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Moving Data Between Two Systems Using an External Hard Drive (for MacOS) In most cases you can use your external hard drive to copy data from one computer to another. It is recommended that you only copy data (i.e. Pictures, documents, music, etc.) and not applications.
Windows' default NTFS is read-only on OS X, not read-and-write, and Windows computers can't even read Mac-formatted HFS+ drives. FAT32 works for both OSes, but has a 4GB size limit per file, so it.
Applications will not function when they are copied to a different system. Also, please note there may be a file system compatibility issue. Please see the ' File system compatibility between operating systems' section below. To copy the data to the external hard drive: There are four main ways to save data (or 'backup') to your external drive: manually (using the copy & paste or the drag & drop method), creating image/clone backups, using a backup software, and using backup programs included within Windows or MacOS. To backup your data manually, please see for instructions, Remember that you may always backup manually, whether or not you are also using a backup software.
Many Seagate and Maxtor-brand drives include backup programs, and you may use these as well as manual methods to perform backups. To use a backup software, simply install the software that came with your drive and configure the backup to run when you launch it or on a scheduled basis. See for how-to videos and other resources to help you set up your backup program. See for a list of programs by drive model.
To use MacOS native backup systems like Time Machine, please check with their manufacturer documentation. Here are some examples:. File system compatibility between operating systems Windows OS to MacOS: The GoFlex line of drives includes an NTFS driver, which can make NTFS file systems usable in MacOS. This is the best solution Seagate offers for transferring data between Windows and Mac computers. You may also format your external drive into FAT32 for use between Windows and Mac computers. For instructions. It is only possible to read FAT and FAT32 formatted drives in a Macintosh with OS 10.2 or earlier. Using a FAT32 formatted drive within the Macintosh environment is only recommended for a short period of time to transfer data.
Data corruption will possibly occur when using FAT32 over an extended period of time in a Macintosh. Also keep in mind, that you will have a 4 GB file transfer limitation. Do not use NTFS formatted drives.
For non-GoFlex drives, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther or later works with local NTFS-formatted volumes, but the volume will be read-only. You will be able to copy data from, but not to, the external hard drive. With FAT32, it is recommended that the volume/partition size of the external hard drive not exceed 32 GB. If you have an NTFS formatted disk, you must use another method to transfer the data from the Mac computer to the NTFS formatted external drive. Please also see the following Apple article: Macintosh OS to Windows OS: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex drives includes the Paragon driver, which can make NTFS file systems usable in MacOS. Please for instructions on installing it.
This is the best solution Seagate offers for transferring data between Windows and Mac computers. For non-GoFlex drives, Windows does not support the Macintosh file system and it cannot be read. However, Macintosh and Windows can read the FAT32 file system. Using a FAT32 formatted drive within the Macintosh environment is only recommended for a short period of time to transfer data. It is recommended that you divide the drive in 32GB volumes/partitions and format as FAT32. Data corruption will be prevalent when using FAT32 over an extended period of time in a Macintosh. Using a third-party disk utility that allows you to see Macintosh formatted volumes is an alternative to using FAT32 file system for the external hard drive.
MacOS to MacOS: Some Seagate external drives, such as the FreeAgent Go for Mac and FreeAgent Desk for Mac, come formatted in MacOS Extended format, which is supported by Mac OS 8.1 and later. Others, which come formatted in NTFS, need to be reformatted in MacOS before you attempt to store data on the drive. For instructions. When you format your external hard drive, it should be formatted for Mac OS Extended.
If you are transferring data from an OS 10 system to an OS 9 computer, or trying to access the data through OS 9 (with a drive formatted through OS 10), you will need to have installed OS 9 driverswhen you erase the drive. Otherwise, transferring data between OS 10 operating systems should work. Helpful Apple articles.
If you open the Disk Utility application on your Mac with the disk connected, you should be able to see it in the list of disks on the left hand column of the Disk Utility window. If you click on the the partition (i.e. The name you see in your file tree when the disk mounts under OS X) what do you see for the Format at the bottom of the window?
If it is Mac OS Extended or a something similar then your disk is using the HFS+ file system, which is the default for OS X. This file system type is not natively supported by Windows, which is why the disk will not mount when you plug it into your laptop. You have a couple of options:. Reformat the disk to FAT32, which is the lowest common denominator in file systems between OS X and Windows. In addition to limitation to file sizes. Depends on the filesystem type and partitioning scheme whether it'll work on both. If the hard drive were formatted for HFS it would not show up on the Windows Computer.
If the Partition Scheme were Apple Partition Map, it would also not show up. For maximum compatibility, back up everything from the external hard drive onto your Mac.
Open Disk Utility, select the external hard drive and go to Partition. Under Volume Scheme, choose 1 Partition, then click Options.
Choose Master Boot Record. Then choose MSDOS under the Format menu. Then click Apply. Your hard drive should work on either computer at that point, as well as others you may try to use it on.
If you want something that both machines / OSes can read a write, and that can act as an emergency boot drive for either machine, do this:. Reformat the drive, using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) as the low-level partition table format. Avoid Master Boot Record, which Intel Macs can't boot from. Also avoid Apple Partition Map, which Windows machines would have no clue about. Give the drive one HFS+J (Mac OS Extended, Journaled) partition large enough to install Mac OS X onto (10GB+). This volume format accommodates Mac OS X and Mac files the best. Give the drive one FAT32 (MS-DOS) partition, which both Mac OS X and Windows can read and write.
This is a good place to put files that you want both Mac and Windows to have read/write access to. The FAT volume format is showing its age, but a huge variety of OSes know how to work with it. If you want the drive to have a volume that's more optimal for Windows than FAT, give it an NTFS partition as well. This would be a good volume to install Windows onto, but beware that Mac OS X only has read-only support for NTFS built-in. If you want your Mac to be able to write to this partition, you'll need third-party software to enable this on Mac OS X.