Share files from External HD to PC and Mac

[smknSRT8]

I want to take large files from my PC to my Mac. I have a 500Gb MyBook, but when I have the file on my PC, and I want to copy it to the Mac it does not even know that the External HD is connected.

I initially setup my MyBook to use as my "Time Machine" on Leopard. Any thoughts. I read some articles online about this not being as straightfoward as I want it to be.

Another question I have is, if I do it with a flash drive it works. So why won't my really big 500Gb "flash drive" do the same?

[dturner]

Don't mean for this to sound like it is going to, but is time machine "on".

[smknSRT8]

I might not have been clear with what I am trying to do.

I have an external HD that ever since I got it brand new, has been used as my Time Machine backup, and the place I put all my music and movies. But I use my PC, to rip music and DVDs, and what i want to do is just add them to my external HD. When I connect my external HD to my PC, it does not even register that the HD is connected.

Does that make a little more sense?

[dturner]

I might not have been clear with what I am trying to do.

I have an external HD that ever since I got it brand new, has been used as my Time Machine backup, and the place I put all my music and movies. But I use my PC, to rip music and DVDs, and what i want to do is just add them to my external HD. When I connect my external HD to my PC, it does not even register that the HD is connected.

Does that make a little more sense?
Might be a little more confused now.:laugh2: Only because of what I have in bold above. How did they get there in the first place if PC doesn't recognize the HD?

[dturner]

OK. Been up since 4am this morning. Don't have any business trying to help anyone. :smile:
I get it now. You want to go from PC to HD to Mac. and PC doesn't recognize the HD.
So HD doesn't even show up in explorer?
It will work because I did the same thing to get info off PC when I got my MBP. But it has been so long since I have fooled with a PC that we will have to hope someone else hops in with some answers.
I have my HD way before the mac and the only thing I really remember is that the HD came with a CD for drivers.

[420greg]

If you were using the external drive for time machine then it is formated OS X Extended. Windows will never see it. It has to be reformated to fat32 if you want both your mac and your pc to be able see it.

Move off all your media with the mac.
Open Disk Utility and click the erase tab.
Change the volume format to MS-DOS Fat and click erase.
Move your media back.

Now you can move the external drive to the pc.

[DemonHunter]

Have you tried assigning the hard drive a new drive letter? Sometimes in windows when you connect an external hard drive to a PC, it has a drive letter pre-assigned to it and that may conflict with an existing drive already assigned to that letter. Use the steps below and it may fix your problem. Just because it doen't show up in "My Computer" doesn't mean it's not there.

For Windows XP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

For Windows Vista:

Right click Computer and select Manage,
Select Disk Management,
Go to full screen to see all of your drives,
Right click the drive you want to change,
Select - Change drive letter and paths.
Follow the screen prompts.

Hope it helps.

[420greg]

It will work because I did the same thing to get info off PC when I got my MBP. I have my HD way before the mac...

There is the answer.

Since it was hooked to a PC first, it was formatted on a pc. Macs can see pc drives but windows can not see mac drives.

[smknSRT8]

If you were using the external drive for time machine then it is formated OS X Extended. Windows will never see it. It has to be reformated to fat32 if you want both your mac and your pc to be able see it.

Move off all your media with the mac.
Open Disk Utility and click the erase tab.
Change the volume format to MS-DOS Fat and click erase.
Move your media back.

Now you can move the external drive to the pc.
So let me get this straight. Since Mac can read a PC drive, but a PC cant read a mac drive, i need to format for pc, since the mac can see both??
Correct?

When I copy the "mac" files back to the hard drive, will i still be able to use time machine?

[420greg]

The drive for time machine can only be used on the mac since it has to be formatted OS X Extended. You may want to get a smaller external drove for time machine.

[acosmichippo]

at the risk of confusing you more, it is possible to "partition" your MyBook so part of it is formatted as "OSX journaled (extended)", and part of it is formatted as FAT32. If you do this, it will show up as two separate drives in Finder... the MAc formatted partition you would be able to use as your Time Machine backup, and the FAT32 partition you could use for transferring data between OSX and Windows.

if that makes sense to you, i can post a little tutorial.

