Reformatting my Lacie from NTFS (PC) to Mac compatible

Hi there,
We recently had both a PC (ugh) and a Mac, and since we understood a PC is completely unreliable due to viruses and its evil overheating problem, we thought it would be best to purchase an external HD for the PC to save our files fully knowing that one day the thing would die.
Which leads us to where we are now... At the time, in order for our dumb PC to utilize our Lacie, we had to reformat it as NTFS, but now that our PC has thankfully died, we need to connect the Lacie to our iBook.
Well, I know Macs can read NTFS, but it cannot write. Am I correct in thinking I will need to reformat the Lacie back to something Mac compatible? I know out of the box, Lacies are made for Mac, but what was it originally? FAT 32?
Also, I am aware that reformatting will delete all of our files currently on the HD. So, here is my dumb question... theoretically, can I simply drag copies of all of our files off of the Lacie onto my iBook, reformat the Lacie back to FAT 32 and then drag the files back on the HD?
I know that last question seems silly, but I really do not want to lose any of our files in the process.
Thanks, Gillian
1.33 GHz PowerPC G4 iBook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

You're welcome.
Do you think it was okay that I chose journaled over just Mac OS Extended?
Yes, that's OK. The following link explains journaling and the benefits of it.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107249
John

Similar Messages

Reformat to windows from previously using a mac

Hi there I was wondering if someone could help me. I bought an ipod nano in late august and I put songs on it from a mac. Now I have a PC and I was wondering how I reformat the ipod to work with windows.
Thanks!
Windows, brand new I dont know what model Windows 2000

"I was wondering how I reformat the ipod to work with windows"
Use the iPod updater (now included in iTunes 7) to restore the iPod.
Despite what the other poster has told you, you cannot use CopyPod with a Mac formatted iPod without the use of some 3rd party software such as MacOpener or XPlay2.
This is because Windows cannot read the Mac (HFS+) file system.

Are tiff files exported from PC, Mac compatible?

I need to submit photos from my PC OS via Lightroom that are LZW compressed and Mac compatible. Photoshop Elements has a setting for Mac compatible files but Lightroom 2.3 does not. Does anyone know if Lightroom exported tiff's from a PC are Mac compatible?

PC v Mac compatibility is a throwback to when the both computers used differents CPUs, and dependent on the hardware reading words left-to-right or right-to-left. Adobe TIF readers have never been CPU dependent because they were appropriately savvy of the TIF header and its CPU indicator.

External Hard Drive issues- Transfering data from NTFS to Mac

Hi. I need help deciding the best way to get my files from my NTFS external hard drive to be read/write able on my Mac Laptop (late 2008 macbook, 13inch). I know I need to reformat both of the NTFS external drives I own to either FAT32 or Mac OS (journaled), however I am unsure what the best way to do this.
The apple Genius told me to do the following:
Using my Windows running laptop, copy data from NTFS drive to a safe place on PC.
Reformat drive to FAT32
Copy files from windows running laptop back to hard drive.
This sounds great, but I have been warned that FAT32 has many limitations. I have 66 GB of music and photos on the drive.
Clarifaction of what the limitations with FAT32 are, and any advice is greatly appreciated. I mean, how do people switch their data from PC to Mac? There has to be an easier answer.
THANKS!

Hi Kassluv17;
Before we can tell you the best solution, you must tell us where you wish to end up. Do you plan to migrate over to the Mac and have nothing to do with the PC in the future or are both a Mac and a PC in your future.
Allan

I have a seagate external hard drive with files copied from windows pc. If I will download NTFS driver from seagate to my mac, could I install it safely without harming my files in the external hard drive? I am afraid I may erase all files in there.

I have a seagate external hard drive with files transferred from my windows pc. If I will download NTFS Driver from seagate to my mac, could I install it safely without harming my files? I am afraid.. I might erase all my important files during the installation..

Thanks a lot! I have already downloaded Paragon Driver and it works well with seagate external hard drive. I am copying as of now my important files from my mac to it. However, I have only the trial version which will expire in 10 days. I don't have credit card to buy for it.

How do I reformat my iPod from windows to mac?

How do I reformat my iPod from Windows to MAC?

