Transferring files to an external hard drive

I have over 10,000 pictures on my Macbook Pro which are all in "files". When I transferred the pictures to my external hard drive it did not transfer the "folder" so now all my pictures are in my external hard drive but not in a folder. Without having to export each and every single folder from i-photo how can I transfer the large group, folder and all?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
I can't see that picture. Anyway, probably you have an external drive formatted in NTFS, a filesystem which OS X can't write in by default. Instead, if you want to write in that external drive, you have to use a third-party app like Paragon NTFS.
Another option you have is to format your external drive on a filesystem which OS X can read and write, like "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" (only if you are going to use the external drive only with Macs), exFAT or FAT32. I recommend you exFAT, because it's compatible with Windows and OS X and it hasn't got the limitations of FAT32. Before doing this, copy the files you have on the external drive to your Mac.
Also, if you are going to format the external drive in FAT32 or exFAT, do it on a PC

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How do I transfers files from an external hard drive to my to mac?

I recently had my seagate hard drive replaced as it was faulty. Before I gave it in to be replaced, I made sure I backed up all my files and what not to an external hard drive. Now I have my iMac back I need to transfer all my files back onto my new hard drive. The problem is I have no idea how to do it!! :(
If anyone out there can give a step by step guide as to how I can transfer it all it would be much appreciated!
Cat :)

So before you had the drive replace you attached the Toshiba and had TM do a backup.
How are you looking at the TM backup on the Tosihba now? Are you using FInder ro th eTM interface. If you are using Finder try the TM interface.

I have purchased itunes tv series, movies and music and have transferred them onto an external hard drive and tried to play them on my tv on a media hub. The file will not load. Is there some form of blocking by itunes or another p[roblem and how d

I have purchased itunes tv series, movies and music and have transferred them onto an external hard drive and tried to play them on my tv on a media hub. The file will not load. Is there some form of blocking by itunes or another p[roblem and how do I fix it?

You can't fix it. iTunes bought content is DRM protected. so it can only be played on authorized devices. i.e devices associated with the apple Id used to purchase the content. Its copyright protection that the rights owners demand.
Circumventing it, is illegal in most countries, and as such cannot be discussed here. If you want to play the content you'll need to connect your computer directly to your TV, or use some other device you can authorize for iTunes content such as an iPad, iPhone , iPod touch or Apple Tv.

How can i minimize the iTunes screen to see the files in my external hard drive to enable me to compare files to see if all have been transferred to iTunes?

how can i compare music files on my external hard drive to my iTunes library?

how can i compare music files on my external hard drive to my iTunes library?

Importing .mxf Files from an external hard drive...

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. My problem comes close to others discussed, but I haven't been able to find a duplicate post. And I apologize for the length; I just want to give you as much info. as possible (I also put details in my signature) to help you help me.
I shot a short film using Panasonic's HVX200 camera, filming in HD 720p/24p, and downloaded each P2 card through a PC laptop into a LaCie Brick external hard drive. I was originally planning on editing the footage with Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, but became frustrated with how much trouble it was having handling the .mxf files. Assured by Apple salespeople that FCP 5 would have no problem importing the footage from an external hard drive, I purchased the computer described in my signature.
Now I know that FCP/Apple only supports importing footage from the P2 card directly, and not from an external hard drive. A representative from ProMax.com was able to help me out, however. First, he had me copy the footage files onto my Mac internal drive from the external hard drive. Then, he had me select IMPORT -> PANASONIC P2. Then, I was to highlight the CONTENTS folder and import away. And it worked... sort of.
There are two major problems: 1) During this transfer, not all of the footage is making it across. I import it, and then get the much-talked about "one or more P2 clips failed to import; probable incomplete or corrupt clips" warning. After checking the original video folder on the internal hard drive and comparing it to the number of clips FCP imported, I learned that I had lost around 20 clips/video files at one point. Other shooting day transfers worked completely smoothly with all of the files imported (we split up the footage by shooting day, without touching or changing the CONTENTS folders). So, some transfers work and some don't. And 2) When I try to import the files from our 4th day of shooting, I get a "Selected path does not contain a P2 volume." Nothing is imported.
So, that's my situation, and I'm getting very desperate. I know that I'm not doing things in the Apple-supported way, but I'm really hoping there's still someway to successfully get the files from the external hard drive into FCP completely. It seems to work some of the time.
Final notes: When importing, I make sure to import the entire CONTENTS folder. There is never a LASTCLIP.TXT file listed under it in the window, but some of the days of footage have transferred perfectly, so I'm hoping that's not a dealbreaker. If it is, isn't there some way to rebuild a lastclip.txt file? I don't even know if that's the issue. And one last note: In most of my folders, the "CLIP" folder has a number of files in it. In the 4th day's footage that I can't import at all, I noticed that the CLIP folder is empty. And on the days where FCP isn't importing all the files (like I mentioned above), there isn't a CLIP file for every single VIDEO file. Could this be the main problem? Along this line, is there a way to somehow put the footage on the external hard drive back through a p2 card and then into the Mac?
Okay, I'll stop typing. Thank you so, so much for any help.
Tom
PowerMac G5 (Dual 2.3 GHz) Mac OS X (10.4.6) Quicktime 7.1.1 - Final Cut Pro 5.1 - Aforementioned External Hard Drive: LaCie Brick (FAT 32 based)
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

