Question about using an external HD with a MBP.

[Matto1020]

So I have a question. I want to take a harddrive out of my PC and put it in an external enclosure.

It has about 150GB of files on there I do not want to lose, but my HD in my MBP is only 103GB. Can I just hook it up to my MBP and access it (read and write things on it) without reformatting it?

It is a NTFS drive if that helps. I just don't want to reformat and lose all my stuff. Thanks!

 

[iToaster]

The MBP will see the files on it, OS X can read a variety of formats. Just one question, how do you have a 103 Gb hard drive, or is that just the size of all the stuff on it?

 

[Matto1020]

Thats the size with all the stuff on it.

 

[BlueArctos]

So I have a question. I want to take a harddrive out of my PC and put it in an external enclosure.

It has about 150GB of files on there I do not want to lose, but my HD in my MBP is only 103GB. Can I just hook it up to my MBP and access it (read and write things on it) without reformatting it?

It is a NTFS drive if that helps. I just don't want to reformat and lose all my stuff. Thanks!

It is possible to remove the drive, insert the drive in an enclosure, and READ those files on your Mac right away.

OS X does not provide WRITE support for NTFS. For that, you'll need to download and install MacFUSE with ntfs-3g.

There's a guide available here. Caution - This modification is mainly for power users. Support is thin for MacFUSE at the moment.

Your alternative is to load Parallels or Fusion and access the drive through the virtualization.

 

[Matto1020]

What about my Ipod!!! I just remembered...

Would it be possible to load up my Ipod with some of these files...then transfer the rest onto my MBP....reformat the HD...then copy the files back from my MBP and my Ipod?

Do I need a special program? Thanks!

 

[deadpixels]

What about my Ipod!!! I just remembered...

Would it be possible to load up my Ipod with some of these files...then transfer the rest onto my MBP....reformat the HD...then copy the files back from my MBP and my Ipod?

Do I need a special program? Thanks!

yes, you can, you need to put your ipod in 'disk mode' and you're good to go.

 

[ophidean]

Question similar to his...
I have a Seagate FreeAgent™ Go USB 2.0 160 GB external HD. I formatted it with my SR 2.4 ghz Macbook Pro because I will be working primarily with large Mac files. I do however have some music on my old PC that I would like to transfer to my external HD. When I plugged the external HD into my PC it wouldn’t recognize it. Is there a way I can get my itunes folder off that machine onto the external drive?