On the Mac, click here and follow the instructions.
(105043)

Formatting LaCie External Hard Drive for MAC and PC

Hi,
I just recently purchased a LaCie 500 GB Hard Drive from the Apple Store in order to back up and store most of my PC (Window) files. Most of my files that I need to back up are on CD, DVD, and USB mini drives. I was thinking of transferring the files through my MacBook Pro but I'm not sure how to partition the hard drive, since most of my files are generated from PC's and I would need to connect the hard drive to a PC in the future anyway.
From what I understand, the files that I save in the Windows partition will only be recognized when on a PC, and the same for the MAC. But what about simple compatible files that are read cross platform, such as Word documents? Would I still only be able to access each file depending on the platform and the partition?
Is there a way that I can just partition it into a single storage space – as how servers store data, regardless of whether it’s a PC or MAC file? I’m also wondering what would happen if I were to plug it into my laptop first? If it doesn’t ask me to partition the drive on my PC, will it ask me when I plug it back into the MAC afterwards? And if I partition it then, what would happen to my data?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you

Hi, njoay
I just moved to Mac from Windows last week onto a new MBP. I purchased a Lacie 500GB ruggedized drive. Here is what I know and tried:
1) If you format the Lacie in Mac format, then you can't use it on a Windows machine without software eg MacDrive.
2) If you format the Lacie in NTFS, you can only read from it when connected to Mac without other software.
I work a lot with VMWare, so I need the LACIE to be able to connect to both PC and MAC. I found a solution from another MAC user: "Paragon NTFS for Mac OS" (see http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/) which you can purchase for US$39.
This is what I did:
1) connect my Lacie to my PC and formatted it in NTFS format.
2) Installed Paragon NTFS onto my MAC
3) Connected LACIE to Mac.
Here are the results:
1) Connection with USB2.0 from Lacie to Mac - it works (can read and write to LAcie formatted in NTFS)
2) Connection with Firewire 800 from Lacie to Mac - it does NOT work. The disk gets ejected. I have logged a support call with Paragon on this issue and am waiting a reply.
3) Connection with Firewire 400 from Lacie to Mac - have not tried it yet.
Hope the above helps.

Pc & mac compatible wireless ethernet lacie mini drive how to format?

ok, I have a ethernet drive connected to my wireless modem/router. My pc laptop sees it no problem, but my macbook pro won't. I know it's because the lacie drive is NTFS formatted, but I can't for the life of me work out how to reformat it to FAT32. Any ideas? Any lacie forums out there I can ask? Ta.

I have two ethernet drives connected to my router.
There isn't a hope of even communicating with them on the Mac because there's no Mac compatible software available to do it.
I've no intention of dabbling with them because I might lose the data. Time Capsule appears to be a solution to this one.

After copying a file from NTFS to HFS volume, file size changed when viewing in Windows

Hi guys,
I have a Mac Air running Mavericks on a HFS partition and Windows 7 on a BOOTCAMP NTFS partition. I have some files that I want to read/write from/to both systems. Since OS X can't write NTFS and Windows can't write HFS either, and I don't want to use any 3rd-party tools/drivers, I have to adopt a "stupid" way: in OS X, I copy those files from NTFS to its HFS partition, make changes, then switch to Windows and sync them back to NTFS.
The problem is, after I copied a file from NTFS to HFS in OS X, it seemed ok. But when I switched to Windows, the very copied file in HFS partition had its size changed (bigger) although I didn't make any changes to it in OS X yet. This happens to almost every file I copied, text and binary. For those text files, I tried to open it with EditPlus in Windows and EditPlus reports the correct size on the status bar.
How could this happen?

I am not sure if this is what your seeing but...
The same unaltered file on two different volumes might use different amounts of disk space. This is because a 'disk' is divided in to 'blocks' and a block (also historically known as a 'sector') is a certain minimum size. So if disk-1 has a block size of 512 bytes and disk-2 has a block size of 1024 bytes then a file containing just 10 bytes will use up twice as much space on disk-2 as disk-1 even though it is the exact same file.
Beyond that, Macs can add additional information like Spotlight tags, labels, icons, etc. which make a file bigger. If you are modifying a file then presumably that also implies adding additional content e.g. for a Word document more text and this will make it bigger. Also depending on some programs are configured or designed 'deleting' text may only mark it as deleted and not really delete. This can apply to older versions of Word which has a 'Fast Save' feature, new versions have removed this and do a proper delete.
You would have to give more details like what you are doing to the document, what kind of document, and what the two sizes are.
Finally, there is one other potential difference, some systems and manufacturers use 1024 as a unit for measuring file and disk sizes, some use 1000. It will be the same number of bytes in each case but 1000 bytes in one case would exactly equal 1MB, and in the other it would be 0.9765MB.

