X cant see my external usb HD

S

shamelri

Registered
I have just jumped into the Mac community by buying a Powerbook and weaning myself off of xp. The thing I need to know is can my usb external 120 gig hard drive be read by os x. When I bought the Powerbook the salesman told me x would see that drive fine. When I plug it in I get a window that says that it cant be read as it is and it needs to be initialized. I have lots of data on this drive that I would like to burn to dvd's.

Thanks to anyone that will help
Steve
 
A USB hard drive? Ack... the pain of slowness!

Your drive will work just fine once you initialize it. You have to do this so the OS can read it as a Mac OS volume, since it's probably formatted for the PC.
 
Reconnect the external USB HD to your PC, then network the PC to the Mac and copy the files across to the Mac. Shut everything down, reconnect the drive to the Mac, initialize it using Disk Utility (or Drive Setup if you're using OS9). Then it will work fine (albeit slowly) on your Mac. You will not be able to boot from it as USB booting is not supported under OS9 nor OSX.
 
Hehe, sorry, my bad, I thought you just got the drive. Don't initialize it if you have data on it. MacGuy's tip should work.
 
{Reconnect the external USB HD to your PC, then network the PC to the Mac and copy the files across to the Mac.}

Thanks for the replies. I have the Powerbook on the same network as the pc..I can access the internet but I haven't figured out yet how to see the shared folders on my PC. I guess I have a lot of reading to do.

Steve
 
To access shares on your PC from your Mac, Go to System Preferences on your Mac (either the Doc icon or via the Apple menu).

Then, select the Sharing preferences icon. Under Sharing (and the Services tab) select Windows File Sharing.

Next, go to Finder and select Go>Connect to Server (Apple key + k).

If you have further troubles, let us know. I used my Macs and PC together for months before I sold it.

Doug
 
And keep in mind that in order for OS X to recognise Windows disks you must format them with FAT16/32 and NOT NTFS... Maybe with Panther we will be able to access NTFS disks but until then use FAT16/32 :D
 
Thanks for the help everyone !
The part I was missing in the whole equation was this

"Next, go to Finder and select Go>Connect to Server (Apple key + k)"

I can't believe I didn't find out about that step :eek: until now

I am now connected to my pc sucking data from my external usb 2.0 harddrive onto my mac. I have a new firewire enclosure coming in to put the drive into once my data is off of it.

Another question if you all don't mind?

When I plug my powerbook into my router (faster file transfer) is there an easy way to disable the airport card?
Is there a way to put a shortcut on the desktop to switch between ethernet and airport?

Thanks
Steve
 
In the Menu at the top of the screen, you should have the Airport icon, click on it and you can turn it off there.
 
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