The problem didn't turn out to be as complicated as I had thought. The process I described above ended up working fine, and I'll explain how. And this is a cool workaround, because the AppleCare helpers told me that they didn't think it would work (FCP P2 import is only supported straight from the P2 card/viewer or the camera).
I hooked up my external hard drive to the Power Mac G5, and copied the files and folders onto my internal scratch disk. Then, I opened FCP and chose IMPORT -> Panasonic P2. I chose the "CONTENTS" folder for each day's filming, and imported them in, no problems. There was no visible "lastclip.txt" file shown (under the "CONTENTS" folder or anywhere else), but this didn't seem to cause any problems.
The reason that not all of the footage was bring imported (the aforementioned "one or more P2 clips failed..." warning) was because we were missing clip files (in the CLIP folder) corresponding to certain video files (in the VIDEO folder). Luckily, we had just forgotten to transfer all of them from the original external hard drive, and once we transfered them completely, FCP could read all the video files. FCP needs a clip file for every video file in order to make it work (that's why our aforementioned "Day 4" could not be read; we hadn't copied all of the clip files over with the video files).
Even after we did this, we STILL were getting the "one or more P2 clips..." warning for our Day 5. After taking a look at all the folders, we figured out that there were still more files in the VIDEO folder than in the CLIP folder, even after we transferred them all over. Finally, we figured out what had happened. For some reason, some of the audio files for some of the clips had been included in the VIDEO folder for our Day 5. There is no way we did this accidentally; somehow, the HVX200 placed some of the audio files into both the VIDEO and AUDIO folders. And FCP was trying to read those as video files, and therefore couldn't find the corresponding clips in the CLIP folder. After making sure that those audio files were also in the AUDIO folder, we simply deleted them from the VIDEO folder and stopped getting the "failed to import" warning.
Final thing to share: If we had actually been unable to find the corresponding clip files in our original external hard drive, we had also found a potential solution (that we didn't end up needing to try). You can record from FCP back onto the P2 card, in the hopes that the clip files would be regenerated when you re-import it into FCP. I received a PDF file about this process, and I'm not sure how to put it up on the page here. If interested in this described process (which, again, I can't fully vouch for), feel free to email me at [email protected] and I can forward it to you.
Hope this helps.
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive.
Do you know how I can tell how large each file is taking up and what my 'other' category could be?
thanks