I'm switching from pc to Mac, is there a way to transfer all my music and photos from my pc to Mac book pro, I also have a hard drive will it open files from my pc

Can I transfer music photos from my old pc to my new Mac, plus I have a hard drive that is Mac compatible but all the stuff is from my pc will it transfer

Yes, the Mac can read NTFS drives, but not write to them.
If you have the drive formatted FAT or exFAt then the Mac can read and write to it. But before formatting, remove the data as it's erased, and format it on the PC as it's easier. Right click on Windows and Format.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's
Moving your personal data via the external drive is likley the best option, there are other methods like Migration, but they are problematic and take a long time, a drive is simple, fast and direct.

Transferring an external hard drive from a Pc to Mac

Newbie- would like to use my Seagate drive from my old PC as a backup disk, but found I can read but not write to it. Discovered it's format is NTFS. How do I now get this to a MAC writable format. Do I use the Disk Utility to erase the disk? Should I partition it? What are my format choices?

From the Seagate support website (you may want to do your own search there as well for more tips):
1. Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
2. Click on the Partition tab
3. Click on the Current Volume Scheme drop-down menu and select One (1) partition.
4. Click Options. From the Partition Schemes provided:
5. Click on the GUID Partition Table radio button (best for Intel Macs)
-OR-
Click on the Apple Partition Map radio button (best for PowerPC Macs)
6. Click OK. Select other options as desired (e.g., Volume Name, Format, etc.).
7. Click Apply. The Partition Disk screen opens.
8. Click Partition. At this point, the volume dismounts from the desktop and the drive is partitioned and formatted.
Note: When Volumes are created, Time Machine may open asking if you would like to use the volume for backups. Click Cancel to proceed. (if you don't want to use the drive for Time Machine)
When finished, select the Disk Utility from the Apple Menu and choose Quit Disk Utility
(I recently used this process to change a FreeAgent Desk drive from NTFS to GUID without any problems)

Can I safely unplug my Lacie from my dead laptop?

Hello,
My powerbook finally died (blinking question mark / folder icon on startup) after months of pinging and a day of whirring. (Tech store said it needs a new hard drive, logic board, and OS.) I have everything backed up on a Lacie firewire external HD, but FORGOT TO EJECT IT during my last precious minutes with my laptop.
How can I safely unplug the Lacie from the laptop? I've tried booting from a Disk Warrior CD, and the startup CD, but I can't get to my desktop.
You geniuses are always appreciated, thanks
Erica
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.2.x) 12"

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
It sounds like your system has already died. Just unplug the firewire/USB connection to the drive.

Macbook Pro, WD Passport from NTFS to OS X

I have an Macbook Pro but my WD Passport comes up on screen and I can watch shown and play music, however i cannot add anything to it.
I went to the disk utiIty was going to try changing it from NTFS to OS X but it said it will erase everything? Will this happen

A reformat will erase all user data. An alternative is to use third party software to be able to write to a NFTS formatted drive. Paragon and Tuxera are two that are available. They have received mixed reviews.
Ciao.

HT1444 Running 10.8.2 on MacBook Pro. Purchased Toshiba 1TB external drive. Calls for installing NTFS driver for Mac. Any concerns here?

My MacBook Pro is running Mountain LIon 10.8.2. I just purchased a Toshiba external hard drive offering USB 3.0 & 2.0. The NTFS driver for Mac is included. The compatability indication includes Lion ... but not yet ... Mountain Lion. Should I be concerned about loading this software?

Or you could just reformat the drive to exFat or FAT32 and then you won't need any additional software. Also, you can check app compatibility at www.roaringapps.com. I don't know if this includes any type of drivers.

Voice Memos- How to move from iphone 3GS to Mac?

Okay. How do I move a voice memo from my iPhone 3GS to my Mac? All software and hardware is current. All I want to do is move voice memos from iPhone to my Mac. Memos are 30 minutes plus and cannot email from iphone. So I want to move to my Mac and email if I want. How to? thanks! rr

Syncing Voice Memos
iTunes automatically syncs voice memos to your iTunes library when you connect iPhone to your computer. This lets you listen to voice memos on your computer and provides a backup if you delete them from iPhone.
Voice memos are synced to the Voice Memos playlist. iTunes creates the playlist if it doesn’t exist. When you sync voice memos to iTunes, they remain in the Voice Memos application until you delete them. If you delete a voice memo on iPhone, it isn’t deleted from the Voice Memos playlist in iTunes. However, if you delete a voice memo from iTunes, it is deleted from iPhone the next time you sync with iTunes.

Reformatting my Lacie from NTFS (PC) to Mac compatible

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for