Transferring files from portable hard drives

I currently have an external hard drive formatted for a PC. I recently bought a Mac and an external hard drive that is formatted specifically for a Mac. I want to transfer the files from the PC external hard drive to the one formatted for Mac but when I hook the Mac hard drive to my PC it won't acknowledge it without me reformatting it for a PC. Is there a way for me to get the files from one hard drive to the next without reformatting the hard drives themselves?

I have a similar problem... my external hard drive, PC formated, is one that can be connected and media viewed through your TV. I want to keep all my "pc" files on the hard drive and add MAC (.avi, .mp3, .mp4, etc.) files to the hard drive to free up space on my laptop.
As you said, I can read/copy files from the hard drive to my MAC but cannot copy from my MAC to the hard drive. Will the software you speak of allow me to copy those files? If not, must I burn all from my files to a disc, reformat the hard drive, and then copy back?

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Transfering files from a hard drive into Itunes

I downloaded audio files from a CD to an external hard drive. Now I would like to put those files in Itunes. I tried click and drag and cut and paste, no luck.
Please help
Thank you in advance
Faust575

I downloaded audio files from a CD to an external
hard drive. Now I would like to put those files in
Itunes. I tried click and drag and cut and paste, no
luck.
What EXACTLY do you mean by you "downloaded" the files?
Did you transcode them into a form iTunes knows about? (e.g., MP3)
If you ripped them to MP3 or other compatible file format you should hust be able to drag and drop them onto the Music portion of your iTunes display. I do this hundreds of times a day - it's the logical equivalent of Add File or Add Folder to Library.

Question about Transferring Files From External Hard Drive.

Ok so heres the thing.
I was having airport issues. blah blah they told me to reinstall everything from scratch with the installation disks. So i backed everything up on my harddrive, i clean installed..
& then transferred my stuff.
In addition to the user account i obviously created since it was clean installed. When i transferred my stuff back on.. it REcreated my old user account before i clean installed it.
So i had 2 user accounts. my "old" & "new" one.
that being said, does that mean i can get rid of the user account i just created??
Also, logging on to my "old user account" will it REaffect my airport & other things.
Basically will it be the exact same thing before i clean installed it??
*or NEW again but just with my old stuff just back on it* [im hoping for this)
or is it the same 'operating system' as before along with its problems.
Because i don't want to have more issues.
--srry for all the questions. lol

lacero415:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I suggest that you just leave both accounts there for the time being. Log into one of them, doesn't matter which, and use it for a while. Don't store any data until you know which one you want to use. Check out how Airport works, see if all your stuff is there etc. Then log into the other account for while and do the same. Then you can decide which one to keep. If you created any new data in the one to be deleted, be sure you move it to the one you will keep before deleting the other.
Good luck.
cornelius

Got a new external hard drive. Transferred all files from old hard drive to new hard drive. Connected hard drive to macbook. How do I get all my files to be recognized by iTunes and my already made playlists??

Got a new external hard drive. Transferred all files from old hard drive to new hard drive. Connected hard drive to macbook. How do I get all my files to be recognized by iTunes and my already made playlists??

Trying to download photos from IPHONE, IPAD to IPHOTO in IMAC after installing new hard drive.
How did you import the photos to iPad and iPhone?
If the photos have been synced to the iPhone and iPad using iTunes, you cannot sync them back.
See this document: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236
You can't reimport pictures synced from your computer to your device back to your computer. You can only import pictures in the Camera Roll or Saved Photos from your device to your computer. If you need to retrieve synced photos from your device:
If your photos are not in the Camera Roll on your devices, save them to the Camera Roll, share them to the Photo Stream, mail the photos, or, if you have iPhoto on the devices, use iTunes Photo Sharing.
http://help.apple.com/iphoto/iphone/2.0/?handbuch#blnkee26bc1
Save photos to your computer using iTunes
Connect your iOS device to your computer.
Tap a photo, album, event, web journal, or slideshow and tap Share> iTunes.
Tap Selected, or change the photos you want to save (if you are saving a slideshow skip to step 4):
Select different photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap one or more photos, and tap Next.
Select a range of photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.
Select all the photos in an album or event: Tap All.
In iTunes, click the button for your device and click Apps at the top of the window.
Below File Sharing, select iPhoto (in Apps).
Select the Shared Photos folder under iPhoto Documents.
Click Save To and select the location on your computer where you want to save the items.
To view your photos, go to the Finder and look in the location you selected above.