[jnowaczyk]

try macdrive on the pc http://www.softpedia.com/get/File-managers/MacDrive.shtml

[smknSRT8]

at the risk of confusing you more, it is possible to "partition" your MyBook so part of it is formatted as "OSX journaled (extended)", and part of it is formatted as FAT32. If you do this, it will show up as two separate drives in Finder... the MAc formatted partition you would be able to use as your Time Machine backup, and the FAT32 partition you could use for transferring data between OSX and Windows.

if that makes sense to you, i can post a little tutorial.

If you don't mind that would be awesome. I am reading up on now via googling. Thanks in advance!

[acosmichippo]

If you don't mind that would be awesome. I am reading up on now via googling. Thanks in advance!

sure, i'll be able to whip somethin up later tonight (heading to work right now).

[acosmichippo]

Ok, i hope this helps you out a bit. The first thing you'll need to be aware of is that this process will erase everything on your MyBook, so be sure to transfer everything you wish to keep onto another hard drive (or computer) temporarily.

Everything you need for this whole process is in an app included in OSX called "Disk Utility". You can probably just type that into spotlight, or you can open finder and go to applications->utilities->Disk Utility.

The first thing i would do there is exactly what i mentioned earlier. Erase everything and start from scratch. To do this Click on the drive in the left column (mine says "37.3 GB Samsung..."), click on the "Erase" tab at the top, and pick "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". You can name it if you want, but it'll get overwritten later anyway. Then click the "erase" button.

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-cxe8t1r1887ru4a5g1wiwn2dcr.jpg


Once that finishes, click on the drive again (the top one where mine says "37.3 GB Samsung...", not the one under it). Then click on the "Partition" tab, and under "Volume Scheme" choose "2 Partitions" (although you can certainly make more if you wanted to). Slide the middle bar around to adjust the relative size of the two partitions. Then click "Apply", and "Partition" in the windows that pops up.

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-mm3g9f4y7hif2rwuux2ww5dwct.jpg


Next we need to rename the partitions, and change one of them to FAT32. To do this, in the left column, click on the partition you want to use as your Time Machine Backup (where mine says "Untitled 1"). We don't have to reformat this one, so we'll just rename it something a little more helpful for identification. Go to the "Erase" tab, enter a new name, and then click the "Erase" button.

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-n9qyrrbt4xwx81w2gd81wgunnc.jpg


Next, we'll reformat and rename the Partition you want to use to transfer files. So select the other partition in the left column (where mine says "Untitled 2"), and then click on the "Erase" tab. For this partition, we will have to choose a different "Volume Format". Choose "MS-DOS (FAT)" here. Then enter a name for the partition, and finally click on the "Erase" button.

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-c17x8sed8kynrikjjxj82ypg9d.jpg

(continued below)

[acosmichippo]

That's pretty much it. Your two partitions should look something like these when you're done:

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-rtkmxhcurxhgh1wd5uhrmy2xm.jpg

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-xsdsaaa2fuqdgfj52w5h1n6n1n.jpg



And in finder they'll show up as two separate drives.

http://img.skitch.com/20080731-m8stykb6iitfriwkwm5net39tf.jpg



But in Windows Explorer, only the "Windows-OSX" partition will be recognized.

Anyway, hope that helps you out a bit.

[smknSRT8]

BIG ThANK!
Takes a really good person to take the time out and make a tutorial for a person. You Rock!!

[tesh]

great how to! since im migrating from pc to mac, this'll be a breeze thanks to you :)

[acosmichippo]

glad it helps. let me know how it goes for ya.

[iMerlin]

Damn hippo, you are all sorts of helpful around here. Im gonna do this with the external USB we have been talking about getting. Ill pick up a 1tb and split it, one for backups and one for media.
My question is, can the Windows machine use the MS-DOS partition for its backups as well as a network drive?

[acosmichippo]

yeah. It can actually use ANY partition (formatted for windows or not) as long as it's being accessed over a network. In other words, you can use an OSX formatted partition to backup and/or store files from a windows machine as long as it's being shared by another mac, or something like the TC or airport extreme.

