Sharing external hard drive with all home macs and pc's

I'd like to connect my go flex desk hard drive to my BT home hub 4 and access it through my macbook pro, is this possible and how can I do this myself?

You need to format the external drive to a format that can be used by Windows, OSx, and your BT home hub (what ever that is). So I think your best bet would be to format it FAT32 or ExFat since Windows and OSx can read/write to a hard drive formatted as FAT32 or ExFat. Read your BT home hub documentation to determine how to connect a hard drive to it. Most likely it will have a usb port if hard drives can be connected to it.

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Cannot access shared external hard drive with other mac accounts

I cannot access a shared external hard drive with other mac accounts (all accounts are on the same macbook Pro). The shared external drive is shared via time capsule and is connected (of course) in USB. I see well this external hard drive as a shared disk with my main account. Yes shared option has been activated with the Airport Utility .. but when I open other account these othe accounts can see the external drive but cannot access to its content that is flagged with a no way sign. Strangely enough when I close my main account and start opening a new session with one of the other account then fine I can access the external hard drive and its content .. BUT then it is from my main account than I cannot access its content the no way sign showing ..
Looks like only one account at a time can access the content of this SHARED external hard drive .. any one as an idea on how to really make it a shared hard drive so that all accounts on the same mac can also access it ? I am at my wit ends on this case. THANKS ..

Results of my enquiries at Apple Genius Bar .. the guys found the problem interesting. They've been unable to provide a fix neither to give any explanation as to the reason why. To be fair I was not much impressed by the technical level demonstrated ..
In the mean time I have found that if account no.1 can see the shared external drive content and in such case account no.2 (same Mac computer) cannot see its content (only the external HD with a no way sign) this account no.2 can UNMOUNT (by ejecting) this external HD from account 1 and then remount it (just clicking on the TC shared part in a finder window) and .. see and access its content ; whilst account no.1 cannot see its content anylonger. Unless it unmounts the shared external HD and remount it .. then account no.2 can see its content anylonger. This can goes on an on.
So eventually YES the TC can allow to share a USB external drive between several accounts and a same Mac .. BUT this require to unmount and remount EACH time the external drive is accessed from a "no.2 account". So OK to share files with seldom access but not practical in case of frequent access needed.
I just I have now to figure how iTunes can automatically unmount and remount a shared external HD when it needs to access one of this shared HD content from on time account no.1 and then next time from account no.2. May be I am asking too much ..

How do I connect my external hard drive with all of my digital media to my Apple TV network and make it accessable 24/7?

How do I connect my external hard drive with all of my digital media to my Apple TV network and make it accessable 24/7? I have the latest Apple TV, ipads, iPhones as well as a solid HP Windows machine all on my home network. Is there a way that I can connect my hard drive to my receiver or Apple TV directly so that the digital media is available on my network 24/7 rather than have it connected to my computer and available through Home Share which never works anyway??

Sorry it's all done through iTunes.
The following article(s) may help you with home sharing.
Troubleshooting Home Sharing
Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
Recommended Wi-Fi settings
Wifi Diagnostic Software (for Mac users)
You may also find some help on this page, where I’ve collected some of the more unusual solutions to network issues.

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599

Viewing External Hard Drives on both PC Mac and in Parallels.

If someone could give me a clear answer on how to use an external hard drive b/w my Mac, Parallels and my work computer (PC) that would be most helpful.
I bought a external hard drive overseas and was having no problems with it on a PC but when i bought this Mac Book Pro i could only view and retrieve data and not write to it. I then partitioned it in the disk utility (master boot record) and am now unable to see the drive on a PC where all my files are, but it works perfect with the Mac.
I figured it was my dodgy hard drive from indonesia so i just bought a LaCie and i can't see it in the Parallels where i need to use a PC program even when i disconnect and connect when parallels are loaded. I haven't tried it on my work PC yet.
Is it possible to use a EHD between all 3 (Mac, Parallels and a PC)? if so how? and if not what are my options to maximizing the ability to access data on all three?
Thanks would appreciate any insight.
Mac Book Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi and welcome to Discussions,
the reason why your MBP could not write to the HD was, because it was most likely formated using NTFS as file system, which OSX can read from, but not write to.
The best file system for all three is FAT32, which is read- and writeable for all three.
Two problems with FAT32:
1. single files can not be bigger in size as 4GB
2. Windows can not format partitions with FAT32, that are bigger than 32GB.
The first limitation can not be overcome with FAT32.
The second can be overcome, when using Disc Utility from OSX with MBR as partititon scheme and MS-DOS (OSX name for FAT) as file system.
Or you can use command-line program to do this with your PC: http://www.heise.de/software/download/h2format/40825
(Sorry, link is in german).
That way all three should be able to see and use the external HD.
Although it is a fact that Parallels can be picky sometimes with USB-connected drives, but with the newer versions of it, this problem has become less evident.
And since up to now Parallels does not support FireWire, you must USB with it.
Regards
Stefan

