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]You can just drag the file from the source folder to the destination folder.
This will move the file if the source and destination folders are on the same volume. If the source and destination are are separate volumes this will copy the file.
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
still not able to move it, in fact, I can't move any files to my external drive (it is Mac compatible). I can still play media files on the drive.
Open Disk Utility (Applications - Utilities - Disk Utility) and check the EHD using Repair Disk. It's possible it may have issues. Also can you tell us the make and model of the EHD, I am hoping it is not a WD drive, unfortunately they tend to have many issues with OS X.
its a Seagate Freeagent GoFlex (2 TB, USB 3.0)
OK, please run Repair Disk per my last post. Also while you are in Disk Utiltiy please tell us how it's formatted. You said it's Mac compatible but you did not state how it's formatted!
right now it is formatted as:
Windows NT File System (NTFS)
Please go back and read my very first post then. The solution(s) are in that post!
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. |
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
If you are not going to format them to a files system that the Mac Mini can work with then you are going to have to install the third p;arty software so that you can read and write to the disk.
Allan
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.
Thanks a lot guys for help and well written support answers.
w0w thanks for this information, i finally transfered my files to my portable hard drive! God bless you man rkaufmann87
Hi guys,
I did it using windows 7 installed in a VM (Parallels) on my mac pro. In windows 7 I can move all my files and folders on my mac pro to the NTFS ext. HD. Hope this can help.
Can't move files to external hard drive from Mac
