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    mac os help!!

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by tunaboi42o, Jul 21, 2007.

  1. tunaboi42o

    tunaboi42o Notebook Enthusiast

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    hi everyone, I just bought a 500gb seagate external HD and it is in ntfs format. Now i just transfered my mp3's and movies from my windows computer onto the seagate HD.

    Okay heres my problem..do i need to change my external HD to fat32?? or is the macbookpro's able to read ntfs external drives? also if i had bootcamp..will it be able to reconize my mp3's and movies?? :confused:

    To sum it all up...i need my macbookpro to be able to play my mp3's and movies off the external HD which is in ntfs format which i have transfered about 150gb off my old windows desktop.

    Someone please give me some advice on what approach to do what i want..oh and btw i got the new external seagate 500gb(black)also lights up when you plug AC when plugged into an external power source.
     
    tunaboi42o, Jul 21, 2007
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  2. Overclocker

    Overclocker Notebook Evangelist

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    It'll read them fine. However, it won't write to the drive unless you convert it to fat32, or get a 3rd-party program.
     
    Overclocker, Jul 21, 2007
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  3. tunaboi42o

    tunaboi42o Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ooh so you mean it can read off the external HD but cant write to it...is this correct? also does it have to be in windows bootcamp to read it? or can i read the mp3's and movies off the mac os
     
    tunaboi42o, Jul 21, 2007
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  4. tunaboi42o

    tunaboi42o Notebook Enthusiast

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    oh yeah also...which third party software do i need in order to change the external HD to fat32 with out deleting my mp3's and movies using the mac os
     
    tunaboi42o, Jul 21, 2007
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  5. aaa

    aaa Notebook Consultant

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    I don't think there's any way to convert ntfs to fat32 (even in Windows) short of backing the stuff up, reformatting as fat32, and copying it back again.
     
    aaa, Jul 21, 2007
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  6. tunaboi42o

    tunaboi42o Notebook Enthusiast

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    im sorta new to this....but right now i have mp3's and movies on my new external hd which is in ntfs format...will i be able to transfer my songs and movies to the macbook pro hardrive that is in fat32?
     
    tunaboi42o, Jul 21, 2007
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  7. aaa

    aaa Notebook Consultant

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    the mac's hard drive is not fat32, but you'll be able to copy stuff fine. As long as you have enough space.
     
    aaa, Jul 21, 2007
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  8. tunaboi42o

    tunaboi42o Notebook Enthusiast

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    your telling me that the new mbp's are ntfs format???
     
    tunaboi42o, Jul 21, 2007
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  9. aaa

    aaa Notebook Consultant

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    no, all macs use HFS. Generally you don't care about that because mac HDs stay inside macs.
     
    aaa, Jul 21, 2007
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  10. fan of laptop

    fan of laptop Notebook Evangelist

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    Because NTFS is microsoft standard, so you need to transform it to fat. I have the same problem but finally I got it
     
    fan of laptop, Jul 22, 2007
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  11. M@lew

    M@lew Notebook Evangelist

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    I'd just copy all the files onto your new laptop, format the external in FAT32 for future use and then put the stuff back on should you want.
     
    M@lew, Jul 22, 2007
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  12. TedJ

    TedJ Asus fan in a can!

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    Or, unless you need to be able to write to the external drive from within OS X, you could leave it as is. OS X has supported read access to NTFS partitions for ages.

    Do nothing is often the simplest solution... ;)
     
    TedJ, Jul 23, 2007
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  13. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    I have my external formatted as HFS+ and use MacDrive on my Windows desktop. You may wanna give that some thought if you are hesitant to use FAT32.
     
    cashmonee, Jul 23, 2007
    #13