Problems sharing external hard drives with Lion

I have 2 external hard drives connected to my imac. I had no problem sharing and accessing my external drives on other computers (pc & mac). Recently I just upgraded my mac os to Lion and since I am having problems accessing my external drives on my PC (windows 7).
On my PC in the shared folder I can see the external drive folders but I am getting an error code when I try to open them. I have no problem accessing my imac folders on my PC, just my external drive folders.
I would like some help because it would be nice to access them wirelessly on my PC without having to disconnect them from my iMac.
Rome.

My external hard drive was formatted in the FAT32 format--my iBook had no trouble reading or writing on this drive, and neither did my family's Dell deskop.
If I recall correctly, the FAT32 format cannot store files larger than 4GB. Also, you will have to partition the drive. My 160GB drive was split into 4 parts, each about 30GB in size. This is another limitation of the FAT32 format.
Formatting my drive was such a pain--and time consuming--that I didn't bother to format the remaining 30 or so gigabytes.
I've reformatted my drive to be HFS and will likely do some work with our home network so that our Dell will be able to send files to my machine & then to the external hard drive.
Programs exist for Windows machines to allow them to read a HFS (Mac-formatted) volume. If you want to be able to use all space possible on the hard drive, purchasing such a program may be your best option.

HT1751 So what happens when the external hard drive with all of my iTunes media on it crashes??

I moved my iTunes media/library (as well as iPhoto) to an external hard drive many moons ago. It's been a great decision up until today, when the portable hard drive I was using decided to commit suicide. Is it possible to restore the lost media and library files from Time Machine, or are all of my music (and picture) files officially gone??? Help!!

If you have been doing the basics and backing up your computer, then they are not gone. They are in your backup.
Use your backup to put them back.
Mac OS X 10.6: Recovering items using Time Machine and Spotlight

I have an external hard drive that is both Mac and Windows compatible and can no longer delete any files. I recently reformatted my Mac, does this have anything to do with it?

I've clicked on the 'get info' tab, but it says read only for all files.

You can't write to it because it's formatted as NTFS which OS X will read but not write to. If you want to continue using the drive with both a PC and OS X you will need to download and install NTFS-3G so you can then write to it from your Mac. You can get NTFS-3G at:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g
If you want to use the drive exclusively with your Mac then move the data off it and reformat it in Disk Utility (Applications - Utilities - Disk Utilities) as Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

HT1452 I want to reset the permissions on a western digital external hard drive to work between mac and windows... How can I do this easily?

I have a MacBook Pro and have recently bought a Western Digital external hard drive. I used it on my windows laptop first and unfortunately now on the Mac it is read only. How can I set it so that I can use it successfully between the both the Mac and windows laptop?
Thanks

MacQuack wrote:
You will need to pull all the information off first. The formatting will erase it all.
Use Disk Utility (in Applications >> Utilities or use Spotlight to find it). On the left select your WD drive and then select the Erase tab. Where it says Format, select exFat in the drop-down menu. Next, click Erase and done. It will take approx. 5-15mins to re-format.
Cons: You will be unable to store files 4GB or larger in this format (usually only dmg/iso files or large Outlook files). Also, you will be unable to use Time Machine or other auto-backup programs.
That is not entirely correct, there is no 4G limit using exFat, FAT32 is the one with the limit.

Using an external hard drive with an airport extreme and HP computer

- I recently bought the airport extreme, and also bought a Seagate external hard drive for my music files. I can see the hard drive on the airport utility but cannot access it or find where to access it. I am using an HP computer with windows 7.
Help please!

