Can I convert the files from my Seagate External Hard Drive for PC to a Mac?

Cheeseball

My Dell laptop computer that is only 2 years old has a bad hard drive and has been going out on me for the last few months. I think that it is now time to get a new computer. I have all my important files backed up onto a Seagate 500 GB External Hard Drive. My question is, if I get an Apple Mac computer, will I be able to transfer the files that are on the hard drive to the Mac? The computers that I am considering right now are the Apple Mac Desktop all in one or the HP Touchsmart 600 all in one. Has anyone done this conversion before?

Answer
Yes. Your Mac will be able to at least read the hard drive. If the drive is formatted as FAT32, then your Mac can also write to it. Otherwise, to allow a Mac to write to an NTFS drive, then you'll need this: http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

My PC shuts down when I plug in my external (Mac formatted) hard drive with Windows 7?

Phil C

The PC is pretty new. DIdn't have the issue with XP. Is it a Windows 7 problems? I am running Mac Drive 8 to recognize the drive. I have Windows 7 x86. Any suggestions?

Answer
Let microsoft find the drivers automatically.

&

You will find a Mac will read windows easier than a PC will read Mac, My suggestion is use a FAT32 Format on the drive done on your PC.

Both your Mac & Pc can read this format without trouble

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how to access my mac external hard drive from my pc?

smegheadrd

i have a an external usb hard drive hooked up to my mac mini and i want to be able to access it when i'm using my windows pc, anyone have any ideas?
the drive is formatted with fat 32 and windows sharing is enabled on the mac, I can see the mac hard drive from my pc but not the external drive

Answer
Have you 'shared' out the external drive?
JJ

Transferring files from PC to Mac via external hard drive?

lillyss

So I just bought the LaCie rugged all-terrain hard disk for my new macbook. I was wondering, could I transfer my files from my PC to my external hard drive and then from the hard drive to my macbook? Will there be any formatting or compatibility problems? Thanks for any help!!!

Answer
You should have no problems. If the LaCie disk was pre-formatted when you bought it, and your PC can read and write to it without a problem, then your Mac should see it without difficulty.

I currently have two external drives connected to my Mac, and I share them via the Mac's Sharing preference pane. My PC sees all the files on these drives, including the invisible Mac files (.DS_Store, .Trashes, etc.).

There is a freeware Mac program called Sharepoints that can make any folder or disk on a Mac appear to PCs on a network as a shared drive. You could use this to move files back and forth without even having to disconnect your external hard disk! OSX version 10.5 and above have this capability built-in, but to me, Sharepoints works a lot easier!

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Using the same external hard drive with PC and MAC.?

Jay

I just joined the apple club by getting a macbook. Before this I had been a PC user. I have an external hard drive for my PC that has a valuable set of files and folder saved in it.

Basically I would like to use the same external hard drive as a backup drive for my new Mac without losing the files and folders that I have saved in the external from my PC. Is this possible?

When I hooked up my external to the macbook it was detected but a message popped up telling me that the external needs to be formatted and if I proceed to do that I will lose all data currently on the external. I don't want to do that. Is there any way other than transferring all the files to another hard drive and then assigning this one to the mac? I don't have another hard drive with big enough space and really don't want to buy one because the one I have is appr. 400 gigs. Please help I'm new to mac.

Thanks,

Jay
thanks guys. I do intend to make use of Time Machines which needs the empty drive. But anyway I think like one of you have said I'll have to put all the stuff back on the pc and empty out the drive. But then once its formatted to Mac will the PC be able to read/write to it?

Answer
I use a standard NTFS external drive on both my mac and pc so it can be done easily. However, in your situation, your are limited because you don't wish to purchase another drive so.... Connect the drive back to the pc and offload the files there if you can. Use a buddies pc as well until you get all the files off. Put the drive back on your pc and then format it using Fat32 or NTFS. Copy the data back on to the drive and your mac will be able to read and write to it.

Help using an external hard drive with Mac AND PC?

