Re formatting an external hard drive from windows to mac

hi all,
bought a samsung hd400ld which i found out later had been formatted for windows nt?? just wondering if there is a way of reformatting the hard drive so i can save stuff from my mac onto it??
any suggestions would be appreciated,
(have tried using disk utility to no avail)
cheers,
sam

Open the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and reformat it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and with the GUID partition table format.
(103822)

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External Hard Drive (from windows to Mac)

Hi Mac users!
I just moved from Windows to Mac and I'm very glad I made the switch. However, I am having some issues with my Win-Mac transistion. I have 3 external hard drives that I used under Windows to keep backups of my videos and personal files. Out of the 3 external hard drives, only one is recognized by OS X (10.5). I really need the other 2 to be recognized to transfer some more data to my new Mac system. Could you please help me to figure out what to do??
Here are some information on my 3 externl hard drives:
1 is a WD My Book (working fine)
1 is a La Cie Porsche model (Not working)
1 is a Ximeta (Not working)
I tried several USB ports, USB hubs. I have checked the Utilities to make sure the hard drive is not recognized/detected. Please, i need help to recover some important information and to complete my Windows-Mac transistion!
Thank you for your help!

I had to ask...I also have to ask, when you tried a USB hub, was it an externally powered hub? Sometimes a USB disk won't mount because there isn't enough USB power. However, Mac OS has always given me an explicit message to that effect...
If your LaCie came with a CD, you might use it to install drivers. In principle, that shouldn't be necessary, but is a possibility. If it is a drivers issue then you may be SOL for the Ximeta; glancing at their website--but not necessarily for the right product--they seem to claim that their hard drives require Windows. But I've never had to install drivers on a Mac to use an external hard drive.
It shouldn't be an NTFS issue because NTFS is still readable, just not writable, as you already observed with the WD. The filesystem(s) should still mount.

Formatting An External Hard Drive For Windows And Mac

So here is the problem I'm running into. I have a 160GB external HD Passport from Western Digital. When I format it for the Mac, it won't show up on my Windows XP computer at work. If I don format it in Disk Utility as FAT, it won't allow me to transfer large files in OSX.
Is there a way I can get the best of both worlds?

An interesting & refreshingly honest comment (from the author?) about SL-NTFS at http://mac.brothersoft.com/sl-ntfs.html:
"Any encountered problem come from the Apple driver and not from the Preference. If you often need to write on NTFS disk, I recommend you to look for a better solution."
The story behind the story: NTFS is a proprietary file system owned by Microsoft, which doesn't make all its characteristics known to outside developers. Thus, all methods of writing to it rely at least in part on reverse engineering unless they are provided as a part of Windows itself. I'm not entirely sure what the comments about Snow Leopard having this by default disabled capability actually mean, but both the above quote & the fact that it isn't enabled in Snow Leopard as shipped make me wonder how prudent it is to rely on it for routinely saving important data.

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

What are these files you are trying to copy over?
If they are program specific and there is no program on a Mac to read them then you'll have to find either a Mac version of that program or one that does the same thing and can read those files.
The file extension should not change just because you connect a NTFS formatted drive to a Mac computer. A Word Document is still a .doc/.docx ad the same for all other office type programs. Music files with an extension of .MP3, or whatever, should read the same on both system. Same goes for all other files like images with a .JPG extension.
Yes I would network them.
I would not use Migration Assistant. There is nothing on your Windows PC that can be used on the Mac other than your personal data files. No programs or settings can be carried over from Windows to OS X.
marimbapony1 wrote:
Also, when I view the files from the external hard drive, they show up as .nbz and are not recognized by any program on the Mac. Should I just abandon the hard drive option and start sharing files through the LAN approach?

If I have to format an external hard drive to make it Mac compatible, will it delete all the content in the external hard drive?

If I have to format an external hard drive to make it Mac compatible, will it delete all the content in the external hard drive?

