original.
Many users run out of storage space on their system drive at some point. The commonly-recommended response is to re-locate some of your Originals to an external (or non-system) drive. Alternatively, you might decide to move your Library to an external drive. Or both.
What you do depends on your needs. With the information you've given, I recommend that you relocate your Originals to your dedicated external drive, and leave your Library on your system drive. Select the Images whose Originals you with to relocate, and run the Aperture command "File ▹ Relocate Originals ... ", and select your external drive as the destination.
You might then continue to import as you've been doing, that is, storing your new Originals on your system drive. When it starts to get full again, just select the Images with managed Originals ("managed" means "stored in the Aperture Library"), and again run the relocate command. You can filter your Images by whether the Image's Original is Managed or Referenced ("referenced" means "stored outside the Aperture Library"). Use the Filter HUD Rule "File Status".
Note that Aperture's Vault _does not back up Referenced Originals_! You must back them up yourself, using software other than Aperture.
HTH,
—Kirby.

Needed some help transferring files from Mac to external hard drive

Hey guys, I just needed some urgent help.
My friend wanted some files to be transferred to his external hard drive from my Mac. As he is a Windows user, I guess his hard drive is formatted for Windows as well. As I plug in the hard disk in my Mac, I can't transfer the files. It says something like "the disk cannot be modified".
So, please help me on how can I transfer this files from my Mac and if I do format it to work with the Mac, will it work for Windows later?
Please help!
Cheers
Sam

The Windows drive is probably formatted NTFS which is not natively writable
by the Mac. It should be formatted as FAT32 to be usable on both.
Dave

Help with transferring files from mac to another hard drive...

my mac wont let me transfer files from mac hard drive to a external hard drive, i've done it before, but suddenly it wont allow this? what could it be?

Also Its my mums computer, i'm trying to fix it for her, she's running osx 10.10.2

Help transferring files from WD Passport external hard drive (previously used with a Dell) to my Macbook pro.

I was using a PC (Dell) for my work and used a WD Passport to backup all of my files. I own a Mac and will be using a Mac next year. Is it possible to get my files off of my WD Passport external hardrive onto my mac? if so, how?

Macs can read from (but not write to) Windows drives so you would copy the files and paste them on the Mac.

Issues with time capsule back ups when external hard drive is connected/not connected

I have a 2TB Airport Time Capsule (ATC) (tall tower type) purchased a few weeks ago and initially wanted it to back up a Seagate FreeAgent 500Gb external drive (formatted extended journalled) as well as three Macbook Pros. The Seagate has a single partition called Lib and is not used for Timemachine backup; it just contains my iTunes library and lots of scanned and archived documents. I want the Lib folder to be accessible to all three Mac users in the house and I've set up all of the Macs to connect and back up to the ATT. They can all see the 'Lib' folder when it is connected to the ATC.
After a bit of searching on the discussion boards I realise that the ATC will not back up 'Lib' when the Seagate is connected by USB directly and that ATT will back it up if it is connect to my Mac and set not to exclude Lib BUT I am encountering some problems with this scenario when I activate time machine.
When I disconnect the Seagate by using 'disconnect' in the ATC viewer in Finder I shut down the drive before disconnecting the usb and reconnecting to the Macbook Pro just as a precaution. When i connect and then activate back up using Time Machine selecting the ATC data folder, it is showing no previous back ups and never backed up. When I had the Seagate connected to the ATT I was seeing back ups as far as 6th May when I bought the ATC. I know that the Time Machine backups are not on the Seagate as I had to reformat it a few days ago and use Data Rescue 3 when I lost the ability to see any files on it after disconnecting it from the ATC. I saw the 6th May backups in Time Machine before I disconnected the Seagate a few minutes ago so they must be on the ATC - just not showing after the Seagate was disconnected.
Can anyone talk me through what may be happening here and advise on the best way of managing this. I'm already planning to buy another external drive as the Seagate is getting a bit old now and I realise I should have secondary back up. I should just say that the reason for bothering with the shared external drive is so that we can all access the photos and household files over the wireless network using ATT. I would just like it to be backed up with minimal fuss if possible.
Many thanks in anticipation of some help with this
I

