MAC OSX can't write on NTFS??

S

singsing

I hv an ext. HDD formatted by vista into NTFS...
i used the disk manager in vista....vista found the drive...i make it active
and then format it with NTFS...
but when i plug it into my macbook running OSX, the OSX says the drive is
write protect...
but i am pretty sure i can write things in when i plug it into my vista
notebook....
is Mac OSX not capable to write NTFS or is i set anything wrong when i
formatted the HDD?
 
M

Malke

singsing said:
I hv an ext. HDD formatted by vista into NTFS...
i used the disk manager in vista....vista found the drive...i make it
active and then format it with NTFS...
but when i plug it into my macbook running OSX, the OSX says the drive is
write protect...
but i am pretty sure i can write things in when i plug it into my vista
notebook....
is Mac OSX not capable to write NTFS or is i set anything wrong when i
formatted the HDD?

Unix operating systems, including OS X, can't write to NTFS partitions
without extra drivers. You'll have to search to see if an NTFS driver
exists for OS X. I'd use Google and also look here:

http://www.macwindows.com/

If you don't want to bother, format the external hard drive FAT32 instead.
Both Vista and OS X can write to FAT32-formatted partitions.

Another option would be to leave the external hard drive formatted NTFS,
leave it connected to the Vista box, and access it over the network from
the Mac. If you set sharing permissions correctly, you will be able to
write to an NTFS partition over the network. I transfer files between my
Windows machines and my Mac all the time.

Malke
 
B

Beoweolf

Instead of 'downgrading' to FAT32, why not upgrade to Samba3, it integrates
with ACL and allows both Mac and windows users to browse through
folders/files. Most of the benefits of NTFS, with few hassles. Only
Drawback, its not Free.
 
J

Justin

Malke said:
Unix operating systems, including OS X, can't write to NTFS partitions
without extra drivers. You'll have to search to see if an NTFS driver
exists for OS X. I'd use Google and also look here:

http://www.macwindows.com/

If you don't want to bother, format the external hard drive FAT32 instead.
Both Vista and OS X can write to FAT32-formatted partitions.

Another option would be to leave the external hard drive formatted NTFS,
leave it connected to the Vista box, and access it over the network from
the Mac. If you set sharing permissions correctly, you will be able to
write to an NTFS partition over the network. I transfer files between my
Windows machines and my Mac all the time.

Malke



the only problem with FAT* is the four gig size limitation. That might
be OK for some people, but for example video editing, I hit 12 gigs on a
regular basis.
 
M

Malke

Justin said:
the only problem with FAT* is the four gig size limitation. That might
be OK for some people, but for example video editing, I hit 12 gigs on a
regular basis.

Yes, of course that is right and a very good point. We don't know what the
OP wants to do with the external drive, so we'll just have to wait for him
to come back and tell us.

Malke
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top