Daniel

I've just brought an external hard drive (2.5" 120GB)
I need to use it on a PC (for home) and a Mac (for College)
I've plugged it into the mac and all my files are Read Only (and the drive)
Can anyone help? I am VERY new to macs and have only been using it for about a week or so
Also, I have no admin privileges on the mac
Also, it would be used regularly with a PS3

Answer
If the files are read-only, chances are the external drive is formatted with NTFS (which Macs can only read, not write). The PS3 can't recognize NTFS-formatted drives at all.

There is 3rd party-software which allows PCs to use Mac HSF+ formatted drives (MacDrive), and Macs to use NTFS-formatted drives (MacFUSE). But neither of those programs would help your PS3.

Reformatting the external drive as FAT32 (after copying your files off) would make it fully usable by your Mac, PC and PS3. However, FAT32 has some limitations: it's not as secure, there's a size limit of 4gb for any single file, it's more prone to corruption, access is slower when dealing with large files. But it's the most compatible format... and really your only choice if dealing with a PS3.

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7591_102-336384.html
http://macfuse.en.softonic.com/mac

You'd either have format the external drive using your Mac, or use a 3rd-party utility like this one to format it using your PC. Windows itself won't format a FAT32 volume larger than 32gb.

http://www.tothepc.com/archives/format-drive-fat32-volume-larger-than-32gb/

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What is the best external hard drive for a Macbook Pro?

best external hard drive pc mac image

*juice*

A friend of mine wants to buy a external hard drive for her macbook pro and I'm out of the loop with whats out there. I know there are ones that are both pc/mac compitable as well as ones specifically compatible for mac.

My question is there an advantage of going for a specific mac compatible drive? Any issues with external drives? Anything I should look for spec wise? Any recommendations? Thx

Answer
The Western Digital Studio edition (Quad interface ESATA USB 2.0 Firewire 400/800 different capacities ranging up to 2TB) external drives are very good with mac they come mac formatted out the box but can be used with a PC as well easy too hook up and reliable

Can i copy files from an external hard drive thats from a PC to a mac?

Migs

I have a pc right now and im switching to a mac. Im planning to buy an external hard drive to put my pictures, music and other files from my pc. Can i just transfer all those files to my mac using the external hard drive? or at least access it?

Answer
Yes. The Mac can read all Windows drives (though not the other way around).

Okay, so here's the way it works. There are 3 different hard drive formats you can use (you have to delete everything on the drive to switch between them).

FAT32: This is the lowest common denominator, used for things like Flash Drives. Both Windows and Mac can read and write to it, but it can't hold files larger than 4GB.

NTFS: The Windows NT File System, it's the default file system for Windows XP and newer. OS X can read it but not write to it, unless you install a 3rd party program (which you can get for free)

HFS+ : The hard drive format that OS X uses. Windows can't even read this one without Apple's boot camp drivers, and you need to buy a 3rd party program for Windows to write to it.

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How/is it possible to use an external hard drive to switch iTunes over from a pc to a mac?

best external hard drive pc mac image

Q. Okay, so for Christmas, I'm getting a Mac. My iTunes is the only thing I'm worried about switching over from my Windows PC to my Mac. So, my friend is letting my borrow her external hard drive to switch it over. Is there anything extra that I would have to be doing, to get it to switch over successfully, and have my music sync correctly to my ipod once the music is on my mac?

Answer
yes ,it's right that use a ipod to transfer music and videos from PC to Mac, and I usually do it, there is a step by step tutorial about how to transfer all music and movies from PC to Mac with iPod for free ?
http://www.iskysoft.com/topic-ipod/transfer-all-music-and-movies-from-pc-to-mac.html#187

have a look,it will help you ~

How/is it possible to use an external hard drive to switch iTunes over from a pc to a mac?

Q. Okay, so for Christmas, I'm getting a Mac. My iTunes is the only thing I'm worried about switching over from my Windows PC to my Mac. So, my friend is letting my borrow her external hard drive to switch it over. Is there anything extra that I would have to be doing, to get it to switch over successfully, and have my music sync correctly to my ipod once the music is on my mac?

Answer
Hello
On this page you'll get
the requested information.

http://reviews.cnet.com/ipod/9602-12576_7-0.html?messageID=2510455&kw=ipod

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