I would fix the problem by simply installing a more flexible backup software. Carbon Copy Cloner costs US40. And it is licensed so you can load it on all the computers in your house.
It can backup the external drive while connected to the TC, although if you are using wireless it will be sure slow.
Including the external drive in your backup with TM, is just messy. It will work.. and although you are not seeing the previous backups, they are there.. but TM cannot see them until it reconnects with the external drive in place. Once it reconnects it will need to deep scan the previous backup.. you are going to find a simple backup takes far longer than you want. It is also difficult to recover from.
See Q5 here http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
And several other comments in Pondini's KB will be helpful to understand. Sadly the guy who wrote it died before Mavericks came on the scene.. but it has more bugs than ever. TM has become less reliable for a lot of people.. and that is not doing any swapping of disks.
TM is honestly great for simple backups of your OS and particularly for incrementals but getting a clone of the disk like your external is far better for your setup.
See http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html

How can I edit lightroom 5 smart previews on mac book pro (mbp) when the lightroom 5 master image files are on my external hard drive is disconnected from the mbp

How can I edit lightroom 5 smart previews on mac book pro (mbp) when the lightroom 5 master image files are on my external hard drive is disconnected from the mbp? So far when I try to disconnect the external HD from the mbp, I get the following pop up window: The disk "external hard drive A" couldn't be ejected because "Lightroom" is using it. Quit that application and try to eject this disk again. When I do that and restart Lightroom 5, the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Select Catalog screen pops up but doesn't list my external hard drive A as a choice.
I've reviewed Adobe's Lightroom Help | Smart Previews Lightroom 5 web page and still haven't been able to figure what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Your internal HDD. by default, is named 'Macintosh HD'. From what information you supplied, it looks like there is already a Lightroom catalog installed on you local (internal) HDD using the standard naming convention Adobe uses as well as a Lightroom catalog on your external drive which you created. To be sure of which catalog Lightroom is loading when it starts up, To do this, start Lightroom as you normally would. After it starts, select the Lightroom menu item, then select the Catalog Preferences item and finally, navigate to the General tab. The Location information will tell you exactly what catalog Lightroom is opening by default. This will likely be the Photography Mac Book Pro Versions catalog on your external HDD. Once that is confirmed, you are ready to proceed. As an additional test/verification, you can shut down Lightroom and, this time, start Lightroom while holding down the ALT/OPTION key. This will cause Lightroom to pause and display a screen which will allow you to chose a different catalog to open. Navigate to the /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder and select the Lightroom 5 Catalog.lrcat file. When Lightroom comes up, there should be no previews or folders as this catalog should be empty. Now you can be certain which catalog is being used and which catalog has all your data and you are ready to migrate your current catalog. Shut down Lightroom.
To migrate your current catalog, use Finder to locate your Photography Mac Book Pro Versions folder on your external drive. Select the folder and select COPY from the context menu. Next, use Finder to navigate to the /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder on you internal HDD. You can start at the Macintosh HD level and work your way down by opening each level (Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures). Select the /Pictures folder and then select PASTE... from the context menu. When the COPY/PASTE is complete, you should see the following files on the Macintosh HD:
Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom/ and
Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions
The Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder will contain the empty default catalog the Adobe created when Lightroom was installed and Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions will contain a copy of the catalog you created on your external HDD.
You are almost done now. Make sure your external drive is still attached for this step. Restart Lightroom using the ALT/OPTION key again. When the Select Catalog screen appears, select the Choose a Different Catalog button (lower left side). When you do, a Finder window will open to allow you to navigate to a catalog of your choosing. Navigate to Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions and select the file Photography Mac Book Pro Version.lrcat. This is the copy you just created. Select the Open button and Lightroom should start. You should see all of your previews and settings just as before. Also, in the left hand panel, all of your folder should show up and none of them should be dimmed and none of your previews should display a small exclamation point badge. Either a dimmed folder name or an exclamation point badge indicates that Lightroom can't find the associated image file. If everything looks good, go to the Lightroom menu, select Preferences and then select the General tab. Under Default Catalog, select an option to either load the LAST catalog opened or select the Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions catalog from the drop down. Shut down Lightroom and then restart it normally. This time, when Lightroom starts, you should be viewing the new copy of your catalog. You can confirm this by looking at the General tab on the Catalog Preferences screen (Lightroom/Catalog Preferences menu items). Shut down Lightroom once again and this time, eject your external drive before restarting. This time, your folders in the left hand panel will be dimmed but you should be able to work with your smart previews. If Lightroom should display a Select Catalog screen with the external drive detached, double check your settings as it indicates Lightroom is still looking at the copy of the catalog on the external drive rather than the new copy you made.
Finally, if you are seeing dimmed folders and/or exclamation point badges with the external drive attached, this indicates a problem. You can select any folder and select Update Folder Location from the context menu. This will allow you to navigate to the copy on the external drive and select it. Lightroom will then update the catalog (select to synchronize the content). This will not only clear the dimmed folder problem but also remove the exclamation point badges for all photos in that missing folder. However, it may indicate that not all went well with the copy of the catalog so make sure to verify all went well. You can use the Get Info option on the two folders. You should see the same number of files/folders for both the copy on the internal drive as well as on the external drive but you can't rely on the byte count because of the possibility of differences between the geometry of the two drives. Hope this all helps!