The AirPort Extreme cannot share out the attached Seagate USB hard drive if it is formatted in NTFS or ExFat. Please check to see that it is formatted in either FAT32 or HFS+ (Apple format).
If it is already formatted in either of the latter two formats, then verify that the AirPort Utility can properly identify the hard drive by using the AirPort Utility for Windows.
Finally please checkout the following Apple Support article for details on accessing this shared drive from a Windows PC.

External Hard Drive set up for Mac and PC

Hi there.
I have a Lacie 1000GB external hard drive conected to Power Book Pro. I don't know much about it but was wondering if I could partition some of it off for my PC back up. As my Powerbook is for buisness (editing) I try and keep it away from emails and things, which I use me PC for. When I first purchased the Lacie HD, after setting it up with the mac I then tried to connect it to the PC to do a general back up of documents, etc. but it wouldn't allow it. Can anyone help with this? Sorry the info is a little vague...
Adam

You need to have a partition for OS X and one for your PC. Partitioning will erase your drive.
Open disk utility in the utilities folder in finder. Choose your external drive.
Choose partition and then under volume scheme choose 2 partitions. Pick the size of the partitions by either dragging the center bar with the dot on it or type in the size. Pick the partition you want to be your mac partition then choose option and pick guid partition table. For format choose mac os extended journaled. Pick a name for this partition
Now pick the other partition and under option choose master boot record. Under format choose MS-DOS file system. Choose a name for this partition.
Now in the right hand corner choose partition. It will take a while so be patient.

Can you partition an external hard drive to run both mac and windows files

I have an external hard drive fomated for windows NTFS. I am unable to Write mac files to this drive. I need to be able to share the files
between both platforms. Any suggestions? Thanks

Format it as MS-DOS from a Mac or exFAT from a PC, or install Mac OS X software which allows it to write to NTFS drives, or hook it up to a PC and make it available as a network share.
(78564)

Sharing External Hard Drive with Windows PC

I just purchased the Maxtor Turbo III. I can read/write to/from my PowerBook to the Maxtor, but I cannot even see the drive when it is attached to my PC. I'm assuming that it the drive has been formatted for OSX but that it needs to be reformatted for PC.
Is there a formating method that can be applied such that both Windows PC's and Macs can read and write to the drive?
Thanks

You wrote: "Thanks, but isn't Fat32 "old technology"? And doesn't it have file size limitations?"Yes: 4 GB is the largest file size under FAT32.
See my "Sharing a FireWire drive between a Mac and a PC" FAQ for some other ideas.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

I've moved an internal hard drive with all my music and library files to a new computer --- how can I get itunes to import the whole library while keeping my metadata?

I've always kept all my music on its own dedicated internal hard drive. Now I've got a new PC, finally made the switch to Windows 7 from XP, and I've moved my internal hard drive over to the new machine.
I installed iTunes, but I'm having a heck of a time getting it to import the music and library files, keeping all my playlists and metadata. Why is this so hard?

If your New to You Used Mac is froom mid 2012 and originally came with Lion installed on it you will need to Reinstall that version using the Online Internet Recovery system and then at first boot of the new install use the Setup Assistant system to copy over all the data from your wifes old hard drive.
To access the Online system at startup hold down the Command + Option/alt + r keys and keep them held down until you see a globe on the screen. From the resulting screen that cames up, Mac OS X Utilities, select Disk Utility and then the top most entry for the hard drive, left hand panel, drive model number and size, and then the Partition tab. Repartition the drive as One Partition, You Must do that to get ride of the Mavericks Recovery HD partition which is hidden. Name the partition Macintosh HD with a format of Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Once that is done exit disk utility and select Reinstall Mac OS X.

External Hard Drive Readable by Both Mac and PC?

Is there a way for me to format this external drive so that I can read and write to it from both pc and mac? I am new to the Mac world. Thanks in advance for any help.

Yes that works. FAT 32 is a solution, but it's a horrible format.
I would suggest that you use NTFS. It can't normally be read by mac os, but if you get MacFUSE and NTFS-3g from google it will work. (Totally free)
This solution makes the mac computer read and write to the hard drive, but it is much slower than Mac-journaled.
There is also a product that you can buy and apparently it runs faster.

Sharing external hard drive with all home macs and pc's

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