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I have a used seagate external drive that was previously used on a windows - I have a macBook OS 4.11 & It doesn't recognize that I have it plugged in - do I have to reformat it? And how?
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Thanks for asking your question on Fixya. ;-) What error messages are you seeing, if any? Does Apple OS recognize it at all? Also, did you format the drive on a windows computer? How about deleting the partition and plug it back into the macbook so the macbook can set it up for you. If you plug it into the windows machine, what messages did you get from that?
If the Seagate hard drive has been formatted on a PC in NTFS then the MAC cannot read and write to this hard drive. To exchange data between the PC and MAC then the Seagate hard drive needs to be formatted on a PC in FAT32 not NTFS.
Your MacBook should recognize the default file system already used to pre-format the LG extenal hard drive at the factory. You'll be able to write and read from it without issue. In fact, if you intend to ever also use it with a Windows machine, using it and leaving it in its pre-formatted state is recommended. As a novice user, I'm imagining you'll use the external drive for file storage. You'll only need to format it specifically for your MacBook if you intend to use it for more specialized MacBook tasks (like using the built-in Mac backup utility). In which case, the instructions to format it for Mac is available here -
the ntfs format is windows operating system format...
MAC will not recognize this format...
You need to format your hard disk according to the MAC OsX from your MAC computer...
I would be tempted to format the drive using the disk utility whch can
be found under applications and then utilities once opened choose your
drive in the left hand window and on the right hand side click on
erase. If you are using the Seagate drive for the Mac only, format it as a Mac OS Extended (journaled) Choose your volume format and name and then erase. Hope this
helps.
the soft ware that comes with it will also be erased, as it is a windows based identification,seagate free agent has mac utilities on its site, try to find out on www.seagate.com. you will find one for mac format and mac installation .
My guess is that the WD drive has the jumper in the "correct" position, for mounting inside an external case, while the other drives have their jumper set to an "incorrect" position.
Set the jumper to MA(ster), not to SL(ave), nor to C(able)S(elect).
If you are planning to use the Seagate Hard Drive on a PC and MAC better format it on your MAC Computer thru disc Utility and choose MS-DOS. This should solve the problem.
Mac has the ability to recognize a FAT, NTFS and MAC File System for the hard drive but the PC Computer cannot recognize MAC File System.
Check on your mac the File system of your hard drive. MAC OS Extended MAC OS Extended (Journaled)
If this is the file system then you now know that it will not be read by PC.
Also formating it with the use of PC will only result in an NTFS File System, and it can be read by Mac but it is only in a Read Only mode. You cannot copy paste or even erase on the drive having an NTFS on a MAC.
Hello,
If you can see the drive in Applications --> utilities --> Disk Utility, then you will be able to reformat it in the Mac OS format and read it.
Good day, Damien
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