I can't paste files from a finder window onto an external hard drive

Question

Level 1

0 points

I can't paste files from a finder window onto an external hard drive

I can copy items from finder window and paste elsewhere on the computer, but I can't paste onto an external hard drive. If I try dragging the files on the hard drives, they just show a white circle with slash.
please help.

mac book pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6), MacBook Pro

Posted on Jan 20, 2011 9:53 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jan 20, 2011 10:59 PM in response to snowtraxx

Either a) the external drive isn't formatted correctly for the Mac to write to in that case - it must be HFS Journaled (for exclusive Mac use) or FAT32 for PC and Mac use. If it's formatted NTFS or something else the Mac can't write to it. Use Disc Utility and reformat the drive (provided it's blank and/or you have backups of the data)
Or b) you don't have Write Permissions on that Volume, select it and Get Info (command I) and see what it says at the bottom of that popup window ?

Reply

Answer 2

snowtraxx Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2011 11:23 PM in response to snowtraxx

Thanks. Perfect answer. Just frustrating that MAC's can do this simple task.

Reply