help with file storage issue

I am working on creating a good backup system for all my photos i've shot over the past 1.5 yrs... I just switched to mac about a month ago... my question is my 500gig external hd was my primary backup from 1.5 yrs back... but now that im on a mac i cant store anything to this HD I got a 1.5TB esata external to use with the mac i'd like to be able to back all photos to this HD even from the old 500 gig drive how would i be able to do this..? Thanks.

Can I assume that you used the old 500GB HD with Windows? If so, it should be read/write if it is formatted as FAT or read-only if it was formatted with NTFS. Either way, you should be able to read the files on that HD.

Is the problem that you're having the fact that you can't read to the drive or can't write to it? If it was formatted with a Windows filesystem, you should be able to read it which means that you can plug it in and have it mounted (with an icon on the Desktop).

file trouble.

Thanks you answered my question... im sure its NTFS so thats why i can only read... looks like i have some transfering and reformatting to do ... hahah o well... comes with the territory of switching... Thanks my friend...