Transferring Files from NTFS HD to HFS+ on Macbook Pro

[macintorque]

I got a Macbook Pro recently, and I have all of my files backed up on an external HD formatted to NTFS. I also bought a new external HD and formatted it to HFS+.

I am interested in moving all of my files on the NTFS external HD to the new HFS+ external HD using my Macbook Pro.

How can I do this so the files will be both read and write when I move them over to the HFS+ external HD?

 

[pm-r]

Probably the same way that another member wanted to know in 2012:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/sw...-my-data-off-my-ntfs-external-hd-new-hfs.html

Personally, I thought one could just select what you want and drag them to the HFS+ drive with the Finder.

 

[macintorque]

I had already run into that thread, but it seems I either need to purchase the software or move the files over individually and resave them as he/she mentions in the end.

Is there a way to do it without needing to buy software (open source perhaps)?

I am mainly concerned with my files ending up being read only. Don't want that happening.

 

[Slydude]

I had already run into that thread, but it seems I either need to purchase the software or move the files over individually and resave them as he/she mentions in the end.

Is there a way to do it without needing to buy software (open source perhaps)?

I am mainly concerned with my files ending up being read only. Don't want that happening.

The software mentioned in that thread allows the Mac to Write to the NTFS drive. That's not exactly what you seem to be after. Your Mac should read the NTFS drive fine. Copy a few files to the Mac drive and check to see if they are OK (i.e. you can read/write to them). If that's Ok then you can move the files over in large groups.

 

[pm-r]

The software mentioned in that thread allows the Mac to Write to the NTFS drive. That's not exactly what you seem to be after. Your Mac should read the NTFS drive fine. Copy a few files to the Mac drive and check to see if they are OK (i.e. you can read/write to them). If that's Ok then you can move the files over in large groups.

+1!!

I was just about to post the same suggestion. No need to make it more complicated than necessary.

There may be some file permissions goofups, but that's easy to fix by putting all the files into a folder, change the folder's permissions if needed to what they should be, then click the gearwheel to make the same change to all the enclosed files. Done.

 

[johnodd4]

The only other thing you might have to do.

Is right click the file once it's on the mac partition and select get info then at the bottom of the window is a option called permissions click permissions if there grayed out click the lock icon in the lower right corner of the window insert your password and set read and write to your file.

 

[Fionamirob]

Ntfs to mac

I'm interested in your comments re NTFS to Mac. I was looking to be able to use movie files on a Mac and Windows system so I bought a 1TB Seagate expansion external drive which was already formatted for windows (NTFS) and reformatted it to exFAT. FAT32 will only allow transfers of files up to 4GB maximum but exFAT will allow much more. The files will work on both but I'm not sure what the end product quality would be like. If I have done this incorrectly do please comment and let me know?

 

[chscag]

That sounds OK. However, there is one outstanding problem with using FAT (exFAT, FAT-32, etc) and that is because the FAT file system is a non journaling file system. File errors with large amounts of data are common and very hard to correct. You would be better off using either NTFS or HFS+ both of which are journaled file systems. The Paragon driver from Paragon NTFS allows R/W to NTFS and clears up permission problems. Only $19.95 from Paragon Software.

 

[lclev]

Hi Fionamirob!

I use a 2 TB extFAT formatted USB3 external drive to capture video 1 to 2 hours in length with a Macbook then I edit it and create four different formats of output using Premiere Pro. I have using this setup for the past year with no issues. I also do a live DVD burn of all recordings as a backup to the live capture. I know that there is a lack of journaling with exFAT and that it can potentially lead to an issue but I have had no loss of files at all. Having said that when I get to work tomorrow I will probably find I have an issue.....

It is a personal decision but I have lost data on NTFS drives over the year on Windows computers. Not enough experience with HFS+ to give an opinion on reliability.

As to quality of the video, I have seen no quality issues. The file system really won't affect that as much as the quality of the video coming in - SD versus HD etc.

Lisa

 

[Fionamirob]

Thank you for your reply Lisa. Although I was advised to use the NTFS HD to HFS+ I find this only allows me to read/write the files on the mac only and what I wanted was to read/write the files on both the mac and the pc (windows) so I'll stick with the exFAT for the moment.

 

[Slydude]

Paragon software has aa application that allows Windows boxes to read HFS+ disk. I have not used it personally so I don't have first hand information about that.

