Mounting a windows formated external drive

I'm running Lion on a Macbook Pro. It doesn't recognize one of my external drives that was used on my windows based laptop when connected via the USB cable. Is there a way to mount this external drive on a mac?
Thanks,
ssc

@Shootist007, thanks for your reply, yes, it's a USB dirve (seagate) and I do have it connected to the wall outlet via AC adapter. It was originally formated to work with my windows machine but I thought the Mac could read windows formatted drives....?
fotoz

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Not enough disk space on a Windows-formatted External Drive?

I keep getting 'not enough disk space' message in Tiger when trying to back up my data to an external HD, formatted for windows (I share it with Bootcamp-based windows partition).
Now, the disk is 100 GIG and I'm only trying to back up 10 GIG. The disk is almost empty, and the disk's trashcan is empty.
I had same issues with a flashdisk at my father's. It was 2 GIG, and I was copying 500 megs of pictures. OSX kept telling me the disk didn't have enough space! Embarrassed, I had to copy photos in batches of 20. Of course, my Mac was ridiculed thoroughly.
I appreciate any help!

Hello,
Your problems may very well be related to the NTFS file system used by Windows.
The Mac OS has very limited support for NTFS partitions. It cannot write them at all. And, it only supports reading to a limited extent.
If you want to be able to read and write Windows formated partitions, you should be using the FAT32 format for your Windows drives. The Mac OS can read and write FAT32 drives without any trouble.
But, there are some Mac OS files and archives that absolutely cannot be written to a FAT32 drive either. So, you cannot backup your entire Mac OS hard drive to a FAT32 drive.
The Mac OS "PKG" file type will usually refuse to be written to a FAT32 drive. And, there are a lot of PKG files in the Mac OS installation. And, many of the software update downloads are also in PKG format.
If you want to backup your entire Mac OS hard drive to another drive, then that drive will also need to be formatted as a Mac OS X Extended volume.
But, if you are just wanting to share files between a Mac OS X and Windows XP installation, then you can safely use FAT32 for that shared drive / partition.
I hope this helps.
As for the comments that you endured, you should have asked him if his PC would even try to read a Mac OS formatted drive / disk. See how much laughing he does then.
Now, there are special programs that will enable Windows to read Mac OS disks. But, Windows cannot do it on it's own.
But, that brings us to another option for you. If you wanted to have all your other partitions fully compatible with the Mac OS (as in formatted as Mac OS X partitions), then you could do that. Then, use a program such as MacDrive on your Windows XP installation to enable you to read and write the Mac OS formatted partitions.
You can read more about that here:
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/bootcamp.asp
I hope this helps.

Can i use windows migration assistant to transfer files from my windows formatted external hard drive to my mac?

I have a windows formatted external hard drive and a macbook pro. I was wondering if i could use the windows migration assistant to transfer files from my external hard drive to the mac

No.
Just connect the drive to your Mac. The Mac can read most Windows formats (it cannot WRITE Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) formatted drives.

How to access an ex fat formatted external drive on OS 10.6.8

How do I access an ex fat formatted external drive on OS 10.6.8 ? Drive has audio files and was originally formatted and created by a Windows PC.
When the La Cie drive is plugged in to my mac mini, it says can not recognize formatting.

Read this thread
exFAT mounting problem

Transfer files from Mac formatted external drive to PC formatted drive

i need to transfer quicktime files (that were captured from video with FCP) to a PC formatted external drive (for editing them in after effects on a PC). the files can be transfered by burning them on a DVD, but that will take a very long time and waste many DVDs because i have 60 GB of material... can this be done (without having to purchase expensive software)?

thanx tom,
first of, i like that you made the link appear as one word. how did you do that? it's really cool!
i downloaded the program, but i'm not sure how to use it... reading the guide just made me more confused... if i understand correctly, it will automatically reformat ALL my files to NTFS-3G ones, which are not as stable... i'm a little scared to install it... though i may have totally misunderstood what it says. i see mostly black when i try to read these kind of things...
anyone out there have experience with this program?

On a MacBook Pro - windows on external drive?

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to Macs. Looking to buy a MacBook Pro 17 inch, and I am wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to load windows on an extermal disk, firewire 800 or E-sata off an express 34 card?
If this isn't possible, can OS X be loaded on external drives?
I'd rather load windows on external drive than OS X.
Thanks,
Chris

You'll need to repair or replace your SuperDrive as that is the only way Windows can be installed (downloading is what you do with files on the Internet). And it must be the built-in SuperDrive. The external one Apple sells for the MacBook Air and 2012 iMac will not work.

Windows on external drive

recently I have stumbled upon installing 10.7 lion on external drive:
+Playing with partitions is not for the faint of heart. Installing OS X Lion to a USB drive or external hard drive is a safer but likely slower option.+
Q1: Is it possible to do so with windows?
I would like to install windows on external drive and use it only when needed (hardly ever, but sometimes I have to)
virtualization is not fast enough for me :{
I have a MacBook Air and SuperDrive, however when I plug superdrive there is no place for external drive,
Q2: Unless I use some kind of usb hub?
Q3: Will it work? Have anyone tried this?

