New Mac user... need advice of external hard drive, please

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Hi! I am a new Mac user (Mac Book Pro 13"). Old laptop is a Dell XPS 14".

I am not extremely techno savvy so I need some (easy!) advice and suggestions for dummies!

I backed-up my old Dell to my old external hard drive prior to booting up the new Mac. But my old EHD is apparently not Mac compatible, so I can't just move documents and photos to the Mac.

I am willing to purchase a new EHD, and it seems like there are some that are PC/Mac interchangeable. That would be great. I envision just putting all my stuff from the Dell onto it, then moving whatever I want to over to the Mac.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

f so, then I need a recommendation for an EHD that would work for both PC and Mac INTERCHANGEABLY, and without fuss. I don't know how to reformat and don't want to bother! I need SIMPLE and EASY.

Any assistance greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!

PS If this isn't the appropriate forum for this, please forgive!
 

BrianLachoreVPI


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Tiskers
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Brian,
Thanks for the reply and the link.

I tried connecting my Mac to my external hard drive and it didn't seem to recognize it.

Are any of those hard drives Mac and PC compatible right out of the box?! No formatting or tricks required?!!

In other words, one that I could use with the Dell, or with the Mac, moving files back and forth between all?
 

BrianLachoreVPI


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I'd try connecting it again - it will work. Yes - you can pretty much get any drive pre-formatted - but there's really no trick to it. If you buy one of the OWC drives I linked you to - they'll come pre-formatted for Mac.
 

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