Externals with Mac & PC

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I've been using PC's for over 20 years and just bought a MacBook Pro w/retina. I know nothing about them.

I have many pen drives and external hard drives with various capacities. All of these I have been using on my PC's/iPhones/iPods and have a lot of information on them that I do not want to lose.

The compatibility of Mac and PC systems was new to me. Unfortunately I have plugged in some of my externals into my Mac already but I am not sure which ones. I just learned about formatting all my drives to exFAT.

I do not want any information that is on my externals lost. So last night I thought I would put everything that is on the various drives onto the 2TB one. Then I could format all of those drives and put their respective files back on. I'm not sure how I would have handled the 2TB format though. Anyway, 'read only' stopped me in my tracks because I could not even make a folder on the 2TB telling me which external it came from.

How can I handle all of this please without spending money, or at least not a lot of money?
 
pigoo3

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Terabyte said:
I've been using PC's for over 20 years and just bought a MacBook Pro w/retina. I know nothing about them.
Click to expand...

Just an FYI. Hopefully you really do know at least a little bit about Apple computers & the Mac OS.:) If you truly "know nothing about them"…not a very good idea when this much $$$$ is involved. Only leads to lots of user frustration, confusion, and not the best first experience.

Good luck…keep an open mind...and ask lots of questions.:)

- Nick
 
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pigoo3 said:
Just an FYI. Hopefully you really do know at least a little bit about Apple computers & the Mac OS.:) If you truly "know nothing about them"…not a very good idea when this much $$$$ is involved. Only leads to lots of user frustration, confusion, and not the best first experience.

Good luck…keep an open mind...and ask lots of questions.:)

- Nick
Click to expand...

I really did not know anything other than what I knew from my iPhones. Everyone told me how easy they are to use.

Of course I knew there was going to be a lot to learn, but I did not mind that, I love to learn. There is so much help out there and believe me, I ask a LOT of questions. So far I love it and I am looking forward to working out all of the kinks so I can move on. I have decided that I am going to format it back to factory settings because of bad advice getting my .pst file onto it. I have since found out the best way (I hope) is to move it onto an unused Mac by watching a video by a David A. Cox. He has been a wealth of information. So before formatting, I am going to play in the hopes of learning more and more.

Thanks for your concern and please jump in to any questions I may post. Your experience and knowledge is a big bonus!
 
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ferrarr said:
Your MBPr can read from NTFS, but can not write to it. If you want to be able to use your 2 tb drive with windows and mac os, you will either need to reformat the drive as exFAT or make the folders using a windows pc. Anther option is to purchase http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/.
Click to expand...

I just tested moving a file from one external to another using my mac. It did not work obviously because of the 'read only'. So this means my idea of buying another large external, formatting it to exFAT and moving all of my folders from the various externals I have onto it, then formatting all of them will not work.

As I said, I do not want to lose any of my saved files so does this mean the only answer is to get NTFS-mac (or similar)?
 
M

MacInWin

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Ferrar, in post #2, gave you the solution. The technology story is that Windows defaults to a format called NTFS and OS X defaults to HFS+. Neither can write to the other. Both can, I think, read the other, but such files are then presented to you as "read only." There are multiple ways around this block, some easy, some hard. You can format shared drives in FAT32 or ex-FAT format and both can read and write, but there is a file limit of 4Gb and other limitations on total path name length that don't matter to most folks, but which occasionally catch someone out. The solution suggested to get the ParagonNTFS third party add on for the Mac is, IMHO, the best. Paragon makes a very reliable product that fits pretty seamlessly into OS X and allows the Mac to read and write to NTFS formatted drives/pen drives/etc. Paragon also has a product for Windows that I think is called ParagonHFS+ that lets Windows write to HFS+ formatted drives, but I have no idea how well it works as I have never used it.

Assuming you go that way, you need also to be aware the OS X puts some files on every drive that are hidden on the Mac but visible on the PC. They all start with a "." in the name. In OS X the presence of that "." tells the system to hide the file but Windows doesn't see them as hidden. They are system files for things like the trashcan (".Trashes") and formatting information. You can safely ignore them if you see them in Windows, but if they get annoying, most of them can be deleted and OS X will re-create them when the drive is reattached to the Mac. The only one that I'm not totally certain of is the .Trashes file, which holds the data on things in the trash but not fully deleted. The easiest way to make sure that is clean is to empty the trash before you eject the drive in OS X and that file will be empty and safe(r) to delete. As I said, it will be recreated when reattached to the Mac.

That's a lot of background, but I hope that helps with your decision. You could use the Windows box to move the files around to free up one external and format it for Ex-FAT, then use it to "swing" the files from one to another to free up each one in turn and format them all as ex-fat, but that's a ton of work and it could be easy to make a mistake and lose some files in the swinging.
 
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MacInWin said:
Ferrar, in post #2, gave you the solution. The technology story is that Windows defaults to a format called NTFS and OS X defaults to HFS+. Neither can write to the other. Both can, I think, read the other, but such files are then presented to you as "read only." There are multiple ways around this block, some easy, some hard. You can format shared drives in FAT32 or ex-FAT format and both can read and write, but there is a file limit of 4Gb and other limitations on total path name length that don't matter to most folks, but which occasionally catch someone out. The solution suggested to get the ParagonNTFS third party add on for the Mac is, IMHO, the best. Paragon makes a very reliable product that fits pretty seamlessly into OS X and allows the Mac to read and write to NTFS formatted drives/pen drives/etc. Paragon also has a product for Windows that I think is called ParagonHFS+ that lets Windows write to HFS+ formatted drives, but I have no idea how well it works as I have never used it.