As others have said, the answer to your question is a big YES. Formatting a drive will delete everything!
To keep your data, yet reformat the drive for optimal Mac compatibility, you will need to:
1) copy your files to a different hard drive (I would recommend two different locations if you value your data)
2) repartition/format the external drive
3) then copy the files back to the external.
You haven't given details but if you need the external to ONLY be compatible with the Mac (and no longer care if if can be read by Windows), then you will want to partition the drive using the GUID partition scheme, and format as the (HFS+) "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" filesystem. You can do so using the built-in "Disk Utility" application on your Mac (in the Applications/Utilities directory). Here are instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph5845
If you need the drive to be compatible with both Mac and Windows computers then please post that so someone can recommend a solution for your specific needs.

Formatted external hard drive from PC to Mac - Data Recovery Needed

I formatted an external hard drive configured to (PC) for a Mac.
I clicked erase data by accident during the process of formatting -- My old files are no longer there now.
Is there a way to recover the old files that I had on there before the reformat?
Someone please say yes and tell me it's possible......

Not very likely.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

How can I use my external hard drive from PC to Mac without reformatting???

Ok, so I am computer illiterate. I have always used PC's and have just bought a MacBook. When I plug in my external hard drive into my new Mac, it says it needs to be reformatted to use with Mac, which would cause all data to be erased. Is there anyway to get around this?
Please help me!

OK... as Woggledog indicated, OS X cannot write to NTFS formatted drives. NTFS is a proprietary Microsoft format. Conversely, Windows can neither read nor write to an OS X formatted drive.
Both Windows and OS X can read and write to FAT32 (this is a fairly old format). The down side to FAT32 is that the largest file you can work with is 4GB. That is probably fine for most people... but if you're working with large files (videos, virtual drive images, large backup files, etc...) FAT32 is not suitable. There are applications that you can purchase for both Macs and Windows machines that will allow them to read and write to the other format.
An immediate option provided you have the space on either your PC or Mac is to create a folder on either machine and move everything from your external drive into that folder. Then you can format the drive to FAT32 and then copy everything back over to the external drive (and delete it from your Mac or PC's internal drive). It might take some time depending on how much data you have... but you'll only have to do it once... and this is assuming you have enough space on one of you machines to copy the data from your external drive.

How do you dump a external hard drive from PC to mac

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If you don't see the external HD when you connect it to the Mac, then you need to use Disk Utility to format the XHD to a FAT32 drive. Once done it will read on the Mac and PC without any problems.

Formatting New External Hard Drive from NTFS to MS-DOS Problem

Hi I'm new to the mac family and I just got a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive and hooked it up - it mounted fine but it comes formatted NTFS so its in a read only state at the moment. I want to reformat it to MS-DOS so I can use it for both my mac and windows pc's. I went to disk utility to do this but all of the options are greyed out so I cannot erase it. What do I have to do to format it?

Open the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and reformat it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and with the GUID partition table format.
(103822)

External Hard Drive from PC to Mac.

Hi !
I'm curently using a 250 gb Western Digital external Hard Drive in a FAT32 Format on my Windows XP PC. I'm about to get a Mac and would like to know if I will have to format my hard drive, or if I will simply have to plug it in the Mac.
Thanks for helping,
Bastien.

Mac OS X understands FAT32. There may be file naming issues, and I wouldn't use a FAT32 volume to backup a Mac with cloning software. Only individual user document files should be copied over from the Mac to the drive, and files that have been Archived with the control-mouse click of the individual files and folders on Mac OS X. If you want a full clone of your data you'll want to reformat the drive, and use MacDrive for Windows to read the Mac formatted hard drive on Windows.
Here's my backup FAQ:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
You decide which method best suits your needs.

"How to partition for an external hard drive for windows and Mac backups"

I have two PCs, Dells, and 1 Macbook Pro. They are set up on a wireless network. I would like to set up an external hard drive to backup all three automatically. Does anyone know how I can do this? Do I have to partition the external hard drive?

