need help with my macbook pro and an external hard drive.

hi, i am a complete beginner and know very little about macs and computers in general so need lots of help!!!

i just bought a new macbook pro and i transferred all of my photos from my old laptop to an external hard drive. when i tried to edit the photos i could see them all but couldn't save to the hard drive or make any changes or anything?

i googled this problem and installed the following:

You need a couple of pieces of software to make it and its all free too
the first is MacFuse:
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/down...
just download whatever the latest release is and install using the instructions
After you've done that then download NTFS-3G which is at
http://www.tuxera.com/mac/ntfs-3g-201...
You should now be able to read and write to any ntfs drive without a problem

then i got all sorts of problems!! my mac book won't even recognise my external hard drive anymore. i tried to uninstall the two programmes but i don't really know how to do that so i don't think its completely gone from my macbook because when i plug in my hard drive it comes up with the following error...

NTFS-3G could not mount /dev/disk1s1
at /Volumes/Expansion Drive because the following problem occurred:

dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib
Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g
Reason: image not found

So basically what I'm asking is the following:

how do i get rid of these two programmes completely?
and how do i access my photos and be able to make changes to them?

thanks guys

chris

It's too bad you didn't come here first. We would have told you not to install MacFuse NTFS 3G as the program is no longer being developed and is buggy.

To uninstall see the following Apple Discussions Forum article: LINK

If you are in the need for a NTFS read write driver, we recommend "Paragon NTFS" from Paragon software. ($19.95 US) Download LINK

This won't help you with this problem, but when you've solved it, if you want to use the external HD with both Windows (Vista or 7) and OS-X then you should format it (on your Windows machine) either FAT32 if you won't have any files over 4gb, or exFAT if you will. The disadvantage is that exFAT isn't recognised by XP. I have both Mac and Win7 and I use exFAT exclusively for external HDs and flash drives. NTFS can be read by OS-X (at any rate v. 10.6.8) but OS-X can't write to it. FAT32 is read/writable by everything.

peterbj7 said:

CLIP...NTFS can be read by OS-X (at any rate v. 10.6.8) but OS-X can't write to it. FAT32 is read/writable by everything.

Click to expand...

But as chscag pointed out in his post, Paragon NTFS will allow OSX to read and write NTFS just fine.

Yes, but it costs $20 and my solution costs nothing.

Keep in mind with your "free" solution that he will have to transfer all those files off the NTFS hard drive that they are currently on to another drive so that he can format that drive to FAT-32. Unless he has a spare hard drive to transfer the files, he may have to buy one.

chscag said:

It's too bad you didn't come here first. We would have told you not to install MacFuse NTFS 3G as the program is no longer being developed and is buggy.

To uninstall see the following Apple Discussions Forum article: LINK

If you are in the need for a NTFS read write driver, we recommend "Paragon NTFS" from Paragon software. ($19.95 US) Download LINK

Click to expand...

Fantastic! I've got rid of the programmes i installed and i can finally view my photos again! now i need to get the paragon so i can edit them! when i buy it and install it will i instantly be able to edit my pics or do i need to do anything to the external hard drive?

thanks for your help!!!

chris

aff said:

Fantastic! I've got rid of the programmes i installed and i can finally view my photos again! now i need to get the paragon so i can edit them! when i buy it and install it will i instantly be able to edit my pics or do i need to do anything to the external hard drive?

thanks for your help!!! chris

Click to expand...

As soon as you install Paragon NTFS you should then be able to access and edit your photos on the external hard drive. You don't have to do anything to the drive. Make sure you backup your photos. Hard drives are unpredictable and can fail. Always make a backup. I recommend backing them up to DVD media.

chscag said:

Keep in mind with your "free" solution that he will have to transfer all those files off the NTFS hard drive that they are currently on to another drive so that he can format that drive to FAT-32. Unless he has a spare hard drive to transfer the files, he may have to buy one.

Click to expand...

Why? He can read via his Mac from his NTFS drive, it's only that he can't write. I run both Mac and Windows machines side-by-side, and when I want to write something from the Mac to my main NTFS storage drives (of which I currently have seven totalling 13tb) I usually write it from the Mac to a flash drive formatted exFAT and then via my Windows machine to the external HD. Along the way it ensures I have several copies of the files, in case something goes wrong during the copying process (unusual, but does happen). Unless he also runs both Windows and Mac, why would he use NTFS?

In addition to these drives, I also have two small HDs I use for Mac system backups. Again, one to be used, the other for redundancy.

For permanent storage I ensure I always have at least three copies of files on separate drives, ideally four. I have had too many hard drives fail without warning to trust them. My worst day saw three drives fail, and on that day I lost files permanently. That's not happening again. A friend trusted to a single 2tb drive, and when that failed (it's always "when", not "if") he lost the lot, other than the few files he had on his local HD.

Hard drives are so cheap nowadays I have no sympathy for people who don't operate a proper redundant back-up regime and then lose data.

As chsgag pointed out, to format the drive FAT32, as you suggested the OP do, he would have to put the files that are on there now somewhere while the formatting was taking place. If the $20 for Paragon NTFS was a cost issue, then buying a second hard drive just to hold the files during that formate would certainly cost more. And the NTFS drive is readable by windows and osx, with Paragon NTFS, so the OP avoids your multiple steps and reboots to get something simple (saving an edited photo) accomplished. You have multiple machines, multiple drives whereas the OP apparently has one machine, one external drive. $20 is cheap to get what he wants done done.

I do agree about the need for external backups, I have multiple myself. Drives are pretty cheap these days, but not as low as $20.

I didn't (intend to) suggest anyone reformat a drive including data. I was talking about a start-up situation.

In any case, if the person has no drive he could move files to then he's sailing very close to the wind. With four laptops and quite a few external drives I expect at least one or two to go bad every year, usually with no warning at all. My Macbook Pro drive failed at just over a year old when it had rarely been moved and never with the machine running or in sleep mode. A 2tb WD external drive that was never moved failed after 7 months occasional use. My brother's business has around 40 high-end laptops with staff, and routinely he replaces the HDs at one year even if they're working - it's cheaper to do it in a controlled manner at a time of your choosing. The same philosophy applies to replacing light bulbs in high buildings.