Initial easy steps to gain disk space:
- Delete all files in the Downloads folder.
Empty the Trash.
- Start iPhoto.
Empty its trash.
Restart.
Backup:
Run a Time Machine (or other) backup since you are about to delete and move files and you may need to recover from any inadvertent mistakes or decisions. You will need one external hard drive for your Time Machine (or other) backup and a second if you plan to offload some files. (See suggestions for where to purchase hard drives at the end of this message.)
For more about backups:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
Deleting files:
Then use the free application OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more to explore your volume in descending order by size so you can attack the problem from the top down, deleting the largest unwanted files first. Delete with caution and do not delete any system files. Remember to empty the trash after trashing the files.
Additional reference on freeing disk space:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
Offloading files:
Consider moving some of the no-often-used large files or directories to an external disk. Use ODS again to find them. This will be at least your second hard drive. Your first one(s) is/are for your Time Machine (or other) backup(s). Do not offload files onto a Time Machine disk.
Format the second drive as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Using OWS to find large files/folders and copy them from the system drive to the external hard drive and delete them from your internal drive.
Then  > System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Now both your system disk and your external offload disk will be backed up onto your Time Machine disk.
From: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
To move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition:
To change the location of your iTunes Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder."Additional information can be found in iTunes Help.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.thexlab.com/105/ 00000849.html
Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account. https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7689/itunes-library-manager
To move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition:
To move the iPhoto Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506 corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using. Additional information can be found in iPhoto Help.
Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Manager enable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12175/iphoto-buddy
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7158/iphoto-library-manager
Hardware — Bigger disk/SSD:
OWC sells 120, 240 and 480 GB SSD upgrades for MacBook Airs. A 240 GB upgrade costs $265. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ . If your Mac is under warranty or AppleCare replacing the SSD will void the warranty.

I need to do a clean install of maverick on my 2010 mbp what disk do i use and how do i move certain files from an external hard drive

I want to do a clean install of maverick on my 2010 mbp. I need to know what disk to use and also how i take certain files off my external hard drive and put on my computer. When I was having problems with my airport they did a clean install and they pulled files of my time machine.   however they forgot to put the partition back in for a windows side. Originally I had Parellels on my computer. After my external hard drive got corrupted i called apple and they fixed the problem but didn't have me set up the time machine except for the external hard drive. Now my only back up is from the external not from the laptop.    I am not sure how to do any of this. I am not computer savvy...PLEASE I NEED HELP>

First, you need to make a backup of your MBP onto your external drive. I suggest you start by cloning your MBP drive to the external drive:
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
This clone is fully bootable and also contains a clone of your Recovery HD.
Second, you need to do a clean install of OS X onto your MBP as follows:
Install or Reinstall Mavericks or Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.
This should accomplish your goals. You will have a clean install of OS X on your MBP and a bootable clone of your old system and all your files on the external drive.

I had backed up my I-tunes files to an external hard drive but after my computer crashed when I try to reload from the hard drive the message comes up saying I-tunes library cannot be read because it was created by a newer version. Help please!

I had backed up my I-tunes files to an external hard drive but after my computer crashed and I restored it when I try to reload from the hard drive the message comes up ""I-tunes files cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of I-tunes". Help Please

Upgrade the version of itunes on the new computer
Itunes.com for free download.
Peace

HT2674 I have an iMac purchased in May 2011. OSX Lion 10.7.3. I deleted backup file from the external hard drive. Now, the trash can will not empty some of the files deleted. File folder: "Core Services" contains a locked file: "boot.efi". It will not

I have an iMac purchased in May 2011. OSX Lion 10.7.3. I deleted backup file from the external hard drive which operates from Time Machine.
Now, the trash can will not empty some of the files deleted from the backup harddrive.
The trash contains-- File folder: "Core Services" which contains a locked file: "boot.efi".
It will not delete.
How do I get the trash can empty of these files?

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

Delete the file from the external hard drive

deleted adobe reader 10, delete the file from the external hard drive. how to restore

What is your operating system & version?
How did you "delete" Adobe Reader?
What "file" did you delete?
What do you want to restore?

How can I transfer files off an external hard drive formatted for windows?

I just bought my first mac (yay!) and am trying to transfer my files off of my old pc. The problem is that I stored all my personal files on an external hard drive, which is of course formatted for windows. My mac will open it, but it is "read only." I tried plugging it back into my pc and using the Migration Assistant to transfer my files over, but it was not detected (rest of the pc was).
However, the second time I tried plugging it in to my pc, it told me it would need to be formatted first. Obviously my mac has changed something on it, and now all my personal files are on a hard drive that is unusable by either my old pc or my new mac!
Any suggestions would be appreciated! Heads up though, I am not especially computer literate, and my pc needs to stay intact as the husband needs it and some of the programs on it for school. Also, I have a second external hard drive that is brand new with nothing on it, if that will come in handy.
Thanks!