You would need to partition the hard drive using the GUID partition scheme. Your non-Apple machines would need their partitions formatted MS-DOS (FAT) and the Mac partition would have to be formatted Mac OS Extended. Note, however, that using the MS-DOS format may cause some problems with filenames on an NTFS formatted Windows drive.
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Converting External Hard Drives from Windows NTFS

I just got a MacBook a few days ago and have been transferring all of my data over from my old Windows XP Dell. I decided that I wanted to shoot some pictures over back to the hard drive and realized that it was read only (the drive is NTFS). What are my options? I have three external drives. One 320GB and two 120GB (one is a travel drive) all are NTFS. The 120GB desktop isn't used so if worse comes to worse, I can reformat it to what ever Mac needs and play hop scotch and run all of my info around til I get all of the drives formated Mac...
Questions:
What should I format my desktop drive to if I will use it purely on my Mac? What would happen if I use that format when I run Windows XP Parallel?
Also, my travel drive I like to use for both Mac and Windows if possible so at the very least, Windows has to read this drive. How should that be formated?
One last one, would it be worth buying a program like ParagonNTFS for Mac? Is there any risk with this. I like the simplicity of not having to play hard drive shuffle with it but don't what my data to be at risk with it...
Thanks for the help,
Brian

BrianJ844 wrote:
Questions:
What should I format my desktop drive to if I will use it purely on my Mac? What would happen if I use that format when I run Windows XP Parallel?
Journalled HFS. Win XP via parallels can access it just fine.
Also, my travel drive I like to use for both Mac and Windows if possible so at the very least, Windows has to read this drive. How should that be formated?
FAT32 (aka MS-DOS on the mac)
One last one, would it be worth buying a program like ParagonNTFS for Mac? Is there any risk with this. I like the simplicity of not having to play hard drive shuffle with it but don't what my data to be at risk with it...
A free alternative is NTFS-3G. Link here. Not sure about reliability... I don't use it. I access NTFS over a network, so it is not an issue as it uses samba to do so.

Formatting a 1TB hard drive from windows to a MAC!!

okay so i have been looking around like crazy for answers and im having such a hard time with it!!
i bought a 1TB hard drive Desk made by Seagate, problem is that my mac doesn't recognize it and everywhere i look for answers/solutions i get the same unhelpful information. My computer doesn't reconize it at all.... and it connects my USB. Any ideas mac world?

Hazelle wrote:
okay so i have been looking around like crazy for answers and im having such a hard time with it!!
i bought a 1TB hard drive Desk made by Seagate, problem is that my mac doesn't recognize it and everywhere i look for answers/solutions i get the same unhelpful information. My computer doesn't reconize it at all.... and it connects my USB.
I see his response to your post. I'm guessing you don't understanding what he is asking......no slam against you......you just may not know these things yet.
Does the Seagate Ext. only hook up by USB not FireWire ?
Do you know what Disk Utilty is and where it is located on your system? If not we'll get you there.
That is where you can mount and format it for Mac.
If a windows formatted drive is not formatted FAT32 it will not show up on your desktop but may in Disk Utility.
The other thing, you have a MacBook but are posting in a G4 tower forum. They stopped making them years ago.
But I post both places and have both machines, so I will try to get you going.
Dale

External hard drive from pc to mac please help

My HP motherboard fried but the hard drive was fine. I extracted it, and put it an external enclosure and made it external. I plugged it in and it shows up on disk utility, but now I don't know what to do. I want to be able to transfer my old files to my new Mac. It says disk1s1 (the part with all of the files) isn't mounted. Should I mount it? will this erase my old data? Thanks

Hello jnorris5
Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
If the drive shows up in disk utility then it should show up in Finder (desktop). If it does show in Finder then all you have to do is drag and drop the files that you want to the Mac.
As the other poster stated you may be running NTFS file system on the ext drive, this is not a problem if you're only reading or copying the files. If you plan on writing to the drive with your Mac then you'll need to either format the drive (once you get the data off) to OSX Extended (Journaled) or FAT. You can alternately use a third party program such as paragon or macdrive, suggested by the other poster.
But if all you want to do is get the data from the drive to the Mac then just plug it in drag and drop the files.

How can i format my external hard drive to write files from Mac without loosing the files that i alredy have on my external hard when i used it with windows?

How can i format my external hard drive to write files from Mac without loosing the files that i alredy have on my external hard when i used it with windows?
I have been using Windows to write files to my 1TB WD external hard drive and I do not want to format to loose the files capacity of around 500GB
Someone, Please help

Hi Allen,
Is there any way to store the back up to Mac and restore after formating?

Re formatting an external hard drive from windows to mac

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