Transferring data from one external drive to another

[thefriedman94]

I'm having a problem transferring a large amount of data from one external drive to another. We're trying to use a mac to connect both external hard drives, but it seems like it can only transfer 4gb at a time. We have over 500gb that needs to be transferred, but Finder will only allow us to transfer 4gb at a time. Is there a faster or easier way to tranfer this large amount of data?

 

[thefriedman94]

I'm having a problem transferring a large amount of data from one external drive to another. We're trying to use a mac to connect both external hard drives, but it seems like it can only transfer 4gb at a time. We have over 500gb that needs to be transferred, but Finder will only allow us to transfer 4gb at a time. Is there a faster or easier way to tranfer this large amount of data?

 

[CrimsonRequiem]

That's not finders fault. That's the limitation of FAT32.

 

[thefriedman94]

Any way I can get around it?

 

[Tarek]

Well, you must convert it from FAT32 to NTFS, and to do that you will have to format it.

To do so, open Disk Utility, choose the Drive, format, and choose NTFS.

Mac OS will only be able to read an external HD not write to it. However, you can get around that by installing this: Download NTFS-3G for Mac - Read-write NTFS filesystem driver. MacUpdate Mac Software Downloads

 

[LoboRsxS]

Well, you must convert it from FAT32 to NTFS, and to do that you will have to format it.

To do so, open Disk Utility, choose the Drive, format, and choose NTFS.

Mac OS will only be able to read an external HD not write to it. However, you can get around that by installing this: Download NTFS-3G for Mac - Read-write NTFS filesystem driver. MacUpdate Mac Software Downloads

OMG thank you Tarek you're the best. I bought a 125gb flashdrive and couldnt get it to transfer more that 10mb at a time because it was FAT32

 

[Tarek]

If you have a Windows computer, you can convert it to NTFS doing so:

NTFS.com Format USB Flash Drive to NTFS file system.

or

Format USB Flash Drive-FAT32 To NTFS - Video

And it is very similar on Macintosh doing the steps I gave above.

Good luck and you're welcome.

 

[chscag]

@Tarek

To do so, open Disk Utility, choose the Drive, format, and choose NTFS.

Disk Utility is unable to format anything to NTFS as that's a Microsoft proprietary file system. In any event, formatting will destroy all data so that's not a good solution.

And - Snow Leopard can read and write to NTFS but it's not turned on by default. You can turn it on using Terminal or the free ntfs Mounter.

 

[chscag]

@LoboRsxS

You can not convert a FAT-32 drive to NTFS by using Disk Utility as it is unable to do it. Also any kind of reformatting will destroy the data on the drive so be careful.

The way to convert FAT-32 to NTFS correctly is to use a Windows PC and open a command prompt and use the built in conversion utility. That will convert the file system without data loss. Afterward, follow the link I gave above for the free ntfs Mounter and turn on read write NTFS capability for Snow Leopard. (if you're using Snow Leopard)

Also, other than the 4 GB file limit mentioned by Crimson, is the fact that any file transfer via USB or even firewire from one hard drive to another is going to be slow. Same applies for flash drives.

 

[chscag]

@thefriedman94

Please do not cross post! Always post to the same thread in order to avoid confusion and cluttering of the forums.