Partitioning External HD For Photos Transfer ?

[Robert4]

Hello,

Hate to admit my ignorance with this, but I guess asking is the best way of learning.

Per previous Post, I want to transfer a load of Photos, and possibly some eMails from Mozilla Thunderbird
(if possible; secondary importance) from an older W7 pc to a new iMac.

Several suggestions that there is no need to use Migration Assistant which I have been having trouble with.

Suggestions were to put Photos on an external HD, and then plug this external HD into the iMac.

Started thinking about this a bit, and realize I don't have a good understanding of the mechanics.

Let's say I do as suggest, and partition the external HD.
So, now we have a Windows "side," and also a Mac "side"

a. How hard is it to actually do this partitioning ? How ?
WD offer any Passport models, e.g., already partitioned ?

I now drag over the Folder(s) with all the Photos.
I guess to the Windows side, as it is plugged into the Windows pc.

b. Do I have to tell it to put these photos on the Windows side, or does it know to do this automatically ?
If so, how ?

So now I plug it into the Mac.

This is where my major confusion starts.

There is nothing that was placed on the Mac side.

*c. So, why partition it at all ?

Will the Mac read the Photos that are in the Windows partition ?

Really confused over this.

Obviously, as usual, I'm missing a lot of understanding on this. Will blame it on old age now.

If someone could explain all of this for me, and walk me thru what to do in detail, would be most appreciative.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Hello,

Hate to admit my ignorance with this, but I guess asking is the best way of learning.

Per previous Post, I want to transfer a load of Photos, and possibly some eMails from Mozilla Thunderbird
(if possible; secondary importance) from an older W7 pc to a new iMac.

Several suggestions that there is no need to use Migration Assistant which I have been having trouble with.

Suggestions were to put Photos on an external HD, and then plug this external HD into the iMac.

Started thinking about this a bit, and realize I don't have a good understanding of the mechanics.

Let's say I do as suggest, and partition the external HD.
So, now we have a Windows "side," and also a Mac "side"

a. How hard is it to actually do this partitioning ? How ?
WD offer any Passport models, e.g., already partitioned ?

I now drag over the Folder(s) with all the Photos.
I guess to the Windows side, as it is plugged into the Windows pc.

b. Do I have to tell it to put these photos on the Windows side, or does it know to do this automatically ?
If so, how ?

So now I plug it into the Mac.

This is where my major confusion starts.

There is nothing that was placed on the Mac side.

*c. So, why partition it at all ?

Will the Mac read the Photos that are in the Windows partition ?

Really confused over this.

Obviously, as usual, I'm missing a lot of understanding on this. Will blame it on old age now.

If someone could explain all of this for me, and walk me thru what to do in detail, would be most appreciative.

Thanks,
Bob

a. Partitioning isn't hard, especially if you're starting with an empty drive (since partitioning often involves wiping existing data). The question is where you are trying to do this partitioning--Windows or Mac?

b. Windows will only be able to work with supported formats--FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT. If you plug in to a Windows PC, it will only show drives of these formats in Windows Explorer. You won't be able to write to MacOS formats, and Windows won't show them in Explorer.

c. Macs and Windows PCs can both read and write to FAT32 and exFAT. FAT/FAT32 are older file systems with file size limitations, so format your dual OS partition to exFAT. Give that partition a name you will recognize, and then just start copying your files to the drive.

 

[Robert4]

Hi,

Thanks for explanation.

I hadn't realized that both the Mac and Windows can read the same "stuff" if the hd is formatted correctly.

Will give it a try, and format the external HD to exFat.

Thanks again,
Bob

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Don't make a big production out of this.
Do you already have an external drive that you'll be using?

If you do, try this experiment (will take no more than a couple of minutes):
1. Disconnect the drive from the PC
2. Connect it to the Mac
3. Does the drive "mount" on the desktop?
4. If it does, you know it's in a format the Mac can read
5. Drag the drive icon to the trash (you must always do this BEFORE you unplug a drive from the Mac), then disconnect it.

Perform this experiment, then get back to us with your results.
We'll be waiting to hear your answer.

 

[Robert4]

Hi,

Thanks so much to everyone for All the help.
Great Forum and folks.
Really very appreciative of the help.

Yes, the 1 TB WD Passport external drive icon does show up as an icon on the MAC desktop.

WD has a nice writeup on how to format their external drives, and I believe I followed it correctly.
But the screen under the partitioning options is not the same as what came up, so not 100 % sure ?

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=291#excap

Can address this a bit later, as there is a bit of uncertainty on my part re this.

But, I think, it is formatted now to exFAT. And the GUID partition map.

I then took the external hd and plugged it into the old W7 pc
Tried dragging a Folder with about 70 GB worth of photos to the WD external hd.

Get the following error msg's:

"An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file.
Error: 0x80071AC3

The operation could not be completed because the volume is dirty ?"

Dirty ??
What volume, where, are they referring to ?

Thoughts ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

You may want to format it as MBR, exFAT. Windows 7 may not like the GUID partitioning scheme.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you're getting errors trying to copy 70gb at a time, well, don't try to copy 70gb "at a time".

"Break it down" into smaller segments, say, 10gb at a time.
See if that works any better.
Keep notes so you know what's done and what isn't.

 

[mikzn]

Tried dragging a Folder with about 70 GB worth of photos to the WD external hd.Get the following error msg's:
"An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file.
Error: 0x80071AC3

you could also use "Carbon Copy Cloner" great for copying large amounts of files from one destination to another and will let you know if some files did not make it. There is a free trail period if you don't have it.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

If you're getting errors trying to copy 70gb at a time, well, don't try to copy 70gb "at a time".

"Break it down" into smaller segments, say, 10gb at a time.
See if that works any better.
Keep notes so you know what's done and what isn't.

Go easy on the fella. Usually if you have the free space available, then copying 70GB in one effort shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve copied far more in one shot without issue. It sounds like his drive isn’t setup right.

 

[Robert4]

Go easy on the fella. Usually if you have the free space available, then copying 70GB in one effort shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve copied far more in one shot without issue. It sounds like his drive isn’t setup right.

[doublepost=1518435888][/doublepost]Hi,

Got it to work !
Funny, I formatted the WD external HD to exFat, as was suggested, and plugged it into the W7 pc.
Wouldn't accept it. No idea why.

But I tried again, and it worked fine. Was able to transfer all the W7 photos to this external exFAT formatted HD.
Then, plugged it into the iMac,

So, I now have all my old W7 photos on the new iMac. About 70 GB worth.

So, let me say again how much I appreciate all the
help I've received with this.

Sure is nice of everyone taking the time to do it.

Regards,
Bob

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"So, I now have all my old W7 photos on the new iMac. About 70 GB worth.
So, let me say again how much I appreciate all the
help I've received with this."

Well, there's still one more thing to do:
Create a BACKUP of the Mac's internal drive.
Internal drives have been known to fail.

I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.