Hi,
OSX could be installed and run from external harddisk for quite some time.
Sadly, Microsoft choosed to not allow Windows to be installed and run from external harddisk.
However, you can find instructions on how-to do this nonetheless on the internet.
A good USB-hub (preferably one that is self-powered and not USB-powered) will let you use both the Superdrive and an external harddisk at the same time.
Regards
Stefan

HT4796 Can i use windows migration assistant to transfer files from a windows formatted hard drive to a mac?

I have a windows formatted hard drive and a macbook pro. I was wondering if i could use the windows migration assistant to transfer files from my hard drive to the mac

No.
Just connect the drive to your Mac. The Mac can read most Windows formats (it cannot WRITE Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) formatted drives.

Format External Drive - From Mac for Windows

I have a Maxtor One-touch that I need to back up a bunch of data for a Windows XP user. After some research, I thought that formatting the drive in the MS-DOS (FAT) format would do it, however, after doing so and moving all of the data, I have tried the Harddrive on a PC running Windows XP. The drive doesn't mount.
The external drive is a PC/MAC compatible version. Am I overlooking anything? Is there something I need to do in windows to access the drive.... because it's not obvious.

Hi Christopher,
follow either Templetons advise or (if not possible) use Disk Utility and set the partition scheme (behind the Options button) to MBR (Master Boot Record) and use MS-DOS (= FAT32) as file system.
That should also do the trick.
The 'standard' partition scheme on Intel Macs is GPT (GUID Partition Table) which can sometimes lead to the effect with Windows PC that you observed.
Hope it helps
Stefan

How to format and backup Mac & Windows to external drive

I have a LaCie 1 T external drive. I want to use it to backup both my Mac partition and my Windows 7 partition. The Windows 7 partition was created using Bootcamp. I formatted the drive with exfat from within Lion and then divided the drive into two equal partitions, one for Mac and one for PC. I tried to use Time Machine to back up the Mac data and it seemed to blow away the Mac partition which is no longer visible to Finder and consequently cannot be backed up to. I haven't tried to do anything about backing up the Windows 7 partition. As an aside, one online source I saw said I need to do this setup routine of the external drive from within Windows 7 in order for the drive to be accessible to both operating systems?
Thanks for any help,
Paul Hand

PaulHand wrote:
I have a LaCie 1 T external drive. I want to use it to backup both my Mac partition and my Windows 7 partition. The Windows 7 partition was created using Bootcamp. I formatted the drive with exfat from within Lion and then divided the drive into two equal partitions, one for Mac and one for PC. I tried to use Time Machine to back up the Mac data and it seemed to blow away the Mac partition which is no longer visible to Finder and consequently cannot be backed up to. I haven't tried to do anything about backing up the Windows 7 partition. As an aside, one online source I saw said I need to do this setup routine of the external drive from within Windows 7 in order for the drive to be accessible to both operating systems?
Thanks for any help,
Paul Hand
You need to find a Windows backup software that will work with Apple's Bootcamp partition.
On a Mac, Apple does a hack to "fool" Windows into thinking it's on a PC with a Master Boot Record Partition map.
Mac's can only boot from a GUID Partiton map, so there is a hybid MBR installed into the Bootcamp partiton when you set it up.
Traditional Windows backup software won't work when you try to restore Windows because it expects to be a PC with a MBR and runs Linux to restore Windows with. (a Mac can run Linux if Linux knows it's talking to a GUID)
And You can only image backup Windows, not make it a bootable copy on a external drive like you can do with OS X.
So the external drive needs to be formatted with a GUID Partition map and 2 partitions.
1: OS x Extended (J) so you can use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone Lion to it.
2: exFAT so you can save the Windows image file to it.
Now you need to find software that will run in OS X, take the Windows image of the Bootcamp partiton and restore it. There used to be great free software that did this, but since Lion rolled around a lot of good software wsn't updated anymore, guess people figured Apple is closing up like iPads and didn't see the sense in it.