The program is called HFS for Windows - file system driver | PARAGON Software Group. There is a free demo so it doesn't cost anything to try it. I've read some comments suggesting it corrupts data. Try this on a few backup files first.

 

[gsahli]

There are newer/better drivers for OS X than Paragon. And free:
http://ntfsosx.sourceforge.net/

 

[Slydude]

Other than the cost (free) what makes this a better driver? I might have overlooked it.

 

[bobtomay]

There are newer/better drivers for OS X than Paragon. And free:
http://ntfsosx.sourceforge.net/

Would not suggest anyone try that on their Intel Mac.
That driver was being worked on back around 2003 and running OS X 10.2. Which means, PPC code, not even Intel.
All the reports there are from users running older G3 and G4 Macs.

I've not seen any driver "better" than Paragon's and Paragon's is the only one that I've "not" seen reports of data loss.
Although, there are a couple of members here that are using a couple of the other available drivers that have not had any issues.
Just because something is on sourceforge doesn't make it better.

 

[ManoaHi]

There is a free way, but I'd warn against it.

Would not suggest anyone try that on their Intel Mac.
That driver was being worked on back around 2003 and running OS X 10.2. Which means, PPC code, not even Intel.
All the reports there are from users running older G3 and G4 Macs.

I've not seen any driver "better" than Paragon's and Paragon's is the only one that I've "not" seen reports of data loss.
Although, there are a couple of members here that are using a couple of the other available drivers that have not had any issues.
Just because something is on sourceforge doesn't make it better.

Before Paragon and Tuxera, there is a way to do this, involving OSXFUSE and NTFS-3G (they claim it works on Yosemite: How to enable writing to NTFS hard drives for free in Mac OS X (including Yosemite!). A two step process with some scary bits in between. I did this back on MBP Leopard. It worked, but then when I upgraded to SnowLeopard it did not move well.

I bought the Tuxera product which still requires the two parts but it is included. They made an installer that installed both very well but then again you must pay. It worked for me for a long time all the way through Mavericks. Middle of 2013, I bought a new MBA, but this time I used Paragon (started on ML upgraded to Mavericks then to Yosemite. Having used 1. hand rolled, 2. Tuxera and 3. Paragon, I fully agree with @bobtomay Paragon is reasonably priced and solid and I think it is the best.

Tuxera US$31.00
Paragon US$19.95

Yet: Teh Evil Operator: Paragon vs Tuxera NTFS for OSX

 

[gsahli]

Just because something is on sourceforge doesn't make it better.

You're right. My mistake. Here's the link I intended to post. It's a current project.
Home - FUSE for OS X
And you still need the second part, as ManoaHi was describing above:
http://sourceforge.net/p/ntfs-3g/ntfs-3g/ci/2011_3_26/tree/
Easier -- get homebrew running:
http://coolestguidesontheplanet.com...s-x-yosemite-10-10-package-manager-unix-apps/
And run two commands:
brew update
brew install ntfs-3g

And sorry it took me so long to come back and look.

 

[ManoaHi]

I believe that you'll need to check one by one, but you could find out what happened via spot checks. I have never seen this behavior, before. You don't need Paragon (Tuxera or homebrew) to read from NTFS, only if you need to modify (write, delete, change) something under NTFS. It will be read only. But that still doesn't explain the behavior that you saw. Which version is your macOS?

 

[chscag]

I recently bought a macbook pro retina and i wanted to do this action...moving some files from an external NTFS disk to an external HFS+ disk through my macbook pro retina.
i have already purchased Paragon and i start the copy from one disk with NTFS to another HFS+.When folder's transfer complited i noticed (with disk) info that in HFS+ disk transfered more files(numericly) than the NTFS's!!!
I am talking about mp3's only!
Does anyone now why this happened?i can't check one by one the files because they are too many,about 1TB.

Thank you

Can you give us an example of some of those files? Here's what I think:

What you're likely seeing are the hidden files that are created by OS X when transferring files from a Windows machine. For every one file you copy from NTFS or FAT-32 to your Mac, the file system in OS X will create two more hidden files.

 

[lclev]

I agree with chscag. If you were to unhide the files you would see small files that OS X created when the mp3's were moved. They are small and won't hurt anything.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

Good thinking guys. I read this thread earlier and started to post a question asking how many extra files were created. I think you are probably on the right track here.