I can not delete or copy new files to my Iomega external hard drive

Question

I can not delete or copy new files to my Iomega external hard drive

Hi,

I can not delete or copy new files to my Iomega external hard drive. Opening hard drive folder I can see that I can not overwrite it. I have heard that I need to install some program for the external hard drive to operate properly in Mac.

Please help what to install or there is some other option.

Thnx

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 29, 2010 1:41 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

726,719 points

May 29, 2010 1:46 PM in response to Kriste Ruuber

Install the NTFS-3G drivers onto the computer or use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to erase it as a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) drive, or MS-DOS if you need to use it with a PC.

(51954)

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Answer 2

May 29, 2010 3:10 PM in response to Kriste Ruuber

I am very new in using mac. I downloaded NTFS-3G drivers, I think I don't need to install it separately? At least I can not find any option for that.Still I can not overwrite my ext hard drive.

I can not find disk utility..a bit more guidance please

Message was edited by: Kriste Ruuber

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Answer 3

S.U.

Level 6

9,595 points

May 29, 2010 6:51 PM in response to Kriste Ruuber

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Click on the Finder icon at the left end of your Dock--it is the blue icon with the smiling face. When it opens, Click on "Applications" in the left column. Then look at the next column for the Utilities folder. Disk Utility will be in it--it will be a gray icon with a stethoscope. Double click to open it. If you mount the external drive, you should see it in the left column. Select it by clicking on it, and then go to the "Partition" tab to format it following Neil's instructions.

Good luck!

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Answer 4

May 30, 2010 1:22 AM in response to Kriste Ruuber

wow...great, well maybe I will sound really stupid now but I did the erasing and didn't even read trough instructions when I pushed erase and it deleted all my data on the hard drive. I understood that it just erases as extended hard drive or smth.

Half of my data is not saved in anywhere else than on the hard drive. can I restore it? I can not find it in the trash?

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Answer 5

May 30, 2010 10:41 AM in response to Kriste Ruuber

Please can someone help me???

It shows on the hard drive info that there is used space but it does not show in the folder. I really don't know how to get the files back. Should I try to use the restore in disc utility, time machine? I haven't even set that up, I bought Mac few days ago.

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Answer 6

S.U.

Level 6

9,595 points

May 30, 2010 7:12 PM in response to Kriste Ruuber

I'm not the expert on this since I have never done it. It sounds like you may need a data rescue program like Data Rescue III. I believe you can download a demo and see if you can see the files. If you can, then you can buy the program and retrieve the files. I don't know if Disk Utility can restore them--I think they have to be visible but this is not something I have ever had to do.

In the meantime, don't do anything with the drive--you don't want to overwrite any files. Hopefully all or most of the files are still there and you will be able to retrieve them. The less the drive is used, the better your chances are of retrieving the data.

Forgive me for not realizing that there were files on the drive that you wanted to save. Upon re-reading your question, I now see that there were. I should have known to warn you, and my bad that I didn't.

Good luck!

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Answer 7

May 31, 2010 2:29 AM in response to Kriste Ruuber

thnx for the info...I downloaded the demo version..it is scanning now but it takes like 8 h. Unfortunately I can not recover the files with this demo and Data Rescue III costs 100 US dollars!! Fortunately most important things I have saved...so other is music files, videos, movies ect. I think that I'm not going to spend 100 for that...

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Answer 8

May 31, 2010 3:42 AM in response to Kriste Ruuber

For future reference any file that you consider to be important should exist on at least two hard disks. Hard disks are mechanical devices and can die at any time without warning.

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Answer 9

Jun 7, 2010 2:19 AM in response to Kriste Ruuber

I have another question about using my external hard drive.
Now PC does not read it after I erased it as a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) drive. I erased it as MS-DOS as well as Niel told but pc still does not find it at all.

How can I use it in pc?

Thnx

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Answer 10

Jun 7, 2010 3:16 AM in response to Kriste Ruuber

Windows can not read or write a hard drive that has been formatted for OS X.
OS X can read but not write a drive that was formatted by Windows in NTFS format.
I have read that there is an add-on program for OS X that will allow OS X to write to an NTFS formatted drive but have not personally used it.

The only hard disk format that is compatible with Windows and OS X, without adding any extra software, is FAT32.

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