External Hard Drive not readable

[lschultz777]

I had to have my MacBook Pro fixed and the hard drive was erased. I used to have something downloaded to make my external hard drive readable but its not there as memory was wiped clean. Any ideas on the name of the download?

 

[Krayzkat]

Sorry I can’t answer your question but I’m surprised you need to download software to use an external hard drive, I would have assumed it would be plug and play.

 

[lschultz777]

Sorry I can’t answer your question but I’m surprised you need to download software to use an external hard drive, I would have assumed it would be plug and play.

Its to read only. I'll have to call my computer guy.

 

[hobowankenobi]

If you had (have) an external drive that is formatted NTFS, (default for Windows) then yes, you need a third party tool to fully intereact with it on a Mac. There are a few other formats that can be incompatible with Macs...but NTFS is the most common.

You have 3 options:

1. You can format the external drive, and use a format that is Mac compatible. Be aware, that this means erasing the drive, and all data will be lost. Once formatted, it will work as you need without any third party software.
2. You can buy a third party tool...or you may have already, like this one.
3. Your drive might have come with a free tool (some include it), and you might be able to re-download and install it. Varies by brand, and maybe model.

If it is read only...sounds like NTFS. If you have space somewhere, you can copy everything off it you need to save, and format it HFS+ for Macs, or exFAT that will work fine on all platforms.