Help with formatting HDD

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Hey guys,

I just bought a new HDD (FAT32 format) and I want to transfer all my movies from my old HDD onto it. The problem is that I want the new HDD formatted in NTFS so that my TV will recognize it and I can watch the movies, but my old HDD with the movies is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

So currently it won't let me transfer the movies between HDDs (I'm assuming because of the different formats). So my question is, what it the best way in going about this?

thanks for any help, this is really doing my head in.
 
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The problem is that OSX can't write to NTFS, though it can read it. You need an NTFS driver, personally I'd get Paragon NTFS, in fact it's what I use all the time. It's a popular and robust choice.

However, just be sure that your TV can handle NTFS most can only deal with fat32 formatted drives
 
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The problem is that OSX can't write to NTFS, though it can read it. You need an NTFS driver, personally I'd get Paragon NTFS, in fact it's what I use all the time. It's a popular and robust choice.

However, just be sure that your TV can handle NTFS most can only deal with fat32 formatted drives

Ok thanks. Does this mean that the drive will play movies on both my MacBook and tv? Assuming that my tv recognises NTFS. Also are there any other good free program's out there that do what Paragon does?
 
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Yes OSX can read both fine.

There are free alternatives. Have a search on here for fuse and ntfs-3g but you'll also find that they can be a little unreliable. For $20 Paragon is stable and just works.
 

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+1 for that advice. The Paragon driver is well worth the money in this case. If you go the free route choose carefully. Some of those programs have not been updated in quite some time
 
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Hey guys,

I downloaded Paragon and it seemed to work a charm. Formatted my new HDD to NTFS and put all my movies onto it, however now when I open the HDD up the folder with my movies is displayed as a volume, not a folder, and I can't see any of my movies. When I open the volume it just seems to refresh or open up a new window with the same volume.

Any ideas on what's going on here? Hope I haven't lost all my movies.
 
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I'm a little confused by "displayed as a volume, not a folder"

Can you post a screenshot?
 
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I'm a little confused by "displayed as a volume, not a folder"

Can you post a screenshot?

Sure.

Those are meant to be folders, and I can't even open them. The title has also been changed in the Window with all those extra characters.

Any ideas?

Screen Shot 2013-05-14 at 4.24.47 PM.png
 
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Can you show us how it looks in Disk Utility?

After you copied the data to the disk did you connect the drive to anything else
 
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Can you show us how it looks in Disk Utility?

After you copied the data to the disk did you connect the drive to anything else

Sorry, is this what you mean?

I connected it to my TV, but that's all.

Screen Shot 2013-05-15 at 9.06.02 AM.png
 
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Does your tv support NTFS? Maybe don't and only support fat 32.

I'd suggest the TV is the most likely candidate for the corruption.

Have you tried doing a repair?
 
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Does your tv support NTFS? Maybe don't and only support fat 32.

I'd suggest the TV is the most likely candidate for the corruption.

Have you tried doing a repair?

Yep, I just plugged it into the TV and it recognized the HDD and showed all the movies.

I was just about to try and do a repair, and now my MacBook won't even recognize the HDD.

I've tried using different USB slots, restarting my MacBook and my other HDDs work just fine. Not too sure what's going on here :(
 
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So the TV shows the file structure ok and the movies play?

What's the make and model of disk?

Are you using the cable it was supplied with?
 
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I think it may be worth uninstall, reboot, reinstall paragon NTFS.

Did you try any other NTFS drivers before installing paragon?
 
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I think it may be worth uninstall, reboot, reinstall paragon NTFS.

Did you try any other NTFS drivers before installing paragon?

I would try that but my trial just expired.

I didn't try any other drivers before paragon, however I've just downloaded NTFS-3G and when I installed it and tried to plug in my HDD this message popped up. I've also attached two screenshots of what it's showing in disk utility.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again for all your help, really appreciate it.

error.png

Screen Shot 2013-05-17 at 8.43.09 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-05-17 at 8.43.05 PM.png
 
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The "Movies+" label maybe causing display issues so I'd change that.

I'd still suggest the TV has changed something.

Do you have another disc or pen drive you could experiment with?
 
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The "Movies+" label maybe causing display issues so I'd change that.

I'd still suggest the TV has changed something.

Do you have another disc or pen drive you could experiment with?

how can I change it though when it doesn't actually mount?

Sure do, what did you have in mind?
 
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I would suggest repeating what you've done before on a smaller scale.

Format to NTFS same name you used before.
Copy a video file onto the drive
Eject it
Reconnect it to you mac. See if you can mount the drive and play the file
If that works connect it to your TV
Play the file
Now reconnect to your mac - does it mount/play ok?
 

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