external hard disk

[hk_andyc]

hi i have another problem this time.
i have a 100gb hard disk which i usually use and been using on my windows system for sometime now and it seems to work fine over at the windows system, so i went to transfer some files from my windows to my mac.
the mac is able to pick up the hard disk and i can take files FROM the hard disk on to mac how ever when i try to put some document from my mac into the hard disk it would not allow me to with an error msg.

i have tried with a different external hard disk and it did work. but some how this one isn't.

any ideas

 

[Kyomii]

What is the error message you are getting? What format is the hard disc - NTFS or FAT32?

 

[hk_andyc]

the hard disk is fat 32 the error message was "this item "item name" could not be moved because "my hard disk" cannot be modified. But strange thing is i can take files from it but not put files onto it. i tired formatting the external hard disk but that hasn't helped. Please can some one look into this many thanks

 

[Kyomii]

It sounds like the external is locked from moving anything onto it, therefore changing its content - in other words only being mounted in read mode.

Are you 100 per cent sure the file system is FAT 32 because the error would indicate that it is NTFS, which OSX (mac) cannot write to, which would make sense. You can move files off the drive onto the Mac but not the other way around if the file system is NTFS.

I would do a search on google or try using Disk Utility on the Mac to format the drive as "MS-DOS" which is the FAT (16) file system.

 

[hk_andyc]

sorry my bad the drive was formatted in a ntfs, so according to what you say i would not be able to copy things on to my hard disk now?? Is there any way around this, i wanted to format the drive in fat32 but it did not allow me, is there any way i can force my drive to be formatted into fat32? thanks

 

[hk_andyc]

ok i managed to format my hard disk using partition magic from ntfs to fat32 system and it is now working and i m able to read and write on this hard disk i m now very happy.

 

[Kyomii]

I don't think this can be done via the Mac (I am tired and having a senior moment so if I am wrong, forgive me) as it cannot write to it being in NTFS format.

It can be done via windows but involves deleting and recreating the partition. Drives over 32GB cannot be formatted in FAT32 via Windows XP and 2000 so you will need to partition it anyway - hence why you only got the NTFS option.

You can use DOS software to probably overcome this limit so you are probably better off doing a google search to be honest.

 

[Kyomii]

Doh! Too late LOL!