Is there a way to access my iTunes Library, which is stored on a (PC) External Hard Drive, on a MacBook Air (through an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter), without transferring the music files off of the external hard drive?

Is there a way to access my iTunes Library, which is stored on a (PC) External Hard Drive, on a MacBook Air (through an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter), without transferring the music files off of the external hard drive?
In other words, because the MacBook Air only has 120 gbs of hard drive space & my old hard drive, from a Lenovo, has 500 gbs of hard drive space (and I have over 120 gbs of music), I’m looking to manage my iTunes music from the external hard drive permanently. Upon attempting to access the iTunes library held on the external hard drive the following message comes up: “The iTunes Library.itl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file”. Is there a way to get around this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

You will have to engage a split library which means you will have to start answering questions on this forum because you will need to learn a lot about how iTunes works in order not that have a big mess at the end of it all. It also won't be easy when the time comes to relocate it all to different drives.
You can go to advanced preferences and turn off organize media and copy to items to media folder when adding items to library. Next read about how to selectively consolidate items to the external drive.
Sept. 2010, Consolidate selected content - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2589812 and April 2014, https://discussions.apple.com/message/25414357
"...selected the new tracks directly in iTunes, Control-clicked on the selection, and saw that now you can consolidate selected items." - http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090919000326840
Remember that when you start iTunes without the external drive turned on iTunes will present you with a bunch of broken links. If you have automatic downloads enabled with iCloud you may have to turn that off to prevent iTunes from repopulating your drive trying to deal with those "missing" tracks.
If you add tracks in bunches to iTunes and want them to go to different media folders you will need to either add them by holding down the option key while dragging if the desired media folder is not the one set in preferences, or by changing the media folder in preferences. Changing media folder preferences only applies to new files added, not old ones.
Okay, I am going to stop typing because you might just reply to me, "Oh, okay, forget it," and I don't need the exercise.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

When trying to import images from an external hard drive into Lightroom 5 it states no preview for the files selected

Go easy on me here….
Trying to import images from external hard drive into Lightroom 5 but the selected images state 'no preview for file'.
All other images on the external hard drive can be previewed and imported without issue.
I have tried adding the images onto the computers hard drive as well but still no joy.
I've used Lightroom 5 previously and had no issue so convinced its the files I'm trying to import (jpeg files).
Any help greatly appreciated.

Go easy on me here….
Trying to import images from external hard drive into Lightroom 5 but the selected images state 'no preview for file'.
All other images on the external hard drive can be previewed and imported without issue.
I have tried adding the images onto the computers hard drive as well but still no joy.
I've used Lightroom 5 previously and had no issue so convinced its the files I'm trying to import (jpeg files).
Any help greatly appreciated.

How do I move images to an external hard drive?

Hi Everyone,
I'm very much a newbie and am having a problem with moving images to an external hard drive. Do I set up a new external drive and use the Export function to put all my files there, and then delete them from my computer (which is very full!)? If so, can I be sure that Lightroom will keep track of all the files and keywords? If I do that, I think my catalog will still live on my computer, but will know the files are on the external.
The other option I've considered is dragging and dropping everything to the external drive, then using the Import function to let Lightroom bring all the images into its catalog. I've found information about moving Lightroom to a new computer, but all I really need to do is to offload all my images to the external and leave the program on the laptop. Any suggestions with step-by-step instructions will be appreciated.
Computerklutz

Make sure all your images/image folders are in one Top Level Folder on your Laptop. If you don't have this structure do it in the Lightroom Library.
Then connect the external and COPY the Top Level folder to the external using the OS.
Next right/ctrl click the Top Level folder in the Library and choose Update Folder Location and point to the new location on the external.
If the files have all been copied successfully you can now trash the Top Level folder from the Laptop using the OS.
That is what I do when moving files to new disks.
The Catalog and Previews files stay on the laptop and aren't moved!!
There are many ways to do this !!

