External hard drive

tngrocks · tngrocks #1 (**permalink**)

08-21-2011, 12:47 PM

Hi, I have a 500gig WD external hard drive. I apologise if this is the wrong forum to ask this.

I've been using it for a little while on my mac and pc. It is partitioned to work on both computers. When I open it on my pc only the 'pc' partition shows. When I open the drive on my mac the 'pc' and 'mac' partitions show and I can access everything.

Now however I can only access the drive via a pc. When I plug it into my mac the hard drive buzzes, the wd passport opens but not the actual drive and I cannot access either the 'pc' or 'mac' partitions. They do not appear on the desktop or in the disk utility.

Help! Please.

wheelguy12 · wheelguy12 #2 (**permalink**)

08-21-2011, 03:39 PM

How is the drive formatted? 1 partition, or more? what file structure - FAT, NTFS, MacOS Extended, other?

tngrocks · tngrocks #3 (**permalink**)

08-21-2011, 04:48 PM

half the drive is FAT and i think the other is NTFS

chscag · chscag #4 (**permalink**)

08-21-2011, 07:26 PM

Moved to correct forum. Not a Switcher topic.

baggss · baggss #5 (**permalink**)

08-22-2011, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelguy12

How is the drive formatted? 1 partition, or more? what file structure - FAT, NTFS, MacOS Extended, other?

Did you not read his post?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tngrocks

half the drive is FAT and i think the other is NTFS

If that's the case then the PC should have seen both partitions as did the Mac. On the MAc open disc utility (APPLICATIONS > UTILITIES) and see if the partitions show up there. If so you may be able to click the MOUNT button at the top of the window and have them mount.

tngrocks · tngrocks #6 (**permalink**)

08-22-2011, 04:38 AM

It isn't showing up in disk utility.

baggss · baggss #7 (**permalink**)

08-23-2011, 09:10 PM

Since this is a WD drive, I know they come with some security software for you to activate. You know, where you have to enter a password to access the drive. Did you happen to activate it on the Windows side? I tried that with mine and the Macs didn't like it. Disabled it and it worked fine again.

plaiter · plaiter #8 (**permalink**)

09-01-2011, 05:01 PM

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this as I am a newbie.

I have an external Western Digital drive which I used on my PC to store music, photos etc. I am currently converting to an iMac. Do I need to do anything to convert the drive for Mac use? Or would it be able to read it without conversion. I would need to preserve the existing files. Any help would be much appreciated.

osxx · osxx #9 (**permalink**)

09-01-2011, 06:07 PM

Mac's can read both of those partitions but only read/write to the FAT 32 partition if you want it to write to NTFS you will need this. macfuse - The Easiest and Fastest Way to Create File Systems for Mac OS X - Google Project Hosting

wheelguy12 #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 07, 2011 Posts: 157	08-21-2011, 03:39 PM How is the drive formatted? 1 partition, or more? what file structure - FAT, NTFS, MacOS Extended, other? 2011 MacBook Pro 13" i5, 8/300 gig 27" + 23" disp
	QUOTE Thanks

chscag #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 23, 2008 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 31,974 Mac Specs: 21.5" iMac 2.5 GHz i5, iPad 3rd Gen., 3 iPods	08-21-2011, 07:26 PM Moved to correct forum. Not a Switcher topic. Community Guidelines
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tngrocks #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 21, 2011 Posts: 3	08-21-2011, 12:47 PM Hi, I have a 500gig WD external hard drive. I apologise if this is the wrong forum to ask this. I've been using it for a little while on my mac and pc. It is partitioned to work on both computers. When I open it on my pc only the 'pc' partition shows. When I open the drive on my mac the 'pc' and 'mac' partitions show and I can access everything. Now however I can only access the drive via a pc. When I plug it into my mac the hard drive buzzes, the wd passport opens but not the actual drive and I cannot access either the 'pc' or 'mac' partitions. They do not appear on the desktop or in the disk utility. Help! Please.
	QUOTE Thanks

tngrocks #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 21, 2011 Posts: 3	08-22-2011, 04:38 AM It isn't showing up in disk utility.
	QUOTE Thanks

baggss #7 (permalink)
Member Since: Oct 10, 2004 Location: Margaritaville Posts: 10,306 Mac Specs: 27" 3.4 Ghz i7 iMac-13" C2D Macbook-OSX 18.8.2-64Gb iPad 2-32 Gb iPhone 5-ATV 2-14Tb of Storage	08-23-2011, 09:10 PM Since this is a WD drive, I know they come with some security software for you to activate. You know, where you have to enter a password to access the drive. Did you happen to activate it on the Windows side? I tried that with mine and the Macs didn't like it. Disabled it and it worked fine again.
	QUOTE Thanks

plaiter #8 (permalink)
Member Since: Sep 01, 2011 Posts: 2	09-01-2011, 05:01 PM Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this as I am a newbie. I have an external Western Digital drive which I used on my PC to store music, photos etc. I am currently converting to an iMac. Do I need to do anything to convert the drive for Mac use? Or would it be able to read it without conversion. I would need to preserve the existing files. Any help would be much appreciated.
	QUOTE Thanks

osxx #9 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 19, 2008 Location: houston texas Posts: 3,928 Mac Specs: 15 MacBook Pro 2009 32GB iPad 4 32GB iPhone 5 Apple TV 3 AEBS/AE	09-01-2011, 06:07 PM Mac's can read both of those partitions but only read/write to the FAT 32 partition if you want it to write to NTFS you will need this. macfuse - The Easiest and Fastest Way to Create File Systems for Mac OS X - Google Project Hosting
	QUOTE Thanks

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