Backing up data from a Mac and reading the same data into a windows
Hello I need to backup some data ( pic documents music Videos) form a mac to an external hard drive. And I know how to do that.
then i want to use that data on a windows Pc how can i do that. If i plug the same drive on a windows will it work ? Will I be able to read that data ? I know that hard drive for mac has to be formatted as Journal and they don't work on WIndows. Do i need to convert the data before being able to read it in a windows environment ?
Thank you
then i want to use that data on a windows Pc how can i do that. If i plug the same drive on a windows will it work ? Will I be able to read that data ? I know that hard drive for mac has to be formatted as Journal and they don't work on WIndows. Do i need to convert the data before being able to read it in a windows environment ?
Thank you
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In my point of view, no.
Reformat the disk to ExFat. Then copy the files from the MAC to the external disk. After that plug the disk into your PC and you will be able to access the files on the disk without any additional software.
Or as has been mentioned above, just connect the PC and the MAC to the same LAN, then just enable file sharing on one of them and you should be able to copy the file to the PC without even needing an external disk.
But again as I mentioned earlier, you will only be able to open those files on your PC if they were saved by your application in such a way that the programs on your PC are compatible with the format.
Reformat the disk to ExFat. Then copy the files from the MAC to the external disk. After that plug the disk into your PC and you will be able to access the files on the disk without any additional software.
Or as has been mentioned above, just connect the PC and the MAC to the same LAN, then just enable file sharing on one of them and you should be able to copy the file to the PC without even needing an external disk.
But again as I mentioned earlier, you will only be able to open those files on your PC if they were saved by your application in such a way that the programs on your PC are compatible with the format.
italiabella - you appear to have misunderstood the suggestions.
If the external HD is already formatted and there is data on it and you cannot reformat it as FAT32 or ExFAT then you cannot use Paragon NTFS.
Instead you copy all the files onto the HFS formatted drive and then on the WINDOWS PC you install the following program .. HFS Explorer - http://www.catacombae.org/hfsexplorer/
This will allow you to copy the data off the external HD and onto Windows.
As we explained earlier however if possible you should reformat the driver to a format which both OSX and Windows can read/write without 3rd party tools.
I assume the Mac and Windows PC are not on the same network and located in such a way that you cannot use WiFi or a network for file transfer.
If the external HD is already formatted and there is data on it and you cannot reformat it as FAT32 or ExFAT then you cannot use Paragon NTFS.
Instead you copy all the files onto the HFS formatted drive and then on the WINDOWS PC you install the following program .. HFS Explorer - http://www.catacombae.org/hfsexplorer/
This will allow you to copy the data off the external HD and onto Windows.
As we explained earlier however if possible you should reformat the driver to a format which both OSX and Windows can read/write without 3rd party tools.
I assume the Mac and Windows PC are not on the same network and located in such a way that you cannot use WiFi or a network for file transfer.
ASKER
Yes, your extremely amazing information blown out my brain :)..I am sorry.
So I pick the easiest option. The one that Eoinosulliavan said:
"Reformat the disk to ExFat. Then copy the files from the MAC to the external disk. After that plug the disk into your PC and you will be able to access the files on the disk without any additional software"
The External USB drive is a new drive. How do I reformat it to ExFat? Please ? Baby step I am getting there :)
So I pick the easiest option. The one that Eoinosulliavan said:
"Reformat the disk to ExFat. Then copy the files from the MAC to the external disk. After that plug the disk into your PC and you will be able to access the files on the disk without any additional software"
The External USB drive is a new drive. How do I reformat it to ExFat? Please ? Baby step I am getting there :)
ASKER
Ok the new 2TB drive is formatter as NTFS. How do i reformat this drive to ExFat?
So ExFat can read both format from Mac and from Windows correct ?
So ExFat can read both format from Mac and from Windows correct ?
If it's formatted to NTFS, then just install Paragon.
On OSX or Windows you can reformat the HD.
On OSX just do the following
Plug in the external HD
Open Disk Utility application
Select the External HD in the side menu
Select the “Erase” in Disk Utility.
Select MS-DOS (FAT) from the drop down box.
Click Erase and follow the prompts.
Let it finish, and you're done.
OSX only offers FAT32 formatting which works fine on OSX and Windows ..