Transferring some files from old hard drive to new mac book pro: How do I do this? I bought a SATA Wire, and can't figure out how to get my files

Hi there, my old mac book recently died and I opted to buy a new macbook pro, instead of pouring lots of money into the old computer. I was able to get my hard drive out, and I bought a 2.5" Sata Nootbook Drive Upgrade Kit. I have also installed superduper!....but I can't really figure out how to get everything to work. I just want to be able to take some of my files from my hard drive, not everything...
Any suggestions?
Thanks!

I don't know what a "2.5" Sata Nootbook Drive Upgrade Kit" is but if you have a internal drive you need to connect all you needed was a $20 IDE/SATA to USB adapter
You don't need Superduper, that's software designed to clone a entire Mac's boot drive to a external drive for bootable backup purposes using the same machine/make/model.
Since the new Mac is different than the old one you can't clone (well you could but it will break the machine) the old drive to the new one.
However you can use the adapter above and software Apple provides in the Utilities folder on the NEW MAC, called Migration Assistant to transfer your User to the new machine.
However this might not be the best course of action as it can transfer unwanted data and cause problems in the Library, old programs that won't run on 10.7, etc.
You can simply create the same named user on the machine (System Preferences > Accounts) log into it and then connect the external drive with the adapter and copy the contents of your users folders over and place into the same.
It's always good to have another Admin level user account on the machine in case the primary one has a User based issue and you need to log into the other and grab files. So if either manually or via using Migration Assistant you wind up with two user accounts on the machine, it's really not that big of a deal.

Restore Windows 7 backup file to portable hard drive

Restore Windows 7 backup file to portable hard drive
I have a full system backup on an NAS - 241 zip files.
The backed up Windows 7 laptop failed irreparably, and I now have a new laptop running 8.1.
I have attempted to create a mounted drive of the old backup - but get a compatibility error from 8.1
I would like to make an accessible copy of the original Win 7 drive on a portable hard drive and access the documents, .pst files, and music files.
Any suggestions very welcome.
Thanks

Hi,
To restore your file from Windows 7, you need to restore these file from Windows 7 system, then choose the feature of system restore to restore these file.
Please refer to the link below for more details about how to restore your file. Especially notice "To restore a backup made on another computer".
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-hk/windows/restore-files-backup#1TC=windows-7
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

[SOLVED] How to Restore Folders/Files from a Hard Drive

I broke my system today; it won't boot into any run level. Rather than try to fix it, I'd like to just pull off the 4 or 5 MB of files that are on the hard drive. The partition they are in was formatted XFS. I have the 2008.06 ArchLive CD - is it possible to access files from the hard drive after booting with an ArchLive CD? If so, I could just scp them to an external server. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Last edited by tony5429 (2008-09-28 04:52:39)

You should be able to mount the partition once you've loaded up the live CD. Just figure out which one it is by using
fdisk -l
then mount it to /mnt or wherever you want it.
As for moving/saving them, I'm not entirely sure how to get them onto an external server. You might have to mount another partition in order to install any apps that you need to connect to an external server, but wait for someone who really knows to answer before you try it. If you're only talking about 4 or 5 MB, I would just mount a USB stick and dump them on there.
Last edited by Xyne (2008-09-28 03:38:02)

The circuit of my macbook is dead yet the hard drive is fine. I need to access a file from the hard drive, how can i do this? is there a cable i can connect to another mac that will let me transfer the file?

The circuit of my macbook is dead yet the hard drive is fine. I need to access a file from the hard drive, how can i do this? The mac turns on the screen freezes as bright blue. Is there a cable i can connect to another mac that will let me transfer the file?

There is another option if the Macbook will start up in Target Disk Mode.
Restart the computer while holding down the T key. If you see the firewire symbol moving around on the screen you can connect this one to another one in TDM. You will need a suitable cable to connect the two Macs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661
Firewire symbol:

Help reading a .txt file from the hard drive....

Hi guys,
Ok... I need to know how to read a .txt file from the hard drive... I have an example on how to read from a disk, but I don't have a disk drive. I could be confusing terminology, but I don't think I am. Here is the code I have for reading from a disk.. please let me know how I should change it to read from a hard drive.
Also, when the error pops up, it says that it can't read another .txt file that is not specified in the code... any ideas how that is occuring? Please advise.
import java.io.*;
public class TEST {
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception{
FileReader fr = new FileReader("customer.txt");
BufferedReader bfr = new BufferedReader (fr);
String s;
while ((s=bfr.readLine())!= null){
System.out.println (s);
fr.close();
}

Ok... I need to know how to read a .txt file from the
hard drive... I have an example on how to read from a
disk, but I don't have a disk drive. I could be
confusing terminology, but I don't think I am. Here
is the code I have for reading from a disk.. please
let me know how I should change it to read from a
hard drive.The code will be the same, regardless of where the file is located. It's just the filename that will be different.
Also, when the error pops up, it says that it can't
read another .txt file that is not specified in the
code... any ideas how that is occuring? Please
advise.Probably becuase the class file (compiled version of the source code) is a different version to the source code, i.e. the source code hasn't been recompiled since the source code was changed.
How does this relate to EJBs?