Format the extra HDD to EXFAT as previously indicated. There are two ways that can use to transferr the data.
1. Connect both drives to the PC and the copy the files to the newly formatted (EXFAT) drive from the HDD with the data . Then connect the EXFAT drive to the MBP and transfer the data to same.
2. Connect both drives to the MBP and open DISK UTILITY>RESTORE. Drag the drive with the data on it to the 'Source' field. Drag the EXFAT drive to the 'Destination' field. Click on the 'Restore' butt is on. After the transfer has been completed, close DISK UTILITY and place the data on the MBP where you want it.
Ciao.

Bought a MBA and am trying to keep iTunes files on an external hard drive. Having problems.

Hi, I bought a MBA 13" and want to keep my iTunes files on an external hard drive to save space.However, I keep running into problems. I can't get the iTunes Media folder to stay on the folder in my external hard drive. Whenever I unplug it, regardless if iTunes is open or not, it changes back to the media file on the MBA. I tried renaming the media folder and deleting it, but the computer just makes another if I do that and then ends up deleting my whole library, forcing me to load it all back from my hard drive. Can anyone help me out on this? Thanks.

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

I get error 8062 when trying to copy files from one external hard drive to another. It starts out copying files, but after 10 minutes or so it stops and I get the error 8062. The hard drive tech support says the problem is in my Macbook Air.

I cannot copy my doc and photos and videos from one external hard drive to a second external hard drive -- both plugged in to my MacBook Air -- I get Error 8062 and the copying (which seemed to be going on for 10 minutes) stops and nothing gets copied.
As any Macbook Air owner knows, there is SO LITTLE storage capacity on the computer that you have to back up big files onto an external hard drive to avoid getting the other annoying error that says you have no more memory/storage capacity/whatever the proper term is, and you cannot use the computer.
Backstory: Before this error cropped up, I had backed up lots of files to an external drive and then removed them from my computer. But then the external hard drive got corrupted and I could not access my entire photo library. Had to pay $850 to Kroll Ontrack to recover those files. I have now bought 2 new external 1 Terrabyte hard drives as protection against another such disaster. BUT I cannot copy the files from the first hard drive where all my reovered files now sit, to another backup hard drive.
Feeling vulnerable. Please help.
SusaninNY

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

I am a long time iTunes user but a new MacBook owner! :) I keep the majority of my music files on an external hard drive. I'm trying to view all those files on my MacBook through iTunes. With windows you would go to : File/Add To Library, and iTunes w

I am a long time iTunes user but a new MacBook owner! I keep the majority of my music files on an external hard drive. I'm trying to view all those files on my MacBook through iTunes. With windows you would go to : File/Add To Library, and iTunes would add all your selected files to your music library BUT WOULD NOT COPY THEM TO YOUR HARD DRIVE. In other words, if the external hard drive was connected, you could listen, drag/drop, and edit the files. When I tried the same thing with my new MacBook... it actually started coping the files to my MacBook harddrive. I don't want that, it's millions and millions of mp3's that I don't want to keep on my computer, only my external hard drive. Can anyone help? I'm sure it's something easy, I'm just so new to the Mac world. Being an iPhone owner for many many years I'm picking up things fast, but this is getting the best of me! Help !

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

How do I keep a file on my external hard drive and delete it from my internal hard drive?

I have a iMac with 1 TB internal hard drive, connected to it is a 3 TB Seagate external hard drive using Time Machine to back up my computer.
I use this computer for making family movies with videos and pictures. My 1 TB internal hard drive is now almost full with only 200 GBs of storage left on it. My external drive has 1.62 TBs of space left on it. I would like to delete a lot of the videos on my internal hard drive and keep them only on the external hard drive. I've tried this and it tells me I cannot do it because it is part of the Time Machine back up. Why can't I manage my computer files as I would like??
Also once you import pictures into Aperture or videos into iMovie, good luck having access to the initial files you imported. It seems once these programs get hold of your files they aren't accessible to you any more. I don't understand that! Anyway can anyone help me get the files I want off my iMac and onto my external Seagate hard drive?
Thanks in advance!

CCLIANA wrote:
My sister is trying to rename a file on an external hard drive...
What is the File...?

Transferring files to an external hard drive

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