04-29-2012, 06:00 PM

Hi,

I have recently bought an iMac after being a PC user for years and I was wondering if there is a way to partition my WD 500gb hard drive without losing the existing data. There is about 240gb free at the moment but because I originally used it on a PC it won't let me transfer data to it now.
Any help would be great thanks.

04-29-2012, 08:37 PM

When all partitions are the same format then it is sometimes possible do what you're wanting to do but I don't think that's what you're aiming for.

My suggestion would be to back up the material you have on the external (because you HAVE been backing that stuff up, RIGHT?) then erase the external and partition as you like. I personally don't see the need for partitions much but you may have some specific reason for doing so. Once you have the drive partitioned as you like, you can put the backed-up material back on.

04-29-2012, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by kramers

Hi,

I have recently bought an iMac after being a PC user for years and I was wondering if there is a way to partition my WD 500gb hard drive without losing the existing data. There is about 240gb free at the moment but because I originally used it on a PC it won't let me transfer data to it now.
Any help would be great thanks.

If you wish to use the drive for both your new iMac and PC you can keep it formatted as FAT-32. The very handy "Partition Magic" (now owned by Symantec) can non destructively partition the drive, however, it will not work with HFS+, only FAT-32 and NTFS. Or, you can purchase iPartition which works on all three formats: HFS+, FAT-32, and NTFS.

04-29-2012, 09:22 PM

Hi,

Thanks, I will give Partition Magic a try. I have no idea what the hard drive is formatted as, all I know is that when i plug it in to my Mac it is read-only, and I can't copy anything to it. Just seems a waste to buy a new hard drive when it has so much free space.
Thanks

04-30-2012, 03:23 AM

Yes, it's formatted NTFS then. Macs can natively read from, but not write to, that format.

If you're going to use the drive with the Mac, it would probably be best to just format it for Mac (once you have moved the existing data off, of course).