Creating and changing folders on external hard drive

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Creating and changing folders on external hard drive

I have just transferred to an iMac from years of using a PC. I have an iMac with operating system Sonoma 14.4.1 I have all of my photographs highly organized on an external hard drive. I cannot figure out how to add a new folder, move items into a folder, or change the name of the folders any longer on my external hard drive.

When I click control and mouse click (I am still unsure if this is how you right click with this system) there is no option for creating a new folder, nor changing the name as I found on Apple’s help page.

I thought it might have something to do with permissions of the hard drive. When I click on info of the external hard drive it says I should be able to “read and write.”

Are external hard drives incompatible with iMacs? I clearly did not do enough research and I’m struggling with the system change. Any help is appreciated.

Posted on May 15, 2024 3:08 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,822 points

May 15, 2024 8:20 PM in response to OutdoorWanderer

Correct, NTFS is a PC file system. What I would recommend is you get another External Hard Disk, the one I'd recommend is the OWC Mercury Elite Pro due to it's high quality enclosure and reasonable pricing. Format that drive (Use Disk Utility) as APFS and copy the files from your old drive to the new one. Then you will have no problems. Once you have done that and know everything works you may be able re-use the old NTFS drive.

Chances are you may not be backing up the new Mac using Time Machine which is Apple's backup program for backing up all of your data. You can learn about Time Machine in Back up your Mac with Time Machine. Operating any computer without backup plan is a 100% guarantee you will lose data. If my hunch is correct then you may be able to re-use the old NTFS drive once formatted as APFS as your Time Machine drive. The Time Machine drive should be about 2-3 times the capacity of the amount of data you are backing up. If your old NTFS drive is 2-3x the capacity then you can still use it. If the old NTFS drive is not 2-3x the capacity then it would be wise to buy 2 EHDs, one as your external and the second as your Time Machine. NEVER EVER use a drive for both data and backup, why because all HD's eventually fail and when that occurs you would lose the data and it's backup.

Finally, you mentioned you photos are highly organized. You may want to consider importing them into the Photos app on your Mac which is a great app for organizing, editing and sharing your photos. If you are not familiar with Photos click Photos User Guide for Mac - Apple Support. Photos is already preinstalled on your Mac.

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Answer 2

May 15, 2024 3:27 PM in response to OutdoorWanderer

Where did this hard drive come from?

How is it formatted? (You can get that info from the info page or a program called Disk Utility in the Utilities folder of Applications)

What kind of mouse do you have?

You are right about the control Click:

Right-click on Mac - Apple Support

Though many mice, like my magic mouse, understands a right-click.

You can also create a folder with menu options

Here is a user guide for the Mac:

macOS User Guide - Apple Support

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Answer 3

May 16, 2024 11:29 AM in response to OutdoorWanderer

NTFS is half-compatible on the Mac - as you found out, you can read from it, but not write to it.

You can buy an NTFS file system to be able to right to it, but rkaufman's advice is better.

(Paragon makes a Mac NTFS file system)

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Answer 4

May 15, 2024 8:08 PM in response to Keith Barkley

Thank you for your response and the helpful information. I will read up on the user guide.

I've had the external hard drive for so long I don't remember where I obtained it. Likely Amazon or some electronics store.

I see that the format of the external hard drive is Windows NT File system (NTFS). I'm guessing this is not compatible with an iMac. Unfortunate as it was not inexpensive. Do you have any recommendations for external hard drives for iMacs? Or can this one be reformatted? I'm not sure if this matters but the hard drive is WD Elements. I also have a Seagate external hard drive as a back up to the back up.

I have a magic mouse. I read the link you sent and set up the right click. Much appreciated as I really prefer this option.

Again thank you for your help.

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Answer 5

May 16, 2024 6:27 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank you for the additional information. It sounds like getting another external hard drive is the way to go. I'll just need to get more extensions for plugging in additional USB for the USB-C ports on the iMac.

I also have all my photos/data backed up with two separate paid cloud services. I definitely know HD shouldn't be solely relied on!

This system of back up does require I manually manage all my backing up though. Obviously that carries risks. I'll look into the Time Machine.

I currently use Lightroom to store, organize, and edit all of my photos. I really enjoy the program. I also have them organized simply into folders. Redundancy and such. I have an iPhone and iPad and use photos with those two devices. My goal with getting an iMac was to try to streamline all my devices.

Thank you again for all the help and information!

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Answer 6

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,822 points

May 16, 2024 7:55 PM in response to OutdoorWanderer

Lightroom is a tried and true app and it sounds like it fulfills your needs. As for the new External Hard Disk I'd recommend the OWC Mercury Elite Pro. OWC is a trusted vendor on these forums, they specialize in Macs and everything they sell is well tested for compatibility. They also have great pre and post sales support and their prices are very fair.In short for Apple accessories they are a great vendor to work with. You can find OWC at www.macsales.com.

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Creating and changing folders on external hard drive

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