PC Formatted HD to MAC

S

smiles906

Active member
Hey Guys,

I didn't know where to put this, so if its not in the right location I apologize.

Well, I have been working with a PC (Windows Vista) for a while and just got a MacBook Pro. With the PC I had 2 Western Digital Hard Drives. 1 was 320GB, and the second was 500GB.

The 320GB is full and the 500GB only has 100 or less used. How do I go about using those external hard drives with my Mac? I want to open them and use them and not it be read only.

I also got a 1TB WD HD that is new and maybe will help if I transfer footage.

So.. How do I go about using the 2 HD without losing anything and using it to my normal acitivies.

Your help is greatly appreciated!!
 
If these are all on a network, you could just share the drives from the PC and use SMB:// protocol to move files.

Your MBP needs the drive to be formatted to Mac OS Extended (journeling can be off, not necessary) to be used directly attached to the MBP with rw access.


Personally I'd copy all files to the 1TB from both drives, format the 500GB to OS Extended, then copy the files from the 1TB to the 500GB, then format the 1TB to OS Extended, then move all files back to it from the 500GB again, then finally wipe the 500GB again and use it as a dedicated time machine backup volume. Your 320GB stays NTFS unless you want/need it.
 
Ming,

Thanks for the reply. These are not in a network unfortunately. I have been using a PC for a while and had the two HD and just recently got a MacBook for school. I will be leaving for college and my 2 HD are formatted on PC and the 1TB is not formatted right now (not open). I CURRENTLY HAVE NO EXTERNAL HD ON MAC.

I want to be able to use the all the HD freely with Mac, is that possible?

Here is the deal:

So I should copy all the files to the 1TB in the PC right? Then with the 500GB empty, go on Mac and format? THen Where do I copy the 1TB to the 500GB which system?

Thanks for your patience and help on this problem.
 
Alright. I just connected the PC formated HD to the Mac. And it read it. I click get more info and when I click sharing, it said you can read and write. I copied a file to the desktop and all is good. So is it fine?

The file system is MS-DOS (FAT 32).

But: for the HDV files I click it to view on Quicktime and they only have sound and the video is just black? the Video files that are HDV are avi. But so are the non-hdv files that are avi and they play.
 
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