Cannot add files to external hard drive

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Level 1

4 points

Cannot add files to external hard drive

Hello,

So I have a Lenovo 1TB harddrive. It's format is Windows NT File System (NTFS). I have no idea what all these mean, but I've been researching all over the place and can't seem to find an answer. So I used to have an old 2016 MacBook Pro in which it worked fine. I could backup my files all on here. But recently got a 2019 macbook pro and this hard drive won't let me add files into it. I can read and take files out to my desktop but cannot add anything in.

I got another 8 GB USB and that works fine.

If anyone knows how to fix this, any help is greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro 13”, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 3, 2020 6:09 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

babowa

Level 9

78,417 points

Jun 3, 2020 6:13 PM in response to Anonymous-4

How about formatting it Mac OS Extended and GUID partition scheme using Disk utility (Applications > Utilitiies).

A Mac can read NTFS, but cannot write to it (that is why you cannot add files to the external). You simply need to format it correctly - NOTE: you need to erase it first.

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Answer 2

Jun 3, 2020 6:14 PM in response to Anonymous-4

Macs can not write to Windows NTFS formatted drives. if it worked in the past for you, you were running a third party app like Paragon or Tuxera that provided that functionality. My advice is to format the external drive for Mac.

Caution: Formatting the drive will erase all data on the drive. Ensure you copy off all data on the drive before formatting if you want to retain the data.

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