deleting items from external HD

I have an external hard drive and have been moving things from my PC laptop to my MBP, after I transfer the items I try to delete them from the External HD (while plugged in to my MBP) but I get an error saying that item(s) cant be deleted, is this because it was created on my PC laptop?

Yep.

To be more specific, your external drive is formatted NTFS. That means the Mac can read FROM it, but not write TO it (as it would need to do to delete anything).

can the HD be converted over to be used on a mac, I want to use it to backup me and my wifes MBP's, (will I be able to run 2 backups on one drive?)

I'm curious for an answer too. My Vaio had a bad motherboard and instead of paying a few hundred dollars to have it fixed, I'm getting a MBP. Music, pictures, and files on the PC will be saved onto my external hard drive. Apparently I'll have no problem moving those to my Mac, but could I have some trouble using that external hard drive for my Mac now?
I hadn't thought of this being a problem.. Hm...

Goavs18 said:

can the HD be converted over to be used on a mac, I want to use it to backup me and my wifes MBP's, (will I be able to run 2 backups on one drive?)

Click to expand...

Yes.... hit this

You can partition it 50/50.
1/2 Time Machine for MBP A
1/2 Time Machine for MBP B

hope this helps.

or you can try something like this.. Download NTFS-3G for Mac - Read-write NTFS filesystem driver. MacUpdate.com read the comments as well. There are other paid and free options also.

You could also transfer everything off the external drive, either onto your Mac or onto another drive temporarily, reformat it for use on your Mac using Disk Utility, then transfer it all back. It may take awhile but if you know you're only going to be using it with a Mac, it's better than getting a third party tool to get it to play nice.

Yes, I don't think I would trust an NTFS-formatted drive for Time Machine backups, even with Paragon.

chas_m said:

Yes, I don't think I would trust an NTFS-formatted drive for Time Machine backups, even with Paragon.

Click to expand...

I don't think Time Machine accepts NTFS.

CebuCity said:

Yes.... hit this

You can partition it 50/50.
1/2 Time Machine for MBP A
1/2 Time Machine for MBP B

hope this helps.

Click to expand...

thanks for the info,

ok another stupid question, I have never done it so how do you partition a drive? can that be done when you format the drive for MAC?

Goavs18 said:

thanks for the info,

ok another stupid question, I have never done it so how do you partition a drive? can that be done when you format the drive for MAC?

Click to expand...

Go to Launchpad >Utilities>Disk Utility>
Click the disk you want to partition (the first icon of the disk)
Hit partition tab
Partition Layout
Choose 2-partitions
Name both partitions and choose format type OS X extended (journaled)

hit APPLY

- Lanz

CebuCity said:

Go to Launchpad >Utilities>Disk Utility>
Click the disk you want to partition (the first icon of the disk)
Hit partition tab
fill in NAME (anything you want)
FORMAT: choose Mac OS extended (journaled)
SIZE: make is half the size of your drive (or anything you want)
hit APPLY

- Lanz

Click to expand...

Thank you very much

Goavs18 said:

Thank you very much

Click to expand...

Hi @Goavs18, sorry for a little mistake. It should be this

- Disk Utility
- Partition
- Partition Layout
- Choose 2-partitions
- Name both partitions and choose format type OS X extended (journaled)

LANZ