I have deleted my private folder and do not have enough space to reinstall my operating system. How can i transfer files from my hard drive to an USB drive to free up space when the operating system isn't working. or do i need to erase disk?

i have deleted my private folder and do not have enough space to reinstall my operating system. How can i transfer files from my hard drive to an USB drive to free up space when the operating system isn't working. or do i need to erase disk through disk utilities without erasing data (but will it delete my programs such as photoshop, office, creative suite?

Connect the computer to another Mac and put it in FireWire Target Disk mode, or use the Disk Utility to clone the drive or image specific folders with the USB drive as the target. After you've copied off everything you want, you'll likely need to erase the drive and reinstall the applications.
(69695)

Transfering Music from external hard drive

Thought I copied music files from external hard drive to new computer sucessfully, but when I try to play music on computer I get an error message telling me that the original file can't be found and do I want to locate it. Looks like everything is there, artwork, playlists, but can't play. Help. Thanks!!!

Hi,
These Links may be just what you are Looking for...
iTunes on External Drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Moving your iTunes Media Folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Cheers,

I able to copy and paste files from external hard drive to mac, but not the other way around. Please suggest. Thanks

I m able to copy and paste selected files from external hard drive to my mac but not the other way around. Im not able to copy files from Mac to external hard drive.
The same is working fine with USB flash memory.
Please help.

Vijay Raymond Daniel wrote:
The only thing is we need to buy this software. if there is a free solution to inter change files between NTFS and HFS it would be better,
Don't use NTFS, remove your data off it first and change the format to something the Mac and PC can read, but doens't cost money or require software.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's

HT4889 Transfer files from a hard drive to a new mac?

Currently, I have a 2012 Macbook pro. I love it, but its kinda slow for me. When I bought my Mac, I didn't realize how much I would use it, so I bought the cheapest 15 inch in from 2012 (2.3GHz 4GB RAM 500GB HD) Now, I'm upgrading to a 15inch Retina Macbook Pro with 2.0 GHz 8GB RAM and a 512Gb HD. A local electronics store said that they will buy my mac for $950 from me, and I said yes. Then, I hooked up a 1TB Hard Drive and let time machine work it's magic.
When I go to buy my new mac, what will I need to do to transfer all of the files from the hard drive?
Also, I have over 150 movies in iTunes that are ripped dvds and 2000 songs from CDs, and I added info and artwork for all of them. Will they all still be formatted with artwork and info when I import them into iTunes on a new mac?
Lastly, will I see a huge power boost in the retina Macbook pro with 8gb RAM and a 2.0GHz processor? or should I save up some more money for the 16GB RAM and 2.3GHz Processor? I'm going to college in a year, so I do tons of email/safari-ing, word processing, itunes playing, and downloading, usually at the same time. A usual day for me consists of writing a document in pages or microsoft word, while listning to music from iTunes, with safari open with multiple tabs, and something downloading to my mac. Thank you for the help, it's tremendously appriciated.

When you first start up the new Mac you will be asked to enter personal information, etc. At some point you will be asked if you want to transfer files from another source, including Time Machine back up. Make sure your back is connected, and just follow the directions on the screen.
All formatting etc. will be intact, since TM makes sure it is.
As for perfomance, the biggest performance boost would be a solid state drive. Have you looked at that option?
And one of the more prevalent reasons for perfomance hit is an over-stuffed start up drive. Mac OS X needs empty space on the start up disk to do its tasks, make sure you give it enough. Take a look at this: http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/How-Much-Free-Drive-Space-Do-I-Need.htm

How do i transfer files from my hard drive to an external hard drive as FAT files? Laptop hard dive is full and I need to clear space.

How do i transfer files from my hard drive to an external hard drive as FAT files? Laptop hard dive is full and I need to clear space.

In Disk Utility use MS-DOS
Try http://www.mactip.net/guide-how-to-format-an-external-drive-to-work-seamlessly-w ith-macs-and-pcs-without-third-party-software/ for additional directions.
Allan

I have to extract all files from a hard drive of a macbook pro that is no longer working. All I have to access the hard drive is a PC, is this possible, and if so how?

I have to extract all files from a hard drive of a macbook pro that is no longer working. All I have to access the hard drive is a PC, is this possible, and if so how?

You could try Paragon HFS+ for Windows. That would allow you to read and write files from a Mac-formatted drive.
Clinton

Transferring files from portable hard drives

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