Recovery Image on an External Hard Drive?

I was wondering if I could save a recovery image on my external hard drive?
It says to use a USB or Disc, but my computer doesn't have a CD drive, and I don't have a USB with a min of 19GB. What I do have are several 8GB, and less, and one 16GB, but these won't work for this. Nor do I have an external CD drive.
So I was wondering if I could use my external hard drive [It's got 2TB, but it's not empty...]?
I was just hoping for another option rather than buying a new USB... or external CD drive...

There is no way that I know of to trick Recovery Manager into using the external hdd.
Just an FYI- not all USB flash drives will work. We see many people posting about problems with creating the recovery. I just made mine and it failed to recognize a Sandisk 3.0 drive. Tried a PNY 3.0 and it worked smooth and fast.
http://www.staples.com/PNY-32GB-Turbo-USB-30-Flash-Drive/product_338657
******Clicking the Thumbs-Up button is a way to say -Thanks!.******
**Click Accept as Solution on a Reply that solves your issue to help others**

How do I combine an iTunes library on an external hard drive (laptop) with an iTunes library on an external hard drive on my PC?

How can I combine the iTunes library on an external hard drive (hooked to laptop) with the iTunes library on an external hard drive (hooked to PC) so that both external HD's and both laptop and PC have all the music on each one?

no need to create a secondary library - too troublesome, IMHO. you can spread your library over as many drives you can connect to your Mac (wired or wirelessly):
iTunes > preferences > advanced.
point iTunes media folder location to the external
on the same tab, ensure the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked
okay out of preferences
highlight the content to be moved in iTunes and right-click
select consolidate files from the pop-up menu
wait for the process to finish
when done, you may delete the original files from your boot drive.
alternatively, you could move the whole shabang to the external HD:
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music to the external, launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
when done, be sure to point iTunes media folder location to the external so that new additions to your library will be put there. also, you need to make sure the external is mounted on your desktop before you fire up iTunes.

I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac

I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac. How do I do this? Where do I put these files on my Time Capsule? Will it affect the functioning of my Time Capsule?

Mixing files with data is not always great idea.
See info here.
Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Why not just connect the PC directly to the TC by ethernet and copy the files over?
It is hugely faster and much less mucking around.
In windows load the airport utility for windows.. if you have not already as this will help you access the drive.
There is more info here.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1331

I can not delete or copy new files to my Iomega external hard drive

Hi,
I can not delete or copy new files to my Iomega external hard drive. Opening hard drive folder I can see that I can not overwrite it. I have heard that I need to install some program for the external hard drive to operate properly in Mac.
Please help what to install or there is some other option.
Thnx

I'm not the expert on this since I have never done it. It sounds like you may need a data rescue program like Data Rescue III. I believe you can download a demo and see if you can see the files. If you can, then you can buy the program and retrieve the files. I don't know if Disk Utility can restore them--I think they have to be visible but this is not something I have ever had to do.
In the meantime, don't do anything with the drive--you don't want to overwrite any files. Hopefully all or most of the files are still there and you will be able to retrieve them. The less the drive is used, the better your chances are of retrieving the data.
Forgive me for not realizing that there were files on the drive that you wanted to save. Upon re-reading your question, I now see that there were. I should have known to warn you, and my bad that I didn't.
Good luck!

With Time Machine I have an external hard drive formatted with Mac

With Time Machine I have an external hard drive formatted with Mac. The record contained files windows. How to recover?
Serious mistake: to connect a Mac to an external drive with data (important!) Windows, the warning appears: "You want to use the disk for Time Machine?" Wrong button, so in 2-3 seconds, the disk is formatted. Now Mac "sees" the disc but empty, Windows does not see it under "My Computer" but in "Disk Management" is reported as "hard core", "healthy", "GPT protective partition" Is there a way to retrieve the files? Sorry for my English Thanks

I'm having a difficult time following, I understand English isn't your native language. You may have good luck with Google Translate.
Also please read Pondini's Time Machine FAQs & Time Machine Troubleshooting.

Issue with transfering files, images etc to external hard drive.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for