Unable to Move or Copy Files to Mac External Hard Drive - Mac Will Not Write Files to USB Hard Drive

Рет қаралды 28,290

10 ай бұрын

Unable to Move or Copy Files to Mac External Hard Drive - Mac Will Not Write Files to USB Hard Drive
Western Digital 4TB Drive: amzn.to/3zo75Qt
USB 3.0 Hard Drive Cable: amzn.to/2WBrAe4
Ok so you've plugged in an external drive to your Mac to copy files to it. But no matter what you do, the file will not move or copy to the drive. The hard drive seems to be working fine but you just can't put any files on it. The reason this isn't working is because this drive has been formatted for a Windows operating system. And if I press Command-I on my keyword I can learn more about the attached storage device.
In the Info window next to Format, my drive shows that it has been formatted with the NTFS file system which is a Windows type of file structure. While the Mac can read and copy files from this NTFS drive, it cannot copy to or write files onto this device. For me, if I want full capabilities of this drive I'll have to initialize and format it.
But before I begin, I definitely need to plug it into a Windows computer and copy or backup all the files somewhere else if I want to keep them. I'd encourage you to watch the entire video before proceeding so you won't accidentally delete any of your important files. This is just a warning because I want to keep your data safe!
To format the NTFS drive, I'll connect it to my Mac. Then in the Launchpad, I'll type Disk Utility in the search bar. After launching the Disk Utility, click on the problem drive in the left column. Here mine is called Elements_1_Backup. And under the name I can confirm this is the NTFS drive. To start the format, click on the Erase button at the top right of the window.
On the popup menu, I can rename the drive if needed. In the Format dropdown menu there are only 2 options that should be used. Select MacOS Extended (Journaled) if this drive is only going to be used only on a Mac. Using this option means a Windows computer will no longer recognize this storage device when plugged in. But for me, the best option is to choose the ExFAT format which allows the most flexibility. ExFAT allows both Mac and Windows to read and write to the hard drive. It's actually the best of both worlds!
After you choose one of those formats the next step is to click Erase. But please note that this final step will erase and delete everything on the hard drive. There'll be no way to recover the lost data if you continue. So first back up the data on the drive if needed. I'm not ready to erase this drive so I'll just cancel out. But the steps I just described is what you need to do when your Mac can't write files to an external hard drive.
If this video was helpful please give me a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button to stay up to date on all my weekly videos!
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
***Equipment I Use For My Videos***
Canon EOS M6: amzn.to/2pwQ0Vq
Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 Lens: amzn.to/31mLfLq
Tokina 11-16mm Wide Angle Lens: amzn.to/33TFaYH
Fotodiox EF to EOS M Lens Adapter: amzn.to/31u3AGq
Comica CVM-WM300A Wireless Microphones: amzn.to/31tbiAD
Aputure Amaran AL528W LED Light: amzn.to/2VRuwyK
Kamerar SD-1 Camera Slider: amzn.to/2VUB5Ax
AVermedia HDMI Game Capture Module: amzn.to/31phsSp

Пікірлер: 46

@AlexMyth 4 ай бұрын

Solved the problem! It was all about Windows format, now I changed it to ExFAT. Thank you!

@RylanIsabella Ай бұрын

This video was very helpul and took a load of stress off me, thank you! You're a great teacher and get straight to the point.

@chen7532 2 ай бұрын

this is brilliant! I love your video. It helped me a lot. I'm just new to mac because I recently bought a macbook pro 2019 and this perfectly worked for me. Thank you so much.

@kostaskazakos7653 6 ай бұрын

Very helpful . Thanks a lot mate

@Kokomaxem 6 ай бұрын

It works for me!!!🎉🎉🎉 Thank You so much it was driving me crazy!

@swetamuralinarippatta4427 4 ай бұрын

This was super helpful! thanks!!

@trinityuncut Ай бұрын

Quick and straight to the point. THANK YOU!! =)

@TheRenderQ Ай бұрын

You’re welcome! Glad my hard drive tutorial helped!

