Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

anothermacguy · Jan 31, 2006, 01:17 PM

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since I've been on a Mac, and I've forgotten a few things. Anyways, I've got an external hard drive (usb2, ntfs formatted) that I've been using with a Windows Xp box for some time. I've got a new mac coming, and I'd like to move the files over to the mac. What is the best way to do this? Will OSX read NTFS drives? Sorry, can't remember.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

mdc · Jan 31, 2006, 01:46 PM

Os X will be able to read the files off an NTFS drive, but, iirc, it can't write to them. Either way, you'll be able to get the files off that drive.

jamil5454 · Jan 31, 2006, 01:55 PM

I'm pretty sure OS X doesn't automatically mount NTFS drives, although Linux does. There should be some free utilities around the net that'll mount NTFS partitions for you. However, keep in mind that Microsoft never released the NTFS spec so anything you come across uses technology that has been reverse engineered. Reading NTFS is pretty stable right now, although anything that can write to an NTFS drive (apart from Windows) is extremely risky at best. If you're familiar with UNIX, the standard mount that comes with OS X might be able to do it (can't check since I currently don't have a Mac).

CharlesS · Jan 31, 2006, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by jamil5454

I'm pretty sure OS X doesn't automatically mount NTFS drives, although Linux does. There should be some free utilities around the net that'll mount NTFS partitions for you. However, keep in mind that Microsoft never released the NTFS spec so anything you come across uses technology that has been reverse engineered. Reading NTFS is pretty stable right now, although anything that can write to an NTFS drive (apart from Windows) is extremely risky at best. If you're familiar with UNIX, the standard mount that comes with OS X might be able to do it (can't check since I currently don't have a Mac).

AFAIK, OS X mounts NTFS drives, but as read-only. So you can pull files off of the drive, but you can't add or make changes to anything on the drive.

anothermacguy · Jan 31, 2006, 02:07 PM

thats great...thanks a lot guys!

tinoproductions · Jan 31, 2006, 08:01 PM

ok, thats cool.
So how do I make them so mac and windows and read them ??
and also, how do i make the drives available on my network??
Even by opening via windows the ip of the mac, the usb drives cane b seen!
Thanks....im REAL new to this, but im loving it already!

mdc · Feb 1, 2006, 07:21 AM

in windows you have to share whatever drives you want your mac to see. right click > sharing. then go to the pc's ip address with your mac, and you should see all your shared drives.

tinoproductions · Feb 1, 2006, 08:38 AM

hi mdc,
what i meant was, how do i share usb drives in the mac...so pc users on my network can see them.
They are ntfs formated, and i cant wrie to them, any idea if i can chage file system wheil keeping everything on there > ??
thanks
T

CharlesS · Feb 1, 2006, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by tinoproductions

hi mdc,
what i meant was, how do i share usb drives in the mac...so pc users on my network can see them.
They are ntfs formated, and i cant wrie to them, any idea if i can chage file system wheil keeping everything on there > ??
thanks
T

Sorry, the only way to change the file system they're on will be to back up all the files to another drive, reformat, and then copy all the files back.

mdc · Feb 1, 2006, 01:50 PM

The best way would be to move everything off the drive into a folder on your mac, use disk utility to format the drive and then put everything back on.

System Preferences > sharing > Windows File Sharing (something like that). Turn that on and then you will be able to \\ip address your mac from your windows pc.