Mac Portable Hard Drive Help?

h8thecause

I recently bought a SimpleTech portable hard drive. Its a 160gb if that matters. I am working on trying to backup my music by dragging and dropping it on there, but when I plug it in and try to drag, it does not allow me. When I view the info for the portable hard drive, the sharing and permissions says: "I can only read". How would I fix this?

Answer
Check whether the hard disk has "Write Lock". If it is so make sure it is not write locked.

Make sure that the Hard Drive is not formatted as NTFS. Mac does not support writing data to a NTFS volume. Just right click the mounted volume in Finder and select "Get Info". In the Info window check for the "Format:". In case the format is NTFS, it shows "Windows NT Filesystem". [ http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/attachments/maccar/40138d1172094097-using-external-hd-between-mac-pc-picture-1.png ].
If it is so, your Mac will not allow you to write data to that volume.

There are 2 solutions :
1. Make Mac write data to NTFS volume : Install 3rd party NTFS support for Mac. Softwares like "Paragon NTFS" [ http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ ] allows you to write data to NTFS volume.
2. Reformat the hard disk to Mac Compatible format : This will require you to erase the entire data present in the disk. You can use Disk Utility to reformat the hard disk. If you are not sharing it with Windows PC, you can format it with format as "HFS+" (referred as "Mac OS Extended" in disk utility). In case you intend to share it with Windows "Fat32" will be the format I would recommend. Remember Fat32 does not support files larger than 4GB.

I would recommend the second solution.

mac&pc portable hard drive.?

[ed]gar.

i have a wd external hd backed up to my mac with time machine. but know i think the square (hd) is huge and looks like a block. i wanna get a portable one. but i dont know witch one to buy because of all the options there is. I wanna get a 500gb that i can back it up to the mac but whenever i dont use my mac i wanna disconected and use it on the pc. is there a difference between. the WD portable hd for mac?
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=579
and the normal one?http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=691

so yea my question is; if i get the Mac formatted portable hd can i still use it on a pc?

Answer
yes u can use hard drive HD in mac as well as on pc i got same problem 2 years back when i bought my Time Capsule anyhow now i use maxter 750 gb (before it was 250gb) external HD with my pc and mac
no problem
dont worry but be sure for potable and external HD u need not to jurk too much as i loss my 250gb HD.

good luck if u like u can select my answer for best answer
thanks in advance

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What type of external hard drive can my Mac support?

portable external hard drives for mac image

I know that Macs can only support a certain type of hard drive, but I have no idea what it's called. I used one in the past, and I was only able to transfer files from the drive to the computer, but not from the computer to the drive.

What format does the external hard drive have to be so it can be compatible with a Mac?

Thanks!

Answer
They will support any USB or FireWire drive, as long as its formatted in a way the Mac will understand such as FAT32 (an old Windows format, the most portable format available) or HFS+ (OS X's native format, which you need for Time Machine). If the drive is formatted another way, such as NTFS (Windows XP and Vista native format), you'll either need to use Disk Utility to reformat it or find a driver for it. For NTFS, you can use the ntfs-3g program. This will also let you read and write boot camp drives.

What portable hard drives work with macbooks?

One is Too

Well im looking for a portable hard drive that can work with a macbook. I thought every hard drive works with and type of computer but i looked on the back and it said only windows vista, windows 7 or windows xp... so what can work for a mac book

Answer
You can consider buying
1)Iomega eGo Helium 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 34709
*Ultra Thin - Thin and lightweight (.44 lb.) USB 2.0 portable hard drive
*Stylish - Perfect match for the new MacBook Air notebook (HFS+ formatted); compact silver design slips easily into a purse or briefcase
*Rugged- The Drop Guard feature protects the drive when dropped up to 51-Inch (40% above the industry average!)
*Secure -EMC Retrospect software and MozyHome Online software included for backup (via download)
*3 year warranty with product registration
http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-Helium-Portable-External-34709/dp/B002L16KVE/?tag=best-laptops01-20