@riyaajay4961 3 ай бұрын

you are a life saver! this was driving me nuts

@sergipadillaargelich8459 5 ай бұрын

what if i just can format it to APFS type formats?

@_xstarbutterfly Ай бұрын

this is perfect. mine is now working. thank you so much!

@thehometherapy 7 ай бұрын

Thank you so so much!!! this really helped solve my problem. 100% to you for doing this video :)

@MrCarlrockz 6 ай бұрын

very useful and informative.thanks it works👍

@MaxTooney 3 ай бұрын

Very helpful, thank you!

@DineshKumarP08 5 ай бұрын

It was helpful. Thanks!

@techinsightchannel9314 8 ай бұрын

Thanks more my pal it helps me more bro❤❤

@UtpalBiswasOfficial 4 ай бұрын

Thanks! It really helped.

@marningrace432 12 күн бұрын

Thank you this helped me out!

@MateoGaming1 27 күн бұрын

This Helped Thanks!

@rnowlin13 5 ай бұрын

Fixed my problem! thanks

@Djanirudhapawar05 5 ай бұрын

thank you for solved my problem❤ love you

@pinaswanderertv 4 ай бұрын

Thank you! Its working

@lindiepearl 16 күн бұрын

My drive is set to ExFat but is still unmodifiable. Thoughts?

@Hanover_outdoorsman Ай бұрын

Thank you so much ! Saved my day man !

@TheRenderQ Ай бұрын

You’re welcome! So glad you got your hard drive working on your Mac!

@Hanover_outdoorsman Ай бұрын

@@TheRenderQ working on my first long form video , ran into space issues fast . Used a 128GB SD card as a hard drive to put iMovie library on lol . Till I got a hard drive , witch this saved the day and was Stright to the point and clear . Thank you

@AC-Ninja 2 ай бұрын

I changed to exfat and now do not get an "Errors" but it sill does not load them to the drive? I have all permissions on read and write. For whatever reason it makes the audible sound as though it loaded to external hd but just disappears from the hd and there is no error message or anything that would give me any insight as to why. I have been looking into this for a week now and cannot find ANYTHING that helps. I am at a loss here. Making me REALLY REGRET switching to Apple. Never had this issue with MS/Windows

@alinavianne 3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@eighttarot9949 Ай бұрын

Really helpful

@ThatDominicanLife 5 ай бұрын

Thank You

@ignatiussetiawan1280 5 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot

@CaptureIndia 15 күн бұрын

I have 800GB hard disk and no other hard disk to backup . is there any solution in that we don't need to delete data?

@plainkady 3 ай бұрын

How can I do it without having to delete 8Tb of data from my external hard drive?

@Mazerschi36 2 ай бұрын

you save me thanks

@johnxywu Ай бұрын

I don't see the ExFAT option on my hardrive

@SANJAY7S7S 28 күн бұрын

Ong 😢 Thank you so much 😮

@yozeruga Ай бұрын

Why does MacBook crash when I’m connected to HDMi and move the magic mouse

@rakeshreddy68 6 ай бұрын

Cant we Do without Formating Them ?

@abigaelcalma 2 ай бұрын

Same question. All videos I find is to erase the external hard drive and change the format to ExFAT. I have alot of files in my external HD so I can’t copy and paste them all to my MacBook.

@rakeshreddy68 2 ай бұрын

Yes , I had formatted my 1TB by copying files to other drive and changed to Exfat recopied back

@JeramieSaito 2 ай бұрын

Wow I need to buy a new hard drive then thanks

@muzykaarmani7831 2 ай бұрын

Im just start hate mac , my brother gifted it to me and omg its so complicated, too many websites not opening its so stupid i am now trying to format it so I haven the same problem and I don’t have now window laptop to save data i have 3 hard disk and all with same problems

@smokepepsi Ай бұрын

my g

@tonyrajan5120 14 күн бұрын

My external drive is 8TB AND MAC has only 1 TB now tell me how do I back it up ???? Why making videos with the same single solution when each and every single video just says the same thing.