Assuming you go that way, you need also to be aware the OS X puts some files on every drive that are hidden on the Mac but visible on the PC. They all start with a "." in the name. In OS X the presence of that "." tells the system to hide the file but Windows doesn't see them as hidden. They are system files for things like the trashcan (".Trashes") and formatting information. You can safely ignore them if you see them in Windows, but if they get annoying, most of them can be deleted and OS X will re-create them when the drive is reattached to the Mac. The only one that I'm not totally certain of is the .Trashes file, which holds the data on things in the trash but not fully deleted. The easiest way to make sure that is clean is to empty the trash before you eject the drive in OS X and that file will be empty and safe(r) to delete. As I said, it will be recreated when reattached to the Mac.

That's a lot of background, but I hope that helps with your decision. You could use the Windows box to move the files around to free up one external and format it for Ex-FAT, then use it to "swing" the files from one to another to free up each one in turn and format them all as ex-fat, but that's a ton of work and it could be easy to make a mistake and lose some files in the swinging.
Click to expand...

VA huh? I am on a small island, UK, but i could move....

This is a lot to digest, but I will get through it and get back to you. The only thing that stood out for me with my minute amount of knowledge was "Neither can write to the other. Both can, I think, read the other, but such files are then presented to you as "read only."
From what I understand, if your external has been created on your PC and you then plug it into your Mac, you can read only. But once you have plugged it into your Mac, if you then try to use it on your PC 'it' will format that drive.....so all will be wiped out. Am I wrong? .....probably
 
M

MacInWin

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I will be visiting your "small island" in about 10 days...

You said:
From what I understand, if your external has been created on your PC and you then plug it into your Mac, you can read only. But once you have plugged it into your Mac, if you then try to use it on your PC 'it' will format that drive.....so all will be wiped out. Am I wrong? .....probably
Click to expand...
That is incorrect. Simply plugging in, even reading a file from the drive on the Mac makes NO change to the format of the drive. Windows will be perfectly able to read it when you return it to that system and won't/shouldn't do any reformatting at all. Ditto for connecting an HFS+ drive to a Windows PC, AFAIK. If, and only if, when you connect to the Mac, you reformat the drive for HFS+, thereby erasing everything on it, and then take it back to Windows it will be read only. But YOU do the formatting. Nothing is automatic, nothing is somehow changed by simply connecting the drive. They just don't natively write to the other format.
 
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Hi Terabyte and welcome to the forum!

Jake has given you a lot of great advice and information. In my work I use a Windows 7 desktop and Mac Pro side by side. I do a lot of video and photo work on both machines and I have a lot of portable drives to use "in the field" and for storage. I format all my drives using exFAT so that it can be used between the two systems. I do have Paragon on my Mac Pro but I do not have it on a Macbook Pro that I also use for off-site video work. So for maximum compatibility it works great and no read-only issues.

I do move small files or documents across our work network with no issues but that is because the server OS ensure maximum compatibility for any OS - which is nice.

Lisa
 
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MacInWin said:
I will be visiting your "small island" in about 10 days...

You said:That is incorrect. Simply plugging in, even reading a file from the drive on the Mac makes NO change to the format of the drive. Windows will be perfectly able to read it when you return it to that system and won't/shouldn't do any reformatting at all. Ditto for connecting an HFS+ drive to a Windows PC, AFAIK. If, and only if, when you connect to the Mac, you reformat the drive for HFS+, thereby erasing everything on it, and then take it back to Windows it will be read only. But YOU do the formatting. Nothing is automatic, nothing is somehow changed by simply connecting the drive. They just don't natively write to the other format.
Click to expand...

IOM? If yes, I will kidnap you for at least a week :)
I will get back to you about all of the info you have passed on asap. Thanks
 
M

MacInWin

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Sadly, not IOM this trip. We are traveling from Cornwall to Kent (Lands' End to Canterbury) and as far north as the Peak District. Maybe IOM next time....
 
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MacInWin said:
Sadly, not IOM this trip. We are traveling from Cornwall to Kent (Lands' End to Canterbury) and as far north as the Peak District. Maybe IOM next time....
Click to expand...

Sounds like it will be a fantastic trip. Have a great time and I hope the weather is as beautiful as it is here today!
 
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Paragon

I was being talked into going through a long expensive route here today by a local Mac guru. Before I took the plunge however, I listened to you and installed a free trial of Paragon NTFS-Mac. It took a little time for me to understand that I did not have to do anything at all. It works beautifully! Very simple and quick.

There will not be a problem if I did exFAT on one or two of the externals using my PC, will there? I am just thinking that I will need a go-between without using the cloud.

I have to run out but I'll be back...
 
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I also now know that I can only give the thumbs up of approval to one person on a thread.

pigoo3, you will see me again...

Thank all of you so very much for your help!
 
pigoo3

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Good deal. You're welcome anytime!:) We'll keep the light on for you!;)

- Nick
 
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Terabyte said:
I also now know that I can only give the thumbs up of approval to one person on a thread.

pigoo3, you will see me again...

Thank all of you so very much for your help!
Click to expand...

Did not know that. Seems a bit odd to me. Don't think I have tried it before.
 

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