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Windows HD to Mac HD


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Hi all, I have been searching the web in an effort to find an answer to this but thought it would be better to speak to you all. I have my music library (mainly FLAC) loaded onto WD or Seagate external hard drives which are formatted for Windows and are currently used with my Windows based Baetis Audio Music server in my main two channel system.


I am setting up a headphone system in my office and will use a MacBook Pro 2016 as server with Audionirvana. I will buy some new external hard drives for this system. My question is how can I copy the existing files I have on the Windows formatted HDs to the new HDs that need to be formatted for Mac. 

I understand that Mac can read a Windows formatted HD but not write to it and I will need to write to these files as well. 

 

I no longer have a Windows laptop so I am hoping there is some way I can transfer the files onto the Mac HD using my MacBook Pro.

Thanks

James

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On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 6:26 AM, Vicks7 said:

So I can plug both the existing Windows formatted drive and the new Mac formatted drive into the Mac and drag and drop the files from one to the other?

Not sure about that, if the Windows formatted drive is NTFS. Safest bet is to format the new drive as exFAT, which can be read and written by both operating systems without problems, respects long file names, large files, etc. Copy from the windows machine onto the exFAT disk at home then take it to the office and play from it on the Mac.

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10 hours ago, paul30d said:

Not sure about that, if the Windows formatted drive is NTFS. Safest bet is to format the new drive as exFAT, which can be read and written by both operating systems without problems, respects long file names, large files, etc. Copy from the windows machine onto the exFAT disk at home then take it to the office and play from it on the Mac.

 

OS X will READ a READ only partition and it can WRITE that READ data to a partition that supports WRITE.

 

What good is a read only partition if you can read from it?

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On 06/12/2017 at 8:07 PM, Vicks7 said:

What I want to do is transfer music files stored on a Windows formatted HD to an HD to be used with MAC so that the MAC can read those files and also so that I can download further music files on the Mac to this HD.

 

Hi Vicks7

  • Transfer files from Windows formatted HD to another HD using a Mac - windows disks can be read on the Mac so no problem
  • Download files using the mac to a mac-formatted HD - no problem
  • Download files on the mac and write them to a windows-formatted HD - windows HD should be formatted as exFAT, not NTFS

I hope this covers everything you might want to do.

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2 hours ago, paul30d said:

 

  • Download files on the mac and write them to a windows-formatted HD - windows HD should be formatted as exFAT, not NTFS

 

^^ makes zero sense... 

 

Mount the NTFS drive (old) and copy / paste to HFS+ volume on the Mac (new). It's that simple. Once all the music has been transferred the old drive can be re-formatted to HFS+ for additional storage on the Mac. 

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