Cannot add files to external hard drive

Question

Level 1

4 points

Cannot add files to external hard drive

Hello,

So I have a Lenovo 1TB harddrive. It's format is Windows NT File System (NTFS). I have no idea what all these mean, but I've been researching all over the place and can't seem to find an answer. So I used to have an old 2016 MacBook Pro in which it worked fine. I could backup my files all on here. But recently got a 2019 macbook pro and this hard drive won't let me add files into it. I can read and take files out to my desktop but cannot add anything in.

I got another 8 GB USB and that works fine.

If anyone knows how to fix this, any help is greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro 13”, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 3, 2020 6:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

babowa

Level 9

78,429 points

Jun 3, 2020 6:13 PM in response to Anonymous-4

How about formatting it Mac OS Extended and GUID partition scheme using Disk utility (Applications > Utilitiies).

A Mac can read NTFS, but cannot write to it (that is why you cannot add files to the external). You simply need to format it correctly - NOTE: you need to erase it first.

Reply

Answer 2

Jun 3, 2020 6:14 PM in response to Anonymous-4

Macs can not write to Windows NTFS formatted drives. if it worked in the past for you, you were running a third party app like Paragon or Tuxera that provided that functionality. My advice is to format the external drive for Mac.

Caution: Formatting the drive will erase all data on the drive. Ensure you copy off all data on the drive before formatting if you want to retain the data.

Reply

Cannot add files to external hard drive

Similar questions