How can make my external get read by my computer once again?
How can make my external get read by my computer once again?
MacBook (13-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
How can make my external hard disk get read by my computer once again?
6 replies
Have you used this drive with your computer before?
What happens when you plug it in?
~Lyssa
Hi Lyssa,
yes i used this hard disk witht he computer before and backed things up on it and got files from it.
the problem is that i can see the hard disk on the computer's desk top.
i can take things from it onto the laptop.
i cant do the following though:
- Either copy anything on it anymore
- or move a file from a folder to another within the same hard disk.
i tried the same hard disk in another apple computer and my other Dell one it fully worked with both.
can you help?
In Finder, right-click on the hard disk. Choose Get Info. What is listed next to the word Format?
When you try to copy items to it or move folders on it, what happens? Do you see error messages?
~Lyssa
what is writen beside format is: Windows NT File System (NTFS)
what happens is that the hard disk does not allow me to move any files in it and do not allow me to add files to it
the thing is that when i first opened this hard disk i didnt on a Dell computer. do you think this is the reason behind the issue?
what should i do to make it read both apple and dell?
thanks a million for the help.
If you need to access it on both Macs and PCs, you need to format the drive as FAT32.
Macs can read NTFS but can't write or move files on that type of drive. Both Macs and PCs can read and write FAT32.
Keep in mind that formatting the drive will erase everything on it - first you need to copy all the data to a computer or to another external hard drive.
This guide shows you the steps to use Disk Utility on your Mac to format the drive.
Let me know if you need any more help.
~Lyssa
How can make my external get read by my computer once again?