How to format external drive for use against windows and mac

Hi.
Please bear with me, a possible MAC newbie here
I'm about to buy the 13" Mac Book Pro (after ditching the Lenovo X301 because of a super slow processor, slow FSB, slow intel graphics).
But I have a couple of questions before I buy this Mac Book Pro.
NOTE:
My main OS (stationary pc) is Windows, and will probably be so for a long time.
But I need a lightweight laptop while on the run, and could not actually find any other one than the Mac Book Pro that met my requirements.
I'm using Adobe Lightroom for indexing and managing images on my windows stationary computer and will also use Lightroom on my Mac Book Pro.
I'm to use an external HDD for this purpose and will need to be able to both write and read to/from that HDD from both MAC and Windows.
Export lightroom library to External HDD from Windows (thumbnails + keywords).
Import new images and edit keywords etc from mac book pro in lightroom.
Import changes into my windows library version after been edited from library in mac book pro.
What options do I have when it comes to formatting that HDD?
What will the PROS and CONS be for the different options?
Note (I'm not to switch to Aperture (my main computer is still Windows))
Regards

Hi.. and thanks for that answer... another related here:
I'm to buy this external drive:
http://www.lacie.com/no/products/product.htm?pid=11038
This page:
http://pc.wikia.com/wiki/FAT32
tells me that windows XP will only format FAT32 to max 32GB,
will my upcoming MAC book PRO be able to format that whole disk using FAT32?
Or do I have to use something else to format it with?
Regards

Format External Drive with Disk Utility, Make it Windows Compatible

I have formatted my external drive using disk utility, and it works great on my Mac. But no Windows PC can read it, and I need to use it on Windows PCs. I tried formatting as MS-DOS FAT but that didn't work either. What can I do?
Thanks so much in advance.

I've run into the problem fairly regularly were I format a drive as FAT32 on the Mac, but Windows won't read it. I just reformat it from the Windows machine as FAT32. My Mac always reads and writes to it just fine, so it has never been a problem, just a minor mystery.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Installing windows on external drive, or other method without formatting HD

I would like to install windows in order to run some CAD software (i dont want to take the performance hit of running in parallels and osx has an infuriating lack of a good cad program) but I also dont want to have to format my HD since I have all these software licenses set up that it would take forever to set back up again. Is there a way to install windows without formatting my HD in order to repartition it? maybe resize the partition or install windows on an external HD?
thanks!

Windows cannot be installed on an external drive. This is a Windows thing. If you want to use Boot Camp then your internal drive must have no other partitions. Boot Camp will then create a special Windows partition of any size you designate.
If your drive is already partitioned then repartitioning the drive or resizing existing partitions will result in some data loss. Essentially in order to restore the drive to a single partition you must first backup whatever data is stored on the partitions that must be removed. Alternatively, if possible move that data to the main volume (top volume in the partition mapping.) Doing this makes it possible to delete the other partitions, then resize the remaining partition to full capacity. This can be done on the fly using Disk Utility. Of course there's always risk of something going amiss, so it would be wise to have everything backed up.

MacPro won't mount Windows USB3 External drive

I have a macPro 2,1 and it won't mount a Windows external drive that is USB3. I've tried NTFS-3G but still won't see the USB3 drive. I thought USB3 was backwards compatible. Can anyone help?

WEll, Paragon tends to have kept up their NTFS drivers
Your Mac is using PCIe 3.0 controller which are iffy even on OS X and may not be seen by Windows (and my Windows PCIe 3.0 card doesn't show up or work in Mac OS).
If you attach it via USB2 it might show, depends really on the bridge used by the enclosure probably. It is has USB3 and eSATA and you have PCIe SATA (Sonnet E4P is expensive but works great in both platforms)

ExFAT formatted external drive not mounting in Mavericks?

Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone is experiencing this issue. I have an external usb drive (WD MyBook) that was formatted to the ExFAT filesystem under OS 10.8. The problem is that the drive is no longer readable by systems that have been upgraded to Mavericks. Disk utility on these systems can see the volume, but cannot mount the ExFAT partition. Disk Repar returns an error to the effect that the drive is faulty. Mind you, I can still mount this drive on any machine that is not running Mavericks, so it makes me sceptical that the drive itself is soley at fault.

peacedotnik
I'm wondering if anyone is experiencing this issue. I have an external usb drive (WD MyBook)
You should NOT connect any WD MyBook right now under Mavericks, you have a high likelihood of severe data corruption
WD is telling its customers to REMOVE WD SOFTWARE especially on WD MyBook
keep your WD MY BOOK unconnected right now until a resolution unless you have a backup of ALL DATA on your MyBook stored elsewhere
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac
Also,..
If you have a RAID setup, data corruption is possible. Exact source determination has not been made yet.
Until there is resolution, keep all RAID setups unconnected and consider other means for backup, such as simplex USB non-RAID backup.
Bill_S
Community Manager WESTERN DIGITAL
External Drives for Mac Experiencing Data Loss with Maverick OS (10/30/13)
There are reports of Western Digital and other external HDD products experiencing data loss when updating to Apple's OS X Mavericks (10.9). Western Digital is urgently investigating these reports and the possible connection to the WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager and WD SmartWare software applications.
Until the issue is understood and the cause identified, WD strongly urges our customers to uninstall these software applications on their systems before updating to OS X Mavericks (10.9), or delay upgrading. If you have already upgraded to Mavericks, WD recommends that you remove these applications and restart your computer. WD has removed these software applications from our web site solely as a precaution as we investigate this issue.
Wait for resolution of this occurance.
Peace

Mounting a windows formated external drive

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