[smknSRT8]

Cosmic,
I just got time to set up my new partition. your tutorial work flawlessly!! One more question. I was just trying to set up my Time Machine Backup and got asked this question:
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture3.png
From this TM set up window:

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture4.png
I just picked up an Airport Extreme, and I am looking to set this up as a shared network drive on that, would it be easiest to set that up one time as time capsule?
Thanks in advance!!

[acosmichippo]

Glad to know it went smoothly...

if i understand correctly, you will want to use our "Time Machine" partition as your Time Machine backup, so you should choose that in the "Use for backup" window.

As for sharing the other partition, the easiest way would be to install Airport Utility (on your setup disc that came with your Airport Extreme) on any computer you want to access it on (it has the windows version too). Just set the option to enable file sharing. There are also various security settings you can choose from. This is the screen here (airport utility->[your airport extreme]->manual setup->disks->file sharing):

http://img.skitch.com/20080825-tyxwqcuhpnkm29y56b69cbrf7c.jpg


once you do that, any computer with airport utility should automatically "see" any shared disks, and ask you if you want to connect.

[smknSRT8]

Glad to know it went smoothly...

if i understand correctly, you will want to use our "Time Machine" partition as your Time Machine backup, so you should choose that in the "Use for backup" window.

As for sharing the other partition, the easiest way would be to install Airport Utility (on your setup disc that came with your Airport Extreme) on any computer you want to access it on (it has the windows version too). Just set the option to enable file sharing. There are also various security settings you can choose from. This is the screen here (airport utility->[your airport extreme]->manual setup->disks->file sharing):

http://img.skitch.com/20080825-tyxwqcuhpnkm29y56b69cbrf7c.jpg


once you do that, any computer with airport utility should automatically "see" any shared disks, and ask you if you want to connect.
Well I was hoping that I could use the Time Machine as a "shared drive on my network. Hoping to do wireless backup. Is this not going to be possible?

[acosmichippo]

yeah, it is. You do the same process for either partition.

[smknSRT8]

yeah, it is. You do the same process for either partition.

Cosmic, I can't thank you enough for helping me. I should first set up to "Use For Backup", then set up the network drives?

[acosmichippo]

i don't think it'll matter either way.

[smknSRT8]

OK, I am trying to change my icon to a picture of my External HD (MyBook WD).
Here is what I downladed and the icon that I want:
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture1.png

Now I "Get Info" on the drive that I want:
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture2.png
Now I "Copy Paste" just like I have in the past, and I get this:
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture3-1.png
Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

[acosmichippo]

you probably need to change the format of the picture. .png will work best.

[acosmichippo]

so how'd it work out?

[smknSRT8]

Changing of the icon went well. I just re did what I thought was the right way and it worked, don't know what happened last time.

As for my External HD/Airport Express and printer This is what I have.

Airport Express with a USB hub connected which then connects my External HD and my printer. The only thing is that I cannot sync my Time Machine to the external HD, it just won't go :(

Cosmic, you know a way to do this. I talked with Apple and they said that they don't support that feature since there is Time Capsule, so he couldn't help me.
In the meantime, I will be Googling.

[acosmichippo]

That's incredibly stupid if it doesn't. Is this the hard drive that's partitioned half mac, half FAT?

Are you able to browse the files on the HD from your computer wirelessly? If so, what happens when you hit "use for backup" here?

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture3.png

That's all you should have to do...

And where does the process fail?

[acosmichippo]

Ok, this could be severely disappointing... It appears (unfortunately there is no explicit description) that the extreme may only be able to share a HD, while the TC may be the only thing that will work wirelessly with Time Machine. If so, i have to sincerely apologize for steering you in this direction. There is NO reason why they should not allow the Extreme to use Time machine as well...

http://img.skitch.com/20080830-t9s4st6ctem7xean7ffexd9rcc.jpg

[acosmichippo]

http://www.macworld.com/article/132613/2008/03/airporttime.html

looks like it should definitely be able to do it as long as you have the current software...

...you had me worried there for a sec.

