So I'm making the switch over to Mac...

///M · December 28th, 2005, 9:17 PM

And I had a question. I'm getting either an iBook or a Powerbook, not too sure yet which one. The problem I have is all my media and documents are backed up on a 160GB HD in an external enclosure. The drive is formated as NTFS, and from what I can understand, OSx can only read NTFS. How can I make this drive usable without risking ruining all the data? It's only half full.

hokiethang · December 28th, 2005, 9:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ///M

And I had a question. I'm getting either an iBook or a Powerbook, not too sure yet which one. The problem I have is all my media and documents are backed up on a 160GB HD in an external enclosure. The drive is formated as NTFS, and from what I can understand, OSx can only read NTFS. How can I make this drive usable without risking ruining all the data? It's only half full.

Do you have another machine to copy the data to? Depending on the size of the HD in your powerbook or ibook, you could copy the data over to your laptop's hard drive, re-initialize the external drive, and then copy the data back. There really is no way to change the file system without wiping it out completely. If you can't fit all of it on your laptop, copy some to your windows machine and use samba (windows' file server) to copy the data from your windows machine to your mac (connected to the newly reformatted drive).

bahnstormer · December 28th, 2005, 10:25 PM

i dont get it

The drive is formated as NTFS, and from what I can understand, OSx can only read NTFS

must be a type somwhere cuz it seems u dont hav a problem

lol silyl mac users =]

jensked · December 28th, 2005, 10:29 PM

^ Well I think his problem is:

He wants to keep all the data. But he also wants to USE the harddrive, he wants to WRITE on it, but since it's NTFS, he cannot. So he needs to convert it, but then all his data is lost.

Maybe you can partition it? Split the hard drive in the NTFS part that already exists with the data on it, and the other partition must be a Mac partition.
You can also copy the data from the NTFS part to the new Apple part and then format the NTFS to Apple and merge the two partitions images/smilies/smile.gif

jeffy777 · December 28th, 2005, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jensked

^ Well I think his problem is:

He wants to keep all the data. But he also wants to USE the harddrive, he wants to WRITE on it, but since it's NTFS, he cannot. So he needs to convert it, but then all his data is lost.

Maybe you can partition it? Split the hard drive in the NTFS part that already exists with the data on it, and the other partition must be a Mac partition.
You can also copy the data from the NTFS part to the new Apple part and then format the NTFS to Apple and merge the two partitions images/smilies/smile.gif

//M said that osX can only read NTFS, so bahnstormer is saying that it must be a typo?

bahnstormer · December 28th, 2005, 11:05 PM

yah when i read "read ntfs" i didnt realize it can't write to the drive....

but ya hokie has the right idea

copy data to laptop/friends drive then format the external

///M · December 29th, 2005, 4:29 AM

Bah, lock this post mods. I went to pick up the Mac, and got a Boxing Day deal on the HP Pavilion zd8000 + Dual TV Tuner. Thing's a beast.

AxlxA · December 29th, 2005, 5:39 AM

hahahahhaha

Why do you even want a mac... they're crap and so incompatible with everything else.

PCs ALL THE WAY!!!!!

jayjaya29 · December 29th, 2005, 5:56 AM

Come on, that was kinda biased, Macs do have their use.

hokiethang · December 29th, 2005, 6:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AxlxA

hahahahhaha

Why do you even want a mac... they're crap and so incompatible with everything else.

PCs ALL THE WAY!!!!!

Right... we don't need another one of these threads... Don't start flame wars.

images/smilies/angrylock.gif

December 28th, 2005, 9:17 PM	#1
///M Joined: Feb 28th, 2005 Last Online: October 13th, 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,065 Rep Power: 0	So I'm making the switch over to Mac... And I had a question. I'm getting either an iBook or a Powerbook, not too sure yet which one. The problem I have is all my media and documents are backed up on a 160GB HD in an external enclosure. The drive is formated as NTFS, and from what I can understand, OSx can only read NTFS. How can I make this drive usable without risking ruining all the data? It's only half full. __________________

December 28th, 2005, 10:25 PM	#3
bahnstormer Joined: Jan 5th, 2004 Last Online: November 18th, 2009 Location: NJ, USA Posts: 1,451 Rep Power: 0	i dont get it The drive is formated as NTFS, and from what I can understand, OSx can only read NTFS must be a type somwhere cuz it seems u dont hav a problem lol silyl mac users =] __________________

December 28th, 2005, 10:29 PM	#4
jensked Joined: Mar 31st, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Flanders, Belgium Age: 26 Posts: 4,056 Car: RIP Opel Astra -> 2006 Toyota Corolla Wagon Rep Power: 49	^ Well I think his problem is: He wants to keep all the data. But he also wants to USE the harddrive, he wants to WRITE on it, but since it's NTFS, he cannot. So he needs to convert it, but then all his data is lost. Maybe you can partition it? Split the hard drive in the NTFS part that already exists with the data on it, and the other partition must be a Mac partition. You can also copy the data from the NTFS part to the new Apple part and then format the NTFS to Apple and merge the two partitions __________________

December 28th, 2005, 11:05 PM	#6
bahnstormer Joined: Jan 5th, 2004 Last Online: November 18th, 2009 Location: NJ, USA Posts: 1,451 Rep Power: 0	yah when i read "read ntfs" i didnt realize it can't write to the drive.... but ya hokie has the right idea copy data to laptop/friends drive then format the external __________________

December 29th, 2005, 4:29 AM	#7
///M Joined: Feb 28th, 2005 Last Online: October 13th, 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,065 Rep Power: 0	Bah, lock this post mods. I went to pick up the Mac, and got a Boxing Day deal on the HP Pavilion zd8000 + Dual TV Tuner. Thing's a beast. __________________

December 29th, 2005, 5:39 AM	#8
AxlxA Joined: Jan 3rd, 2005 Last Online: August 23rd, 2009 Location: San Francisco, California Posts: 1,544 Rep Power: 21	hahahahhaha Why do you even want a mac... they're crap and so incompatible with everything else. PCs ALL THE WAY!!!!! __________________ My FlickR Gallery! Rig: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz with Artic Freezer 7 Pro. 4gb PC6400. MSI 8800GT OC 512mb. 2TB of space. Antec Nine Hundred Case. Logitech G25. Logitech G7 gaming mouse. Logitech VX Revolution. Saitek Eclipse Keyboard. Dell Ultrasharp 2407wfp-HC and Ultrasharp 2007wfp. Senheiser HD280 Headphones.

December 29th, 2005, 5:56 AM	#9
jayjaya29 Joined: Mar 18th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Lindenhurst, NY Age: 21 Posts: 5,241 Car: 2000 Nissan Altima Rep Power: 36	Come on, that was kinda biased, Macs do have their use. __________________ Check out my Gallery. Check out my Car.

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