869      iPhone_iPad_Mac_apple

File transfer from MacBook Pro into external ha...

I can't copy files from the MacBook into an external hard drive.

In the 'Get Info' section, it says read-only. However, the hard drive have just been recently bought.

I had the same problem with our previous hard drive. Although the previous hard drive was 'read-only' I was able to copy and paste files in our old HP laptop.

What can I do in order to copy and paste files from the MacBook into the hard drive?

Hard drive = Toshiba

Capacity = 1TB

*****WARNING: REFORMATTING A DRIVE WILL ERASE ALL THE FILES ON IT. DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT BACKING UP YOUR DATA*****

It's probably just not Mac-formatted. Some hard drives come pre-formatted as a Windows format ("NTFS"), some come as Mac (HFS+), and some are unformatted.

Connect the drive, open Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder, or search for it in Spotlight). In the DU window, click on your drive on the left side, go to the Erase tab, change Format to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", give it a different name if you'd like, and click Erase. It should then become writeable.

Note that Windows PCs cannot write natively to an HFS drive, so if you need to exchange files between Mac and PC, we need to talk about different options.

Matt

<Edited by Host>

*****WARNING: REFORMATTING A DRIVE WILL ERASE ALL THE FILES ON IT. DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT BACKING UP YOUR DATA*****

It's probably just not Mac-formatted. Some hard drives come pre-formatted as a Windows format ("NTFS"), some come as Mac (HFS+), and some are unformatted.

Connect the drive, open Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder, or search for it in Spotlight). In the DU window, click on your drive on the left side, go to the Erase tab, change Format to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", give it a different name if you'd like, and click Erase. It should then become writeable.

Note that Windows PCs cannot write natively to an HFS drive, so if you need to exchange files between Mac and PC, we need to talk about different options.

Matt

<Edited by Host>

Thank you so much for answering ASAP! (: I am able to paste the files on the drive now.

Hi Matt,

I have the same problem and I found your reply very helpful. I just have one question, though: if I click the "erase" button, will this action delete all the files I have already saved on my external hard?

Thanks a lot,

Tamara

Yes. If you reformat/erase the drive all of your files on the drive will be lost.

Clinton

Oh! This was a fast and helpful reply. Thanks a lot!

Hi,

I have an WD external hard drive, and I had a same problem, my mac cad read it but not write. I tried you solusion, but when I hit Erase, an error comes up saying: "Volume Erase failed with the error: Couldn’t modify partition map".

What should I do?

Try the Partition tab - you'll need to make sure you've selected the upper drive name in the left-hand list. Change the "Partition Layout" to "1 Partition", click Options, and choose "GUID". Then click Apply.

Matt

Thanks so much for fast reply Matt. that worked

but I have one more problem. Although my hard drive capasity is 1T, when I'm trying to write my movie folder to the external hard drive (it's around GB), it says "The item “Movies” can’t be copied because it is too large for the volume's format".

should I change the format again?

actually, I eject and reattach the hard and tried to write again. and it worked.

Thanks again Matt

Hi,

I need to copy files between MAC and PC via external hard drive. Could you please help me?

podgorsek,

Format your external drive as ExFAT on the PC. Then you can share files with your Mac and PC. Don't, however, use the ExFAT format if you're going to be using the drive as a backup drive (Time Machine or clone) for your Mac.

Be sure and format it on the PC.

Clinton

i was facing the same proplem with my hard drive and i did what Matt said, but now i cant open my hard drive on my PC to do what u explaned . i need help please ?

In my last paragraph, I said

"Note that Windows PCs cannot write natively to an HFS drive, so if you need to exchange files between Mac and PC, we need to talk about different options."

Windows cannot read Mac Extended (HFS) formatted drives; the Mac cannot write to Windows (NTFS) formatted drives.

The only formats fully compatible between Mac and PC are FAT32 (largely deprecated) and exFAT. If you need full read-write compatibility between Windows and Mac, and you can erase the drive (ie, it's a new drive or you have confirmed backups), reformat to exFAT using Disk Utility.

If you have a drive with files on it and you cannot erase them at the moment:

- if the drive is formatted for the Mac, you can purchase MacDrive for the PC

- if the drive is formatted for Windows (NTFS), you can purchase Paragon NTFS for the Mac.

Matt

Sorry i messed up not reading the whole thing but i appreciate you taking the time to reply, thankfully its a new hard drive did wat you said and it worked wonderfully !!

最後更新：2017-09-25 17:32:06

  上一篇： Since updating to os4, my Watch2 alarm vibrate ...

  下一篇： No tones in my media folder anymore. Where did ...