[smknSRT8]

OK, I got help from the apple guy to mount my external hard drives, and now they are there right at start up.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture1-2.png

They are "mounted", right? But when I go into Time Machine preferences, this is what I get:
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture2-1.png
With no drives to choose, this is where I am getting lost. Cosmic, you have helped me so much, thank you , I appreciate it. I know you do not have AEBS, so this might be a little difficult. Any help would be great.

[acosmichippo]

well, i browsed the AEB forum at the apple site, and found a few people with your problem, but no solutions... :(

Are you sure the firmware on the AEB is at least 7.3.1?

[smknSRT8]

Yea I am positive that I am on v7.3.2. I was afraid of this. I guess I am just going to have to just connect the external drive up to my computer via USB then run Time Machine.
Is there a way to access my drives outside my network? Or what is the easiest to create a server. I am another laptop IBM T40 running XP.

[acosmichippo]

yeah, i think you can share the drive from your Extreme using bonjour... never tried it myself, though.

man that sucks. there has ti be a way to make it work. did you do the initial time machine backup via USB, and then move the hard drive to the Extreme?

BTW, i was inspired by your idea, and also created some icons for my drives...

http://img.skitch.com/20080831-n3juxa43net8ixiqptf2kiptsj.jpg

i just wish i could make the font white...

[smknSRT8]

My initial backup was with via USB. Then I tried going tbrough the extreme with no luck. How did you get the picture in the background?

[acosmichippo]

if you right click, and select "show view options", you can choose a different background... color or a picture... just don't pick a black one.

[acosmichippo]

also, have you tried selecting "stop backing up" here, restarting your computer, and then restarting time machine? I'm still looking for some other possible solutions. I think Time machine is getting confuzzed with mounting, unmounting, backups, etc...

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr167/smknSRT8/Picture2-1.png

[acosmichippo]

oh, and now that i think about it, if we can figure this nonsense out, you won't need the FAT32 partition anymore, since a windows computer can access an OSX partition through the Extreme...

but you could keep it in case you want to do some transferring without relying on the network.

[acosmichippo]

ok, found this on the apple forums. He seems pretty confident about it...

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7315703�

This TM + AEBS backups is a big mac thing I think. There are a lot of posts with some good work on this already.

I was SO pleased when this function became available on AEBS - that's why I bought Leopard and an AEBS.

First, you need to connect your mac to the AEBS with a wire. Very 1900s but bear with me.
using a regular cat5e patch cable, connect your mac ethernet port to the AEBS.
turn OFF your Airport connection on the mac (via the icon on the bar at the top of the screen or system preferences)
Now, you should be able to select the AEBS disk when you open the Time Machine preferences.
Set your other TM preferences (I like to exclude downloads and desktop).
The backup should begin shortly. Depending on how much disk you're using and where your AEBS and computer now are (given you're connecting by a wire(!)) you might want to go out and have fun or go to bed. The first TM backup will take time.

When you're sure the backup is finished from the info in the TM preferences you can disconnect the cat5e ethernet cable and turn your mac's airport connection back on.

Now, as long as the SW updates don't mangle things. And you never shut down as a TM backup occurs. Things will be just sweet with TM, AEBS & your backups.

...although now that i read it more thoroughly, it doesn't sound like he really addressed the specific issue.

[smknSRT8]

Well I wish I can say that it worked, but it didn't. Followed it step by step and no luck :(. I am going to keep trying periodically just to see if it goes. I really wish this works. My printer can't even be setup wirelessly. HP 1012 Laserjet. :/
I looked online for drivers to print wirelessly for that printer but no luck.

[acosmichippo]

damn, that's a major bummer man. You may want to post at Macrumours or somewhere like that... maybe someone else has worked out a solution. I'll keep an eye out for it too...

[smknSRT8]

OK so I just started playing around with my printer and tested it, and it now works!, the cord was a little loose so hopefully that was it. Still can't get TM backups to work. I am going to keep trying though because I love the idea of the "Time Machine". Thanks cosmo for all your help with the topic. I will let you know if I find anything more about this. Cheers.