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Can't move files to external hard drive from Mac

I have a movie on my desktop (.mp4 format) and I can't copy and paste the file to an external drive.

is there another way to move files?

[Re-Titled by Host]

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 7:12 AM

Reply
35 replies

Mar 21, 2012 7:33 AM in response to toronto2988

My guess is the external HD is formatted as NTFS which is a PC format. OS X can read a NTFS drive and copy data on it to your iMac but it cannot write to NTFS. If the drive is going to be only used with a Mac then it needs to be reformatted in Mac OS Extended )Journaled). This is simple to do and is explained in:


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509


If you are going to share the external HD with PCs and Macs you can still do this, here is a MacWorld article that explains how:


http://www.macworld.com/article/1165513/how_to_share_an_external_drive_between_a _mac_and_a_pc.html

Sep 25, 2012 8:43 AM in response to toronto2988

If you're using a Seagate "GoFlex" series, Seagate offers the Software from Paragon at no cost. You may be able to borrow a Seagate GoFlex series and then just download the program from the Seagate site. Works great, I did it with no problem and it worked with my other Seagate (Non GoFlex) without any problems. Here's the link.


http://www.seagate.com/support/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/goflex/ ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-master-dl/

Jan 24, 2013 9:23 PM in response to toronto2988

Well I am having the same trouble. Yes my drives are formatted to NTFS and are connected to my mini mac server. I am able to read and write to these disk using the mini mac by using a utility allowing you to do this, it is made by paragon.


The problem I am having, is that I want to share these drives with other users. Even from my pc I am able to see the drives on the network, and I just cant open them, it comes up with the error, saying I do not have permission to access them, even though i have made them a shared drive using system prefenences and given everyone read write access.


Is the problem solely because they are NTFS formatted, as I have 8tb of data that I dont want to move just to reformat drive exfat or anytthing else

Apr 22, 2013 8:07 AM in response to toronto2988

Yeah, you cannot write to an NTFS volume by default on a MAC. If you go with ntfs-3g you risk screwing up your data.


Apple want you and don't want to share you. Best thing you can do is have a device handy which is formatted to be read/writable by both Windows and Mac.


This sort of thing p***ses me off no end, and is an example of why I can't fully embrace Macs.

Can't move files to external hard drive from Mac

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