If you format as FAT on a Windows 8 or 10 you will be using ExFAT which again both OSX and Windows can read. The main difference between FAT and ExFAT is that the ExFAT supports very large files > 4Gb which FAT does not, If you've no individual files like this to copy then FAT32 will be fine for now.
If you do, then plug the external HD into the Windows PC and choose Format and select ExtendedFAT (ExFAT) as the format.
Personally I always recommend also having Paragon NTFS installed on your Mac anyway so you can deal with writing to other NTFS formatted drives in the future as Windows uses NTFS by default and you'll come across USB devices and memory sticks in future you might want to write data to and it will be useful to have.
On OSX just do the following
Plug in the external HD
Open Disk Utility application
Select the External HD in the side menu
Select the “Erase” in Disk Utility.
Select MS-DOS (FAT) from the drop down box.
Click Erase and follow the prompts.
Let it finish, and you're done.
OSX only offers FAT32 formatting which works fine on OSX and Windows ..
If you format as FAT on a Windows 8 or 10 you will be using ExFAT which again both OSX and Windows can read. The main difference between FAT and ExFAT is that the ExFAT supports very large files > 4Gb which FAT does not, If you've no individual files like this to copy then FAT32 will be fine for now.
If you do, then plug the external HD into the Windows PC and choose Format and select ExtendedFAT (ExFAT) as the format.
Personally I always recommend also having Paragon NTFS installed on your Mac anyway so you can deal with writing to other NTFS formatted drives in the future as Windows uses NTFS by default and you'll come across USB devices and memory sticks in future you might want to write data to and it will be useful to have.
You don't need any 3rd party tool on your MAC to be able to write to NTFS, at least not if it is a current OSX version. You can make it writable by following the instructions below:
First with finder check what label your disk has within "Volumes". Then open the terminal and then enter the following command:
diskutil info /Volumes/DRIVENAME | grep UUID
(replace "Drivename" with the label you found above).
Then you can add write support for that device in the fstab file using the following command:
sudo echo "UUID=ENTER_UUID_HERE none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse" >> /etc/fstab
(replace "ENTER_UUID_HERE" with the UUID you got with your previous command).
After that remount the external disk and you should be able to write to it.
First with finder check what label your disk has within "Volumes". Then open the terminal and then enter the following command:
diskutil info /Volumes/DRIVENAME | grep UUID
(replace "Drivename" with the label you found above).
Then you can add write support for that device in the fstab file using the following command:
sudo echo "UUID=ENTER_UUID_HERE none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse" >> /etc/fstab
(replace "ENTER_UUID_HERE" with the UUID you got with your previous command).
After that remount the external disk and you should be able to write to it.
ASKER
Ok I am gojng to format the drive as Exfat. Just in case anyone can provide a good/secure link where I can download paragon without the risk to download spyware or other kind of junk please?
Thank you so much,
Thank you so much,
You don't need anything from paragon.
ASKER
Rindi I thought parago ni is a software that needs to be installed to view some kind of files ?
No. If you use a filesystem like ExFat or Fat32 on the external disk you can view the files on both systems without any additional software. Even with NTFS you can view the files on both systems without additional software.
Paragon offers a driver for OSX so that you can additionally write ot an NTFS file-system, not just read the files, but you don't need that either as you can use my earlier comment to make NTFS writable on OSX.
Paragon also offers a driver so you can access an HFS file-system on a Windows PC, but again you don't need that as the external disk has been formatted with a file-system that is common to both OS's.
Paragon offers a driver for OSX so that you can additionally write ot an NTFS file-system, not just read the files, but you don't need that either as you can use my earlier comment to make NTFS writable on OSX.
Paragon also offers a driver so you can access an HFS file-system on a Windows PC, but again you don't need that as the external disk has been formatted with a file-system that is common to both OS's.
ASKER
Ok my drive if fornstter with ntfs how can I format it with Exfat ?
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No I said that its formatted to ntfs and I need to learn how to format it to Exfat
ASKER
Sorry for the confusion
ASKER
Ok got it now and thank you for your patience
ASKER
Ok, thank you to your patient and meticulous instruction even the dimmest me was able to pull out this project. You were able to prepare me very well. I formatted my drive as Exfat and I was able to read and copy the data from both mac and Windows. A piece of cake. I learned something new and very important to me. Thank you all for watching my back.
ASKER
Did I say it right? Are these the proper steps to take ?
Thank you everyone.