Cannot Delete Files

I just switched to mac about a week ago and i went to plug in my external HD and for some reason, i am unable to delete files off of it. It tells me that i am unable to perform this action. I opened the options and it says read only and im not sure were to change this back. I cannot delete anything off of my external no matter what it is. Anyone have any suggestions?

Welcome to Mac-Forums!

How is your external drive formatted? Use Disk Utility to determine that information. Post back here if you need assistance.

As you "switched to mac about a week ago", did you use the external HD with a Win system?

hughvane said:

Welcome to Mac-Forums!

How is your external drive formatted? Use Disk Utility to determine that information. Post back here if you need assistance.

As you "switched to mac about a week ago", did you use the external HD with a Win system?

Click to expand...

Yes I use to use it on a windows system before. This is my first mac and I am loving it lol. Anyway, it say that it is:

(Format : Windows NT File System (NTFS))

Would that make it so that I cannot use it on OSX without formatting it?

NTFS can be read by MacOS but not written to.

Help is at hand ... http://blog.a****ash.com/2007/05/25/how-to-mount-ntfs-drives-on-mac-os-x-with-readwrite-access/.

If you wish to use the external hard drive with both OS, then you probably need to partition it, one as HFS for Mac, the other for NTFS for Win.

If you're going to use it with Mac only, then remove as many files as you're able and burn them to dvd via a Win machine, and then reformat the drive HFS with your Mac.

PS. please post your Mac specs and MacOs version in your profile, it helps us to help you better.

Ok thanks. Ill do that thanks a lot for your help.

Or just use this:

NTFS Mounter

clay

clayneal said:

Or just use this:

NTFS Mounter

clay

Click to expand...

For some reason I cant get that to work. I have already starting sorting everything out on my windows partition so ill get it formatted correctly soon enough hopefully.