2)Western Digital My Passport for Mac 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive WDBAAB5000ACH-NESN (Charcoal)
*Compatible with Apple TimeMachine
*Automatic, continuous backup software included
*Password protection and 256-bit encryption
*Visual drive control center
*Securing private or sensitive data
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Portable-WDBAAB5000ACH-NESN/dp/B002KG0JOE/?tag=best-laptops01-20
Hey you can visit below link you can find more options here :
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=external+hard+drive&x=0&y=0&ih=1_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0.3445_1&fsc=-1&tag=best-laptops01-20
or
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574865779&toolid=10001&campid=5336686710&customid=laptop+best+deal&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%2Fi.html%3F_nkw%3Dexternal%2520usb%2520hard%2520drive%26_trksid%3Dp3286.c0.m282

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Best hard drive for Mac video editting and storage?

portable external hard drives for mac image

iseegrace

I have the Mac OS X 10.7.3
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5

I am planning to get a portable external hard drive within the $200 budget mainly for video editting on Final Cut Pro and After effects and for storage.

I am so confused with fireware and 3.0
3.0 seems to be a good thing but will my macbook be compatible with it or will it function as a 2.0?

Please recommend me with the products with links. Thanks!

Answer
Final point is that Firewire 800 has wider bandwidth than USB. Also, USB never performs in real life situations equal to the spec.

Your computer (if it shows "MacBookPro8,1" for the Machine ID) is Early 2011, so it is USB 2.0. You cannot connect any USB 3.0 device to that. Your fastest option no matter what we think about USB 3.0 is still Firewire 800.... or Thunderbolt.

I also suggest an aluminum case for better heat dissipation. See links below.

Is my External Hard Drive Compatible with my Mac Book Pro?

Bella

I ambushing a Mac Book Pro but I have a Samsung G2 Portable External Hard Drive. Would it be compatible with my new laptop.

Answer
Hi there!

The skinny on your drive is this: Yes, the drive will work as an external hard drive and you can store files on it like any other drive; however, the Included backup and password protection software that coms with your drive doesn't support Mac OS.

Therefore, if you want to backup your Macintosh to this particular drive you'll have to reformat the drive to Mac's Extended Journaled format so that Time Machine (Mac OSX native) will recognize the drive: your drive is originally configured for Windows and, for one reason or another, Time Machine canât reformat the drive automatically, so you have to format it yourself first.

Also, if Time Machine is not your thing, here is a list of alternatives to the Macintosh's backup program: http://www.icreatemagazine.com/general/top-5/top-5-alternatives-to-time-machine/

Hope this answers your question.

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How can I sync my Macbook and Mac Mini?

portable external hard drives for mac image

G.O.A.T.

Hello,

I am looking for an easy way to sync my Macbook and Mac Mini. They both are connected via wireless network, but I am wondering if there is a way to simply click a button and sync the two computers as opposed to using the file sharing capabilities.

Also, I have a portable external hard drive as well. Is ther a program I could install on the portable HDD that would enable syncing? Remember, the program would have to be compatible with OS X.

Thanks!

Answer
.Mac is the easiest thing.

How to retrieve files on a WD external hard drive with a mac.?

Brandon

I used a portable hard drive to back up some files from a PC. Now I need to retrieve those files using a mac. when I try to open the hard drive it tells me that it is not readable. How can I make this thing work so that I can get my files.

Answer
Answer for Windows 7 and OS 10.6.8:

The drive volume has errors. Windows doesn't care much about errors. OS X does, so it won't mount. Repair it on the Windows system like this....
-- Right-click the drive volume in "Computer".
-- Choose "Properties".
-- Choose "Tools".
-- At "Error checking", click the "Check Now" button.
-- Put a check mark (tick) for "Automatically fix file system errors".
-- Put a check mark (tick) for "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors".
-- Click the "Start" button.
-- Click to unmount.
-- Wait.

To do this in OS X....
-- Download and install either NTFS-3G or SL-NTFS (latter for OS 10.6.7 or later 64--bit).
-- Restart.
-- Connect the drive. At the alert message, click "Ignore".
-- Open Disk Utility.
-- Select the external volume ("Volume" is the partition name, probably faded appearance).
-- Select the "First Aid" tab.
-- Click the "Repair Disk" button.
-- Wait.

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