User profile for user: fotocano
fotocano Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

viewing contents of an external harddrive on my Mac Book Pro

I just came across an old My Book Western Digital HD 250GB Essential Edition USB 2.0 in a shoebox. I want to know what is on it. It could have been from an old PC or an old Mac, I am not sure. My questions are: 1) how do I find out what is actually on the hard drive? I am a bit nervous just plugging it into my MacBook Pro ( 2010 running OS Sierra) as I'm not sure if I might mess up what I currently have on my Mac. 2) my second question is, once I determine what is on the HD, how can I wipe the contents?

3) finally, can I use it to back up the contents of my iPad Air (OS 12.4.4)? If so, how do I do it?

As you can likely tell, I am somewhat technically challenged, but an prepared to tackle a new challenge ;-)

It is also possible that the contents might have come from an old Dell computer.

MacBook Pro 17", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 3, 2020 9:06 AM

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User profile for user: MoonJ.
MoonJ.
User level: Community Specialist

Posted on Jan 6, 2020 2:48 PM

Hey there fotocano,


Welcome to the Apple Support Communities! These are all great questions, and I'd be glad to provide you with a bit of information so that you can get to the bottom of what's on that hard drive.


The best way to see what's on the hard drive is going to be plugging it into a computer and opening it. If it is from a PC which you said was a possibility, it might not show up on the desktop of your Mac, which would be expected, but we should be able to still see it in Disk Utility.


Generally, there's nothing to worry about when plugging in an external drive if it only contains data, as that won't affect the items currently on your computer. Use external storage devices with Mac goes over how to connect the hard drive to your Mac and how to check the contents.


If you aren't able to locate the connected drive in Finder or on the desktop, it might be formatted in NTFS format which would be for a PC. Within Disk Utility, you can also erase the drive and format it for your Mac. Learn what Disk Utility can do for you in the Disk Utility User Guide. Tap or click the + next to the Table of Contents to expand the sections and learn more. For example, info on erasing and formatting disks is located under Manage physical disks and volumes.


For your last question, Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch tells us that while we can copy the backup that is created, we shouldn't move the location of the backup folder as it could ruin the backups saved within. With that in mind, you wouldn't be able to specifically save the backups for your iPad Air on the external hard drive.


Have a great day!

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User profile for user: MoonJ.
MoonJ.
User level: Community Specialist

Jan 6, 2020 2:48 PM in response to fotocano

Hey there fotocano,


Welcome to the Apple Support Communities! These are all great questions, and I'd be glad to provide you with a bit of information so that you can get to the bottom of what's on that hard drive.


The best way to see what's on the hard drive is going to be plugging it into a computer and opening it. If it is from a PC which you said was a possibility, it might not show up on the desktop of your Mac, which would be expected, but we should be able to still see it in Disk Utility.


Generally, there's nothing to worry about when plugging in an external drive if it only contains data, as that won't affect the items currently on your computer. Use external storage devices with Mac goes over how to connect the hard drive to your Mac and how to check the contents.


If you aren't able to locate the connected drive in Finder or on the desktop, it might be formatted in NTFS format which would be for a PC. Within Disk Utility, you can also erase the drive and format it for your Mac. Learn what Disk Utility can do for you in the Disk Utility User Guide. Tap or click the + next to the Table of Contents to expand the sections and learn more. For example, info on erasing and formatting disks is located under Manage physical disks and volumes.


For your last question, Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch tells us that while we can copy the backup that is created, we shouldn't move the location of the backup folder as it could ruin the backups saved within. With that in mind, you wouldn't be able to specifically save the backups for your iPad Air on the external hard drive.


Have a great day!

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User profile for user: fotocano
fotocano Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Jan 7, 2020 7:58 AM in response to MoonJ.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I hooked up the external drive to my MacBook, double clicked on it when it showed up on the desktop, and saw that, in fact, I had backed up some photos about 10 years ago onto it. I made sure that I still had the same photos in PHOTOS on my laptop, then I selected ALL on the HD and moved them to trash. So the bottom line is that the WD Hard drive seems to work with my MAC and I can now use it going forward . Thank you also for clearing up the issue of backing up my iPAD onto the external hard drive.

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viewing contents of an external harddrive on my Mac Book Pro

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